(LEX NEWS) — If you are contemplating a home purchase but waiting for interest rates to dip to those pandemic-era levels of 2.5 to 3.5 percent, don't.
"3 percent? I don't think I'm going to see it again in my lifetime," said veteran real estate agent Christine Dudek of Lexington.
Dudek said it's more likely you'll never buy a home if you wait for the rates to go that low again, and in Lexington, she thinks now is as good a time as any for taking that leap.
"The inventory is about 2.8 months of inventory, which is great. That means that it's slowing down a little bit. It's taking a little bit longer for the houses to go under contract," Dudek explained of the current conditions.
Back during the COVID era, single-family home inventory was severely lacking. It led to hasty offers being made within hours of a home listing publicly. Many of those offers were above asking price; bidding wars erupted, and some buyers - hoping to make their offer more favorable - waived the pre-purchase inspection, which Dudek does not recommend doing.
Those conditions have since calmed down a bit. Interest rates have settled into a more predictable range, and with inventory rising, the playing field is now a little more balanced.
"You know I think it is healthier," Dudek said. "I think that it doesn't pressure buyers so much that they have to go in and look at a house for 10 minutes and make an offer and put as much money out there as they can and they're sweating it out," he explained, before noting that many times those deals would fall through, which adds stress to the buyer and the seller.
Dudek said the current interest rates shouldn't be a deterrent to buying a home you might really like.
"Interest rates are around between 6 and 7% right now average, depending on credit score, so you know that's not a bad rate," she said. "So, get the house you want, get into it, date the rate, marry the house, right? So, if you're in the house, you can always refinance it if the rates go down," she continued.
Dudek said many people are staying in their homes due to the historically low rate they secured years ago, and that's understandable. She also thinks the new housing bill Congress passed, but went unsigned by President Trump, will help make home buying easier over the long haul.
"It's great for buyers. I think that that bill, mostly limited big corporations that were coming in and buying like 350,000-dollar starter homes and so it was totally squeezing out first time home buyers and making housing so unaffordable," she said.
