Homebuyers Get Creative Amid Historically High Property Values

Authored by Michael Washburn via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The dramatic rise in median home prices in New York City and other busy real estate markets from pre-pandemic levels, and the intense competition for desirable properties, has driven buyers throughout the country to pursue a range of innovative solutions they might never have considered four or five years ago, brokers and real estate lawyers have told The Epoch Times.

With the median home listing price in New York City at $825,000, and a median sale price of $776,100, according to realtor.com figures, the Big Apple stands out as one of the most expensive and competitive markets in the nation.

By comparison, the median price stood at $615,000 in January 2019.

But that does not mean that buyers elsewhere have it easy. Throughout the rest of the country, they are looking long and hard for affordable deals with average home prices poised at $412,300.

The pandemic was something of a turning point. In the period from the first quarter of 2020 to the end of 2024, for example, the average price rose nearly 50 percent, from $329,000 to $479,500, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Mark Scheier, cofounder of Acton, Massachusetts-based real estate law firm Scheier Katin & Epstein, said recent analyses that describe the current market as a buyer’s market—where inventory volume and a relatively low bar for access favor buyers over sellers—are mistaken.

“I’m not experiencing a buyer’s market at all, I’m still experiencing a seller’s market here,” he told The Epoch Times.

Until recently, about 10 percent of the deals Scheier brokered for clients were all-cash deals, while the rest involved some mixture of financing—typically, bank loans—and cash.

“Almost 40 percent of my deals are cash deals, which was never the case before. People are doing everything they can, breaking into their retirement money, pooling all their assets together, to try to make cash deals,” Scheier said.

With prices rising so rapidly, one factor is fear of missing out (FOMO)—an acute sense on the part of many buyers that if they don’t get in now, they will face an even more fiercely competitive market in the near future, he stated.

A corollary to this perception, he said, is the need to acquire properties whose value is increasing dramatically and take advantage of the price appreciation while they still can.

“I’ve been practicing for 51 years, and I’ve seen all the ups and downs, and right now, I think there’s a lot of FOMO going on,” said Scheier.

“The train is leaving without them and if they don’t rush to get on the train, they’re going to lose out on that appreciation. People are feeling that way, so they’re moving ahead, they’re jumping off the cliff.”

Many people in the market are coming to realize that mortgage rates are unlikely to fall back to 2.5 percent in the foreseeable future and that they will have to accept rates of 6.5–7.0 percent, which might have previously put them off trying to close a deal, Scheier noted.

But the historically high prices and the competition requires a diversification of strategy that brokers say they have rarely seen before.

Homes near Castle Harbor Marina in Stevensville, Md., on March 4, 2024. From the first quarter of 2020 to the fourth quarter of 2022, the median home sales price rose 46 percent, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Tough Times

Some real estate industry professionals hailed the $418 million settlement in March of a long-running lawsuit against the National Association of Realtors (NAR), Sitzer/Burnett v. NAR Commission.

The lawsuit took issue with agents’ use of the association’s Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and the practice of charging 6 percent commissions, often split evenly between sellers’ and buyers’ brokers, in property sales.

Michael Downer, a broker at Coldwell Banker Realty in Naples, Florida, said the settlement means that buyers’ brokers can no longer pretend to their clients that they are acting pro bono while in fact automatically getting half of the 6 percent commission paid to sellers’ brokers at closing.

Buy-side brokers will have to be more transparent about what they are actually doing and what compensation they should rightfully receive for their role in a deal.

At the same time, others criticized the outcome on the grounds that purchasers who cease finding a buy-side broker using the MLS will begin working directly with sellers’ brokers, which poses a conflict of interest given those brokers’ preexisting relationships with their own clients.

“From a legal perspective, I don’t know that there has been that significant of a change in laws. Obviously, there was the recent NAR settlement, but it’s just with respect to the use of the MLS,” Zachary Schorr, a real estate lawyer and partner of the Los Angeles-based firm Schorr Law, told The Epoch Times.

In this highly competitive environment, some buyers are even going so far as waive the loan and appraisal contingencies that many have relied upon in the past to guarantee that they can get their deposit back if the mortgage financing they seek doesn’t get approved, or if the appraisal turned up unexpected issues at the property, said Schorr.

It can be a big mistake to waive these things or skirt due diligence—which may lead to serious problems after a sale, and cases of buyer’s remorse. Yet some people these days are acutely conscious of the disadvantage they face with respect to other buyers who are able to present themselves to sellers as unencumbered by any need to secure financing.

“It’s a more strategic way to do it if you’re in the all-cash market, or you’ll be beaten out by all-cash,” said Schorr.

“This is a higher-end market, too. If you’re way above the median price, there are more all-cash buyers.”

Lara Mizrack, a broker at Brown Harris Stevens in New York City, described many buyers’ unease as largely a function of high interest rates, the upcoming election, and international uncertainty. Mizrack acknowledged the distinct advantage that cash buyers hold in the current market.

“An all-cash deal has a faster application process, easier closing, and a seller does not have concerns about bank rejections,” she said.

Children ride scooters past “Open House” flags displayed outside a house in Los Angeles on Sept. 22, 2022. (Allison Dinner/Getty Images)

Creative Approaches

The key for buyers in the current market who are not super-wealthy is to show a high degree of flexibility both with regard to the types of properties they set out to acquire no less than the terms and structures of financing, said Cara Ameer, a broker with Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realty in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Finding prices in the range they can afford may sometimes require buyers to look beyond the area where they live and to consider, say, a townhouse or condo unit rather than a single-family home, Ameer told The Epoch Times.

Another option is to buy a property in order to rent it out and use the revenue from the rental to pay off the mortgage and increase their share in the equity of the property in question, she said.

“There are affordable opportunities in virtually every city and state, you just have to know where to look. Smaller towns near colleges and universities are often promising opportunities,” Ameer stated.

“Buyers should also work with a lender well versed in low- to no-downpayment loans, as well as first-time homebuyer programs and creative lending options that can help them access financing.”

Ameer noted that one Southern California lender she works with makes use of a program where buyers do not need to put any money down on a first mortgage and can take out a second mortgage using 3.5 percent in gift funds directly from the lender. The buyer must have funds to cover the closing costs.

The total paid at closing runs to around 3–4 percent of the purchase price, she said. Buyers who do not have the means even to cover that expense at closing can request a cost credit from the seller.

Ameer also pointed to Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan programs that require 3.5 percent down, and conventional loan programs with low down payments that cover anywhere from 5 percent to 100 percent of the total purchase price.

Yet another option for buyers who do not have deep pockets is to seek out a property in a state of disrepair, whether that means something as serious as a missing roof or as cosmetic as broken air conditioning, and to apply for a renovation loan, Ameer said.