Cost of Waiting – embed

The Cost of Waiting

Waiting to Buy?

The Cost of Delaying Your Move Will Be Tens of Thousands of Dollars!

by Darrell DeWard

Are you waiting to buy a home or make a move? Waiting for interest rates to drop? You might be making a costly mistake.

For every 1% decrease in interest rate on a $400,000 home, that's $4,000/year in interest savings. That's a significant amount—about $333 every month.

But let's say you're holding out for rates to drop even further. What if they dropped 2% lower than now? While no one is projecting rates to come down anywhere near 3% lower than they are today, a 2% drop on a $400,000 home would save you $8,000 a year in interest, or roughly $666 a month. Again, that's a lot of money…

However, here's the critical piece you might be overlooking: Our local real estate market, on average, appreciated 6% this past year. If you were looking in highly desired areas over the past year or two, average appreciation was 10% or more! This happened even considering interest rates were the highest they've been in over 20 years!

So, if you were looking at a home one year ago for $400,000, that same home could now be $424,000 - $440,000. You'd pay $24,000 - $40,000 more for that same home now!

This means that to wait a year for interest rates to drop, even by 2% (which is unlikely), you might save $8,000 in that year in interest, but you would have paid $24,000 - $40,000 more for the same home. You would have lost $16,000 - $32,000 in that year alone! The higher the price of the home, the more it truly costs you to wait.

So, where does that leave us for right now?

We expect prices to continue to increase. Not explode, but continue to increase steadily. We also anticipate prices to keep pace with what they did last year. This is because more people looking to make a move are realizing rates are here to stay, and prices are continuing to increase.

What does this mean for you?

$300,000 Home

$318K – $330K

In one year

+$20,000 – $30,000

just for waiting a year!

$400,000 Home

$424K – $440K

In one year

+$24,000 – $40,000

just for waiting a year!

$500,000 Home

$530K – $550K

In one year

+$30,000 – $50,000

just for waiting a year!

This is real money, and these are real numbers based on consistent trends we've seen over the past few years.

What if rates come down… and come down lower than expected?

If you're smart, you'll buy now, and you can refinance later if/when they do. We often say: You marry the house, you only date the rate. Housing prices will continue to go up, while rates go up and down depending on a number of market factors.

Here's the deal: We aren't ever going to see the kind of ultra-low interest rates that we saw in the 2020-2022 era again.

And here's something else to consider… What do you think would happen if interest rates were to continue to decrease, or suddenly come down drastically? You might be excited—it means you have more buying power. You can buy a bigger house. But so can everyone else. This means you'll face far more competition for the same house(s). More competition inevitably means the prices for those homes will just go up even more. There are even more benefits to buying now versus later.

Ready to Make Your Move?

We've been helping our clients understand this market dynamic for 3-4 years. We know it can feel uncomfortable to jump into a new market, but that's precisely where we come into play.

Every client who has bought when they did has told us they didn't regret it. Conversely, everyone who decided to wait and came back to us later regretted not buying sooner. The sooner you jump on this moving train, the better.

We're here for you. We have the answers to all of your questions. Contact my team and I today, and we'll help answer your questions and see if the timing is right for you.

616-537-6890

Or schedule a one-on-one call or video call with me here: