Is February 2024 the Right Time to Buy Your First Home? [VIDEO]

Video Transcript

it’s February spring is almost here and some of you have a housing decision coming up should you rent for another year or buy a home now we have the data to help you let’s get into it I’m Dan with home buyer.com we are the mortgage company for firsttime home buyers let’s Jump Right In so is now a good time to buy your first home February 2024 short answer if that’s what you’re after is yes it is a good time to buy a home thanks for watching don’t forget to subscribe now for everyone who’s still here let’s go deeper into why it’s a good time to buy your first home because it may not be obvious to you at first glance what with mortgage rates still much higher than what they were and home prices are definitely higher so we are going to attack this with real time data for the market right now so you have the information that you need to feel comfortable and confident so so you look back a year from now in 5 years and 10 years and say I’m glad I bought a home when I did I’m glad I didn’t wait and also let’s remember this video is for firsttime buyers let’s call that out it’s not for investors or fix and flippers homeowners sitting on 3% rates this is for renters making a choice to stop paying rent to own their own home and we’ll talk about three data points that support the analysis starting with Point number one and that’s mortgage rates mortgage rates are already this year’s big story rates kicked off 2024 on a 10-week winning streak that’s the longest consecutive drop in 30 year rates in more than a decade and as we look at what mortgage rates are today they’re down from last fall more than a percentage point for a lot of buyers and with every one percentage point the mortgage rates drop the amount that a homeowner can afford to buy it increases 11% that is a big deal because home prices climbed about half of that 11% last year which means that rates are the only thing that’s keeping home affordability high if you want to check today’s mortgage rates they’re on our website at home buyer.com the recent Market correction that’s now in its fourth month that should continue through at least this summer let’s call it mid- August that’s great news plus today eligible first-time buyers still get access to automatic mortgage rate discounts through the fhfa firsttime home buyer mortgage rate discount program you don’t have to apply for it you just get it and FHA back home owners are paying less too because last year the agency lowered its mortgage insurance rates that is all great but the thing about mortgage rates is this don’t try to time them don’t wait for a bottom because markets are fickle and change fast so just get a rate because whatever rate you get if it’s fixed rate it will be the highest rate that you ever have as a homeowner you’ll be locking in your worst case scenario which means that your budget for your payment will never have to be more than this so if rates do fall if the bottom is sometimes 6 months from now or a year or more if they do fall you can refinance your rate if you’re eligible from what you have today that pushes your payment down that is very different from paying rent rent only ever goes up so that’s this month’s mortgage rates they are lower than what they were so you can buy more home that is good and speaking you’re buying more home you’re going to have to because the second reason why now is a good time to buy is home values they’re still going up there are still way more home buyers today than there are Sellers and that is the textbook scenario for Rising home prices let’s briefly point out needs to be addressed the home price crash that the news that your aunt the people in my comments said was definitely coming that crash it never came and it won’t for crash to happen it requires a tremendous influx of homes for sale at the same time and that today’s active buyers would magically disappear there is so much pent up Demand right now that even if there was a wave of homes just dumped on the market there are literally millions of buyers who have been sidelined these last these last two and a half years that would see those homes and snap them up the housing market is not poised to crash there’s nothing that suggests that it will anyone who tells you differently they’re baiting you they’re using you for eyeballs because you can see with your own eyeballs that there are way more buyers than sellers this is true in nearly every city on almost every street every Community like yes we can say that home sales are down in raw terms they are sales volume was its lowest in 30 years last year but sales are down because shelves are bare not because nobody’s buying there’s no balance between buyers and sellers there are a lot of buyers over here and there are not a lot of sellers over here so that is reason number two why now is a good time to buy prices will be higher in the future you will pay more to buy the same home now reason three is a little different it relates to Market momentum in Psychology it gets into seller greed because buying a home or selling one is more than a financial transaction for buyers who plan to live in their house because it’s also an emotional transaction I mean this is your home and the emotions of buying and selling a home which can include excitement and and enthusiasm can also include fear and greed now sellers have that too and the balance between fear and greed on both sides of the table that determines how your negotiations go right now with home prices rising and demand for homes up sellers are feeling less fear they’re moving toward greed they’re making you rush to offer on their homes to bid up to wave your protections buyers are getting fewer concessions with less flexibility sellers are making fewer price reductions greed is rising and that makes it harder to buy a great home and get a great deal your ability as a buyer to afford a home interest rates not withstanding will get worse going forward you’ll pay more you’ll get fewer protections and sellers know that this Market is theirs another reason why now is a good time to buy later this year we’ll see more Greed from sellers now there are some wild cards here we need to address specifically with Congress and with first-time home buyer programs are in discussion we’ve talked about the $155,000 firsttime home buyer tax credit here the $225,000 cash grant for first generation buyers the lift act mortgage which lowers rates below 2% none of these bills look poised to pass the next few months but there are two other programs that are coming to the front first is the helper Act is a 100% mortgage for teachers and First Responders that bill has bipartisan bamal momentum could pass into law soon that’s the the helper Act and the FHA right now is sitting on a huge pile of cash the agency has five times more than its minimum reserves so the FHA could decide to lower its mortgage insurance premiums for the second time in two years and that would be something that the FHA can do on its own without the work of Congress and that would help buyers too 19% of first-time home buyers use an FHA back mortgage perhaps that could be you as always we watch these developments so you don’t have to we write about them in our newsletter we talk about them here subscribe to both for more information so that’s it the reasons why 2024 is a good time to buy a home definitely not the best time in history not even close that was midyear 20120 if you ask me but this month relative to what it was and what it will be right now is a relative good time to buy if you like this video subscribe from more program updates and firsttime buyer assistance and when you’re ready to see how much home you can afford get today’s current rates and an instant mortgage approval on the site 3 minutes or less with no paperwork I’m Dan withh home by.com the mortgage company for firsttime buyers happy home buying