The housing market may be shifting in favor of buyers. Here's what you need to know
MINNEAPOLIS – Some local housing prices are trending lower. So is it time for buyers to get excited?
Stephanie Jobe says she is done renting and is concentrating all her efforts on buying a home.
"Paying rent as it's increasing year by year, I might as well get a house," Jobe said.
She and her realtor have looked at everything in her price range, only to come up empty-handed.
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"We just started this process like not even a full two weeks ago. I got sent a listing of three houses. I selected two, and the very next day they were sold already," she said.
Her realtor, Brian Parker with the Parker House Group, says supply and demand is still an issue for buyers.
"There's still about 10, 15 buyers to one house, so you're still competing," Parker said.
What is happening is some buyers are seeing the prices of homes decrease.
"New ones coming on the market and they're pricing it too high to begin with. They're assuming, 'OK, everybody's paying [$30,000, $40,000] over list price.' Well, a list price nowadays is more like a reserve. That's where we're starting. And if you listen to your realtor and price it at the right number, you will get [a higher price]," Parker said. "But if you start [with a higher price], people are thinking, 'I'm not gonna go that high, that's about the most I would do.' So then it sits, and then they have to reduce."
Some say this is a swing in the right direction, but many realtors are cautious.
"So now the attitude on the other end is prices are dropping. No, they're going to what they should have been in the first place," he said.
Parker says home appraisals are helping keep sellers honest.
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"People aren't paying more than they should. Appraisals are making sure that there's any correction to that as well, so if it comes up that you paid [$20,000, $30,000, $40,000] over list price, and the appraisal will come back with the true value of what it's going to be as well," he said.
First-time home buyer Jobe says she has lots to learn, but refuses to give up until she has what she wants.
"It's a journey I feel I have ahead of me, but I'm ready for it because I'm ready for my own home," she said.
Parker says a home priced correctly could sell in a week. Overpriced homes tend to stay on the market for up to two weeks before the price is reduced.
He expects a buying frenzy after Labor Day as people work to close deals before the snow flies.
