The Expert Podcast

So, what is happening with real estate? All of a sudden, it seems like there might be some softening of the market in many parts of the country. Even in hotbeds like Idaho, Florida, Texas, there are builders who are now offering incentives and discounts to move inventory. Normally, this time of year, um, demand spikes. Demand goes up. There's people want to buy after the winter. They're not seeing that. Even resale homes are coming onto the market with discounts. Every single day in my inbox, I get messages for properties that are uh having price drops.

Is this the beginning of a crash? Is it just a blip? Is it excess inventory? Or is it that the the economy is slowing? I believe that there are people who are potential home buyers who want to hold off to see what's going to happen with the economy. Whether it's tariffs, employment, AI taking over jobs, maybe it's a combination of people having more debt, uh these student loans kicking in again, it's going to be a problem. Uh auto loan payments, the average auto loan payment right now is $700 and some odd dollars. Many people have car payments over a thousand.

When you have that kind of debt burden, it's very difficult to add on two or three or $4 thousand dollars for a mortgage. So, I think it's a combination of events and a lot of people are just holding off. Rates haven't dropped the way people thought they would. Uh they were up, you know, near 8%, now they're closer to seven. So, that's a little bit better, but it's still not down to the 2 or 3% that it was just 5 years ago.

And many people who are existing homeowners still have those golden handcuffs on where they can't sell their property because if they sell it and get rid of their 2% mortgage, even with their big equity down payment, their payment on a new house, even if the house is the same price, is going to be sometimes double of what it is now. You might as well stay put even if they don't like their house. So, there's a lot of factors at play.

In addition, the cost of building new homes has gone up between labor and materials and and the um the tariffs. It's tough to get a house built and sell sold in a price point that helps firsttime buyers. So, all these factors I think are working against the market, not only just for uh sellers, but also for buyers. Buyers aren't seeing uh clear pathways to getting a good deal, to getting an affordable home. and sellers, whether it's a builder or a resale, can't really get the money they need to get for u transitioning out of the marketplace.

Thank you for watching. Remember, you can access live one-on-one personal consultations with a licensed private investigator, a licensed commercial uh insurance broker, licensed certified real estate title examiner, also a certified civil court mediator. So, if you have a need to talk to an expert in any of these fields or even a licensed building general contractor, you can click the link below, actualhum.com, and arrange a live one-on-one undivided attention with a licensed expert where you can ask any questions, get information about your situation, and we'd be glad to help.