The Cincinnati housing market just took a weird turn…

I have some seriously wild news to share about the Cincinnati housing market. It’s like a roller coaster ride right now, with unexpected twists and turns that have left everyone scratching their heads.

So get this: for the last few years, it’s been an UNQUESTIONABLE seller’s market. Meaning as a home seller you could practically throw a number out to the market and get it.

You could request there be no inspections, ask for a quick close, and seller concessions were the LAST thing that was about to happen. And even with all of these seemingly outrageous requests (compared to a “normal” market), you’d still have buyers lining out the door to give you MORE money than you were asking for!

But over the last year, things have taken a turn…

While inventory is still super low, things are shifting more toward the buyer’s advantage. Part of this is due to the rise in interest rates, making the exact same home for the exact same price MUCH less affordable to buyers.

This has caused the average days on market to increase quite a bit compared to the last couple of years. In order to combat this, we have seen almost a 2x increase in seller concessions compared to the year before! This means that sellers (in some cases) are now actually taking money out of their proceeds from the sale of their home, and practically handing it over to the buyer!

What does this mean for you?

Well, if you’re a seller, here’s what it means…

In order to avoid a disaster by having your home sit on the market for months on end, it may be wise to consider positioning your home as more valuable than the others by offering seller concessions up front! If a buyer knows coming into your property that regardless of where rates are, they have the opportunity to get some concessions towards them, it positions your property as much more valuable than those not offering the same.

Just take a look at what builders are doing right now! They’re using this exact strategy to position their home as the “obvious choice” to potential buyers.

And what does this mean if you’re a buyer?

You have the opportunity to fight these rising interest rates! You can request to have seller concessions go towards an “interest rate buy down”.

While it may not be the same as the 3% rates we’ve been lucky to see over the last couple of years, it’s better than paying the full rate! And in the future, as things calm down and interest rates get tamed a bit, you can always refinance.

I’ll keep a close eye on this situation, but I’d love to hear your take on all of this madness!