‘There is still opportunity in every market’: Kirsten Jordan

Housing prices hitting record highs according to the National Association of Realtors, the median house prices up 5.8% from last year, rising to more than $419,000. For more on this, real estate agent, Kirsten Jordan joins me now. Kirsten, welcome. Thanks so much for having me. So from National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yoon quote home prices reaching new highs are creating a wider divide between those owning properties and those who wish to be first time buyers. What is your assessment, Kirsten? This is 100% an affordability crisis and the gap is going to get even wider because as we see mortgage rates are starting to come down just because of the structure of the demand of those mortgages because they've been so high and buyers are going to jump back into the marketplace. And then it's just going to push housing prices even higher in so many parts of the country. The most important thing as a home buyer right now is really to understand the market so that if there is opportunity, as we see listings coming to market and and sellers deciding they're going to make that move, it's to figure out where the real deals are because there is still opportunity in every market. The CEO of the National Association of Home Builders is expressing this concern. Let's play it and I'll get you to respond. The challenge we have now, but inflation is absolutely the driver. People are pulling back from the marketplace because they don't want to have A7 handle on a mortgage, especially when they're sitting on a three or 4% mortgage. That's the number one killer of the marketplace right now. Is he right? If you have a three or 4% mortgage, are you going to sit tight until those numbers come back down to three or 4%? You're definitely going to sit tight if you can because if you think about it, it's not just about the actual rates being so high. That's only one part of the layer cake of buying a home right now. You have insurance rates which are skyrocketing pretty much everywhere in the country, especially areas that are prone to national disasters. And then you have the whole other inflation aspect of every part of living from grocery prices, from even replacement cost of being able to do any slight renovation to a home. So I am talking to more and more sellers that are saying, listen, I am actually going to just sit tight and wait because at this point to get something new, it would cost me so much more because of these rates and because of all the associated costs that I'd rather just stay where I am. And rent prices are also up two on my understanding is up 21% since President Biden took office. So renters are getting squeezed as well, and this is what is going to happen in this kind of inflationary environment. You have the cost of housing just skyrocketing no matter what you're doing. There's no way to actually get shelter from rising cost of shelter. So the only thing to do is to understand the market that you're in and try to find opportunity where you can, especially as a buyer, you need to understand if your market has real sustainable demand because there are parts of the country where we are going to see a correction in prices. And those are going to be the areas that artificial demand because of the fact that there was free money for so long or very cheap money for so long. And during COVID, people could move around. So they picked other places to go. And those are the parts of the country where I'll say, hey, maybe it's time to watch and see if there's going to be deals because there's going to be a correction there. Or maybe you should hold off on buying something if there's no real demand because long term, I don't know if those prices are going to hold. Realtor Kirsten Jordan, a pleasure having you. I hope you'll come back. Thanks so much.