John Coleman, a real estate agent with the Jason Martin Group in Washington, D.C., said rising interest rates have not only made homebuying harder for many people, but have also put many people on the sidelines over the last year. Ta.
For many people looking to buy a new home, crunching the numbers can come as a huge shock. Interest rates are one factor driving up costs, and demand for housing has also increased as people moved out of condos during the pandemic.
John Coleman, a real estate agent with the Jason Martin Group in Washington, D.C., said rising interest rates have not only made homebuying harder for many people, but have also put many people on the sidelines over the last year. Ta.
“It's not a factor of whether people want to buy a home, it's a fact of whether they can afford a home,” Coleman said.
He said he believes the new year will bring change. He said interest rates have fallen slightly since the end of 2023, and more buyers are shopping again.
“We're going to see more and more of what we saw in the early days of COVID-19, which was high levels of multiple offers,” he said.
He said buyers are having to decide whether to pay a little more now or wait for interest rates to fall further, which will create more competition for property.
“I heard the other day that there were 30 offers in Gainesville and I was really surprised,” he said.
While stuck at home during the pandemic, many people decided to expand into bigger businesses, in some cases moving out of their condominiums near downtown Washington, D.C. Now, some of those people are feeling the pain of that decision.
“If you have to cross some bridges and deal with traffic and other areas, if people have to go back to the office, traffic will start to become a determining factor in why they want to go back to the city. “Deaf,” he said.
Just because people are looking closer doesn't mean they're looking at condos downtown. Instead, many suburban areas see more activity.
“Alexandria is booming right now. We're getting multiple offers across the board,” he said.
When it comes to what people are looking for, he said, people still want space and are primarily looking for townhomes and single-family homes.
“For some people, having a yard for a puppy seems like a pretty big deal,” Coleman says.
Coleman said condos are still on the move, but he's concerned that inflation will increase condo fees that many buyers will have to pay on top of high mortgages. Ta.
Coleman said people shouldn't expect to steal deals, but there are several areas in and near the Beltway that offer better deals for buyers.
In Virginia, he said, he is “beating the drum for Huntington” because there are still homes in the neighborhood in the $400,000 to $500,000 range.
“They're on a subway line that goes directly to the Amazon campus at National Landing. It's just an Uber ride to King Street,” Coleman said.
He said larger homes can be found along George Washington Parkway.
In Maryland, you may want to look in Kensington, which has some of the more affordable housing in the area, close to Washington, DC and just minutes from Pike and Rose in North Bethesda.
In Washington, D.C., Coleman said buyers should consider Sheppard Park if they want to get the most for their money. He said the district's location between the Walter Reed development and Silver Spring gives residents “a ton of commercial options,” and that the area has “a really good neighborhood feel.” ” he said.
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