November 13, 2025 • 18 mins
President Trump recently hinted about making a 50-year mortgage an option to address home affordability. In this short-take episode, we take a quick look at some pros and cons of using such a financing method to help primarily younger potential homebuyers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Remax real Estate Insights show,
where you get real talk by real agents, brought to
you by Remas of Southeastern Michigan. Well, welcome and thanks
for joining us here on the Remax real Estate Insights Podcast.
We're always happy to have you joining us. Today's going
to be kind of a quick hit podcast. It's just myself.
I'm Janee Schneider. I'm your host, And it was Veterans
(00:23):
Day this week, and due to a little scheduling conflict,
I was able to go with my husband to a
Veterans Day event, kind of bumped our regular guests from
being in here or our guests that I had scheduled.
So she's going to be on in another week or so.
But in the meantime, I wanted to reach out and
there was something that made news that it's probably worth
talking about, and that is President Trump had kind of
(00:46):
floated out in a recent interview that they're looking at
having a fifty year mortgage become an option, and that
has caught a lot of interest by the press and
those in and around the real estate industry. So what
did the chat a little bit about that today? You know,
I guess you know Is it good or bad? Is
kind of the question that a lot of us in
(01:06):
the industry gets, and I think the answer kind of says, well,
it depends. Do I think that this is a silver
bullet that is going to solve all affordability problems, you know,
or all issues facing the real estate industry. I think
the answer is a resounding no. But on the positive side,
what I do think is encouraging is that the administration
(01:26):
is talking about housing, They're looking at ways to address affordability.
And you know, like any any situation that you're trying
to solve, any challenge that you're trying to solve, you've
got to kind of throw some things at the wall.
You've got to throw some ideas out there and kind
of see what works. And it seems as though they
are trying to do that, and that in and of
itself is not a bad thing, because whether or not
(01:48):
the fifty year mortgage becomes widely used or accepted or
used at all, that they're talking about this is ultimately
a good thing. So let's talk though a little bit
about what if what if a fifty year mortgage, you know,
became an option, does it help you know, folks that
are trying to buy a home, and we know that,
especially for younger buyers, affordability has been a big challenge
(02:12):
for them. In part, you know, a lot of younger
buyers maybe carrying student debt, that is a debt previous
generations didn't have to factor into their budgeting when they
were trying to save money for a house, and a
fifty year mortgage could be a tool that helps them
get their foot in the door. You know, while the
amount of money that it reduces the monthly payment buy
(02:34):
is going to vary obviously based on the cost of
a home, it could likely be anywhere from one hundred
to couple one hundred dollars or more depending on the
house that they buy, you know, to help get them
in that may be enough for some people to feel
comfortable making, you know, taking that step into home ownership.
And you know, one of the things that's been kind
(02:55):
of widely discussed is the back end costs. Yes on
the front and you know, so to speak, there's likely
to be a little bit of savings if you're buying
a home and you're spreading your payments out over fifty
years versus thirty. Obviously, the monthly amount that you're going
to pay is going to decrease. And that's what I
think a lot of focus, the positive focus from those saying, hey,
this helps with affordability. Certainly there is that aspect, but
(03:19):
it is fair to point out that on the back end,
you're going to pay far more in interest because you're
going to be paying that interest for many, many, many
more years. And running some numbers, and I know, you
know a lot of times if you're listening to a podcasts,
you're driving, or you're doing something else, and numbers may
not really sit strongly because you're doing other things. But
(03:41):
I did run some numbers. In southeastern Michigan right now,
the median sales price for a home as of October
was three hundred and fifteen five hundred dollars. Now, assuming
that somebody put twenty percent down, which may not be
the case. If affordability is an issue, you're probably putting
less down. But for the sake of argument, we use
the twenty percent down option. That means you'd be financing
(04:03):
a home at about two hundred and fifty two four
hundred dollars if you were going to do a thirty
year mortgage at a six point three percent interest rate,
your monthly payment's going to be about fifteen hundred and
sixty one dollars. If you did a fifty year mortgage
and I did increase the interest rate slightly, because the
expectation would be the lender is taking a bigger risk
(04:26):
on you and a fifty year mortgage, they're going to
require a little bit more in that interest. So I
bumped it to six point eight, that mortgage payment would
reduce to fifteen thirty one. So realistically, a thirty dollars
savings is that enough to put somebody in a house monthly?
Maybe not, But you know, again, if you put three
percent down, these numbers start to change. But just taking
(04:47):
a look at that, you know you're looking at a
little bit of a decrease in your monthly your monthly payment.
If you're looking out over the life of that loan,
this is where the back end of things, This is
where the numbers do dramatically change over the life of
the loan. At a thirty year loan, you'd pay just
about three hundred and ten thousand dollars in interest. The
(05:07):
over the life of a fifty year loan, you're paying
over six hundred and sixty six thousand dollars in interest,
so huge on the back end. As far as what
the difference could be now, I say could be is
because most people, whether you're on a thirty year or
potentially this hypothetical fifty year, most people never stay in
(05:29):
the home the full length of the mortgage. On average,
people move or change homes about every seven to ten years.
So the likelihood of anybody take again, whether taking a
thirty or a fifty year, the likelihood of them seeing
that initial mortgage through to completion is highly unlikely. So
it's unlikely that you're ever going to get to the
point of paying that much extra interest. The other thing
(05:53):
to consider if you're taking a look at what could
this mean is, you know, for most young buyers, and
again this is true of whatever mortgage product you're going into.
For most younger buyers, you're typically at the beginning of
your career. The expectation means they're certainly no guarantee, but
the expectation is going to be that as you get
older and you spend more time in your position, you
(06:15):
tend to earn more money, and so therefore you know
you're going to have more income coming in to you know,
pay your monthly mortgage payment and have you know extra
after that that you're earning. Power is going to increase,
and then of course there's always the potential to refinance
if rates were to go you know, low enough that
it made sense to do that. So again, when we
(06:36):
look at it, you know, there is definitely a group
of people that are saying, well, this is a one
of the phrases I've read is this is a big
nothing burger. It doesn't really change anything, you know, for folks.
And then there's the argument made on the other side.
This could be just enough that if somebody's renting, they
can now basically say, well, if I'm just looking at
the cost of shelter to put a roof over my head,
(06:58):
I could continue to rent and up a landlord, you know,
build their wealth, or now I probably can afford to
get into a home and start to you know, and
it might be very small on this first home purchase,
I mean, because if you even if you stayed in
it ten years, you're going to be paid paying primarily
interest on that loan. You're not going to have a
(07:18):
ton of equity. But if it gets your foot in
the door, so to speak, it certainly could be worth it. So,
as with any home purchase, we always strongly encourage folks,
you know, talk to a lender. You know, whether the
fifty year ever comes into fruition or not. You know,
if you're looking to do something, and if it does,
you definitely would want to talk to a lender about
(07:39):
what does this mean for me short term i e.
My monthly payments and long term what I'm going to
pay over the life of the loan. It's also something
that if you have a financial planner, or if you don't,
it might be a good idea to identify one and
talk to them. You know about your long you know
your long range plans and how if a fifty year
mortgage became, you know, an option for you, is it
(07:59):
something that could work into your long term goals, your
bigger overall goals. So the thing to keep in mind is,
while there's been a lot of coverage of this over
the last couple of days for sure, and likely to
be more if we hear more about this in the future,
is right now, this is not a done deal right now.
This was just obviously something that's being discussed. Perhaps it
(08:23):
was you know, intended to be discussed more behind door,
behind closed doors, and it kind of got leaked, if
you will. Maybe it was a trial balloon to see
how people would react. I guess we'll probably never know.
But you know, right now, this is just a discussion.
It's not fully defined, and actually there would be some
legislation that would have to happen, because right now a
fifty year mortgage is not something that's considered a qualified
(08:46):
mortgage that could be backed by Fanny and Freddy. That's
kind of getting into the weeds. I mean, so even
if this were something that somebody wanted to really push forward,
it would likely be several months up to a year
before we'd really see this, you know, kind of come
into play for a widely accepted and widely used tool
to help folks buy a home. But again, it's interesting
(09:07):
that they're talking about it. I think that's it's optimistic
that we've got folks looking at what can be done
and if this isn't the this isn't the thing that
ends up becoming a reality down the road. That we've
got folks looking at this and clearly other things that
could help with home affordability, I think that's a positive
for anybody out there. That's looking to buy a home.
(09:28):
And so speaking of which, I'm just going to do
a little bit of a rundown of where the market
is right now. Just created our October monthly Housing report,
and I hinted before the median sales price right now
across southeastern Michigan. And when I say that, the counties
that we include in this report are Livingston, Macomb, Oakland,
and Wayne. So looking at those counties, the median sales
(09:50):
prices just over three hundred and fifteen thousand dollars what
we're seeing right now, and there hasn't been much movement.
Matter of fact, from September to October it stayed flat,
taking on average twenty eight days for homes to sell.
So while the market has definitely a softer, you know,
less frantic feel to it, and it certainly there certainly
(10:11):
has been some shifting this year, on average, homes are
still moving relatively quickly. What we have seen is the
month's supply of inventory. Now it's creeping up, but it
now stands at three months and that's a far cry
from where it was a couple of years ago. You know,
you could go back in twenty one and even early
twenty two there were some markets where we had less
(10:32):
than a month's supply of inventory. Over the last you know, year,
two year or two, we've kind of seen those numbers
just ever so gradually, you know, kind of continuing to
climb up, and we now do stand at a three
month supply of inventory, which is the most we've seen
in a while. This points to the fact that we've
been kind of the market has been in a bit
of a shift. It's a little more balanced than it
(10:55):
has been in quite some time, and part of that
we are off. Part of what's driving those numbers is
we are also seeing more inventory coming to market. Not
that we've had a big landslide of homes coming to market,
but there have been some more homes coming to market,
but that they're only on average, sitting there twenty eight days,
and again there's always going to be exceptions to that rule.
(11:17):
We're still going to have homes that sell on the
first weekend with multiple offers, and we're going to have
homes that sit longer than that. But on average says
that there's enough buyers out there that as the new
inventory is coming to market, buyers are paying attention. What
we did see as far as home sales is the
trend that we've pretty much seen for most of the year,
(11:37):
with the exception of a couple of months months a
year over year, home sales were down. There were three
point eight fewer home sales in October than there were
a year ago. In October, However, there were the home
sales actually ticked up from September to October. That is
not something we necessarily see in a quote unquote you
know typical year. You know, typically when we get to
(12:01):
September October, every month you kind of see a little
bit fewer home sales as you get into the deeper
winter months, going into the holidays, into January and February
before things kind of start to rebound and head back up.
I think some of what was driving what we saw
in October was interest rates had started to come down.
That peaked buyer's interests. We had some buyers that maybe
(12:22):
that taken a pause, that got back into the market
as they saw interest rates coming down. Certainly helped maybe
give a little shot in the arm to home sales there.
So just one of the you know, kind of talk
through what's happening in the market as we look from
county to county. There's not a lot of discrepancy between
the counties. I would say the one county that always
(12:43):
kind of seems to be a little you know, kind
of listening to the beat of their own drum as livingstone.
You know, they kind of bucked the trend on home sales.
They went down when everybody else went up from a
county perspective, but when it came to price increases and
other things like that, all the counties were pretty much
in the same in the same boat. So taking a
(13:03):
look at, you know, people that are looking to apply
for mortgages and things like that. We certainly have noticed
over the last month or so as interest rates have
ticked down, that seems said there's a correlation and an
increase in people that are putting in mortgage applications. So
buyers are you know, watching what's going on from that perspective,
And I guess just a little bit of advice for
sellers out there, if you are, you know, considering selling
(13:26):
your home, this is the time. This is the market
right now. It has shifted a bit, you know, it's
shifting towards a more balanced market, but it has a
seller you know, in years in the in the recent past,
you've been able to kind of maybe come to market
with a little bit of a higher price point, and
you probably were going to be okay with that. Now
I would say, you really have to make sure you're
(13:47):
pricing your house. You're threading that needle as accurately as possible,
that you're pricing your house kind of right where the
market is, so that you do attract buyers coming in
and you want to have your house present is you know,
nicely as possible that first impression, So you know, talk
to an agent, you know, make sure if you're looking
to put your home on the market, you get their
expertise on where and if and when to spend money.
(14:11):
You don't want to spend money foolishly as a seller,
but have an agent come out and tell you maybe,
you know, if there is a little you know, a
little couple of things you can do here and here,
here and there to make it present. Well, if maybe
there is, hopefully not, but if there is a little
bit of a bigger ticket item that you may be
it may be in your best interest for you to
address it versus it coming up on an inspection. Because
(14:31):
what we know or what we're seeing is that buyers
are becoming they're flexing their muscle just a little bit.
For the last several years, you know, it really has
been a full on seller's market, and buyers knew that.
Buyers are now looking to do a little negotiation. If
they're going to pay, you know, if they're going to
pay you near or at asking price, which is still
(14:53):
where most homes are selling at. They're still selling very
close to asking price, then they're expecting the home to
you know, kind of you know, have everything in good order.
So if you're a seller, I would say, talk to
talk to you, you know, an agent, get some good
advice so that you can, you know, kind of prepare
your home wisely so that it positions your home in
the eyes of buyers very well and you don't spend
(15:16):
money that that you don't need to. From a buyer's perspective,
I would say, we have had a little bit of
inventory coming on the market. Now could be a great
time of the year to buy. You know, everybody thinks
that spring, you know, is the time, and certainly that
is that that is the season that you know, late
spring early summer has always been historically in our market.
We're going to see more business, the weather is more favorable.
(15:39):
If you're trying to work around a school year, you know,
looking at homes in late spring, moving during the summer
with kids, It totally makes sense if that's not a
concern for you, you know, and you're and you could
be out in the market now. Certainly that the market
is not as frantic right now. As a buyer, you're
probably going to face a little bit less competition when
it comes to service providers or moving companies or other
(16:02):
things that you may need to work with during this time.
They're not as busy either, so booking the moving company
or getting the painter to come in or you know,
things of that nature may be a little bit easier
now than it will be if you wait until spring.
So just wanted to kind of throw, you know, some
of those tips out there. And as always, if you're
looking to buy or sell, your local Remax office and
(16:24):
your local Remax agents would be happy to chat with you,
happy to come out and meet with you, share with
you what's going on in your local market, answer any
questions that you may have pertinent to your situation, and
you know, ultimately help you buy or sell your home.
So with that, this is going to be the end
of the podcast for today, and again we have talked
(16:45):
a little bit about those fifty year mortgages. It'll be
interesting to see what, you know, what actually happens out
of Washington, if this gets any legs, if it if
it goes anywhere, or you know, if this was just
a trial balloon and they come out with some than
outs down the road. But I do know that they
are talking about the housing market, and overall, I think
that's good for everybody because anything that you know, can
(17:08):
be done, however small, to move the needle, to make
homes more affordable and to help support the housing industry
really helps not just the housing industry, it helps buyers
and sellers, but there's so many ancillary service providers and
businesses you know that support and are funded by, you know,
real estate. When you buy a home, that's not the
(17:29):
only thing you buy. I mean, typically you're you're going
to be going to home depot or lows and you're
going to be potentially hiring contractors to do some work,
and you're going to likely be buying maybe some new
furniture or furnishings for that home. And all of those
businesses also benefit and when we have a healthy housing market.
So anything that we can do to help, you know,
kind of shore that up is certainly welcome news. That
(17:50):
is it for today until next time. We hope you
have a good week and we will be chatting with
you soon. We hope you enjoy today's episode. Don't forget
to subscribebe write a review, or rate the show as
it helps us reach more people. You can also follow
us on Facebook and Instagram.
You are listening to the Remax real Estate Insights show,
where you get real talk by real agents, brought to
you by Remas of Southeastern Michigan. Well, welcome and thanks
for joining us here on the Remax real Estate Insights Podcast.
We're always happy to have you joining us. Today's going
to be kind of a quick hit podcast. It's just myself.
I'm Janee Schneider. I'm your host, And it was Veterans
(00:23):
Day this week, and due to a little scheduling conflict,
I was able to go with my husband to a
Veterans Day event, kind of bumped our regular guests from
being in here or our guests that I had scheduled.
So she's going to be on in another week or so.
But in the meantime, I wanted to reach out and
there was something that made news that it's probably worth
talking about, and that is President Trump had kind of
(00:46):
floated out in a recent interview that they're looking at
having a fifty year mortgage become an option, and that
has caught a lot of interest by the press and
those in and around the real estate industry. So what
did the chat a little bit about that today? You know,
I guess you know Is it good or bad? Is
kind of the question that a lot of us in
(01:06):
the industry gets, and I think the answer kind of says, well,
it depends. Do I think that this is a silver
bullet that is going to solve all affordability problems, you know,
or all issues facing the real estate industry. I think
the answer is a resounding no. But on the positive side,
what I do think is encouraging is that the administration
(01:26):
is talking about housing, They're looking at ways to address affordability.
And you know, like any any situation that you're trying
to solve, any challenge that you're trying to solve, you've
got to kind of throw some things at the wall.
You've got to throw some ideas out there and kind
of see what works. And it seems as though they
are trying to do that, and that in and of
itself is not a bad thing, because whether or not
(01:48):
the fifty year mortgage becomes widely used or accepted or
used at all, that they're talking about this is ultimately
a good thing. So let's talk though a little bit
about what if what if a fifty year mortgage, you know,
became an option, does it help you know, folks that
are trying to buy a home, and we know that,
especially for younger buyers, affordability has been a big challenge
(02:12):
for them. In part, you know, a lot of younger
buyers maybe carrying student debt, that is a debt previous
generations didn't have to factor into their budgeting when they
were trying to save money for a house, and a
fifty year mortgage could be a tool that helps them
get their foot in the door. You know, while the
amount of money that it reduces the monthly payment buy
(02:34):
is going to vary obviously based on the cost of
a home, it could likely be anywhere from one hundred
to couple one hundred dollars or more depending on the
house that they buy, you know, to help get them
in that may be enough for some people to feel
comfortable making, you know, taking that step into home ownership.
And you know, one of the things that's been kind
(02:55):
of widely discussed is the back end costs. Yes on
the front and you know, so to speak, there's likely
to be a little bit of savings if you're buying
a home and you're spreading your payments out over fifty
years versus thirty. Obviously, the monthly amount that you're going
to pay is going to decrease. And that's what I
think a lot of focus, the positive focus from those saying, hey,
this helps with affordability. Certainly there is that aspect, but
(03:19):
it is fair to point out that on the back end,
you're going to pay far more in interest because you're
going to be paying that interest for many, many, many
more years. And running some numbers, and I know, you
know a lot of times if you're listening to a podcasts,
you're driving, or you're doing something else, and numbers may
not really sit strongly because you're doing other things. But
(03:41):
I did run some numbers. In southeastern Michigan right now,
the median sales price for a home as of October
was three hundred and fifteen five hundred dollars. Now, assuming
that somebody put twenty percent down, which may not be
the case. If affordability is an issue, you're probably putting
less down. But for the sake of argument, we use
the twenty percent down option. That means you'd be financing
(04:03):
a home at about two hundred and fifty two four
hundred dollars if you were going to do a thirty
year mortgage at a six point three percent interest rate,
your monthly payment's going to be about fifteen hundred and
sixty one dollars. If you did a fifty year mortgage
and I did increase the interest rate slightly, because the
expectation would be the lender is taking a bigger risk
(04:26):
on you and a fifty year mortgage, they're going to
require a little bit more in that interest. So I
bumped it to six point eight, that mortgage payment would
reduce to fifteen thirty one. So realistically, a thirty dollars
savings is that enough to put somebody in a house monthly?
Maybe not, But you know, again, if you put three
percent down, these numbers start to change. But just taking
(04:47):
a look at that, you know you're looking at a
little bit of a decrease in your monthly your monthly payment.
If you're looking out over the life of that loan,
this is where the back end of things, This is
where the numbers do dramatically change over the life of
the loan. At a thirty year loan, you'd pay just
about three hundred and ten thousand dollars in interest. The
(05:07):
over the life of a fifty year loan, you're paying
over six hundred and sixty six thousand dollars in interest,
so huge on the back end. As far as what
the difference could be now, I say could be is
because most people, whether you're on a thirty year or
potentially this hypothetical fifty year, most people never stay in
(05:29):
the home the full length of the mortgage. On average,
people move or change homes about every seven to ten years.
So the likelihood of anybody take again, whether taking a
thirty or a fifty year, the likelihood of them seeing
that initial mortgage through to completion is highly unlikely. So
it's unlikely that you're ever going to get to the
point of paying that much extra interest. The other thing
(05:53):
to consider if you're taking a look at what could
this mean is, you know, for most young buyers, and
again this is true of whatever mortgage product you're going into.
For most younger buyers, you're typically at the beginning of
your career. The expectation means they're certainly no guarantee, but
the expectation is going to be that as you get
older and you spend more time in your position, you
(06:15):
tend to earn more money, and so therefore you know
you're going to have more income coming in to you know,
pay your monthly mortgage payment and have you know extra
after that that you're earning. Power is going to increase,
and then of course there's always the potential to refinance
if rates were to go you know, low enough that
it made sense to do that. So again, when we
(06:36):
look at it, you know, there is definitely a group
of people that are saying, well, this is a one
of the phrases I've read is this is a big
nothing burger. It doesn't really change anything, you know, for folks.
And then there's the argument made on the other side.
This could be just enough that if somebody's renting, they
can now basically say, well, if I'm just looking at
the cost of shelter to put a roof over my head,
(06:58):
I could continue to rent and up a landlord, you know,
build their wealth, or now I probably can afford to
get into a home and start to you know, and
it might be very small on this first home purchase,
I mean, because if you even if you stayed in
it ten years, you're going to be paid paying primarily
interest on that loan. You're not going to have a
(07:18):
ton of equity. But if it gets your foot in
the door, so to speak, it certainly could be worth it. So,
as with any home purchase, we always strongly encourage folks,
you know, talk to a lender. You know, whether the
fifty year ever comes into fruition or not. You know,
if you're looking to do something, and if it does,
you definitely would want to talk to a lender about
(07:39):
what does this mean for me short term i e.
My monthly payments and long term what I'm going to
pay over the life of the loan. It's also something
that if you have a financial planner, or if you don't,
it might be a good idea to identify one and
talk to them. You know about your long you know
your long range plans and how if a fifty year
mortgage became, you know, an option for you, is it
(07:59):
something that could work into your long term goals, your
bigger overall goals. So the thing to keep in mind is,
while there's been a lot of coverage of this over
the last couple of days for sure, and likely to
be more if we hear more about this in the future,
is right now, this is not a done deal right now.
This was just obviously something that's being discussed. Perhaps it
(08:23):
was you know, intended to be discussed more behind door,
behind closed doors, and it kind of got leaked, if
you will. Maybe it was a trial balloon to see
how people would react. I guess we'll probably never know.
But you know, right now, this is just a discussion.
It's not fully defined, and actually there would be some
legislation that would have to happen, because right now a
fifty year mortgage is not something that's considered a qualified
(08:46):
mortgage that could be backed by Fanny and Freddy. That's
kind of getting into the weeds. I mean, so even
if this were something that somebody wanted to really push forward,
it would likely be several months up to a year
before we'd really see this, you know, kind of come
into play for a widely accepted and widely used tool
to help folks buy a home. But again, it's interesting
(09:07):
that they're talking about it. I think that's it's optimistic
that we've got folks looking at what can be done
and if this isn't the this isn't the thing that
ends up becoming a reality down the road. That we've
got folks looking at this and clearly other things that
could help with home affordability, I think that's a positive
for anybody out there. That's looking to buy a home.
(09:28):
And so speaking of which, I'm just going to do
a little bit of a rundown of where the market
is right now. Just created our October monthly Housing report,
and I hinted before the median sales price right now
across southeastern Michigan. And when I say that, the counties
that we include in this report are Livingston, Macomb, Oakland,
and Wayne. So looking at those counties, the median sales
(09:50):
prices just over three hundred and fifteen thousand dollars what
we're seeing right now, and there hasn't been much movement.
Matter of fact, from September to October it stayed flat,
taking on average twenty eight days for homes to sell.
So while the market has definitely a softer, you know,
less frantic feel to it, and it certainly there certainly
(10:11):
has been some shifting this year, on average, homes are
still moving relatively quickly. What we have seen is the
month's supply of inventory. Now it's creeping up, but it
now stands at three months and that's a far cry
from where it was a couple of years ago. You know,
you could go back in twenty one and even early
twenty two there were some markets where we had less
(10:32):
than a month's supply of inventory. Over the last you know, year,
two year or two, we've kind of seen those numbers
just ever so gradually, you know, kind of continuing to
climb up, and we now do stand at a three
month supply of inventory, which is the most we've seen
in a while. This points to the fact that we've
been kind of the market has been in a bit
of a shift. It's a little more balanced than it
(10:55):
has been in quite some time, and part of that
we are off. Part of what's driving those numbers is
we are also seeing more inventory coming to market. Not
that we've had a big landslide of homes coming to market,
but there have been some more homes coming to market,
but that they're only on average, sitting there twenty eight days,
and again there's always going to be exceptions to that rule.
(11:17):
We're still going to have homes that sell on the
first weekend with multiple offers, and we're going to have
homes that sit longer than that. But on average says
that there's enough buyers out there that as the new
inventory is coming to market, buyers are paying attention. What
we did see as far as home sales is the
trend that we've pretty much seen for most of the year,
(11:37):
with the exception of a couple of months months a
year over year, home sales were down. There were three
point eight fewer home sales in October than there were
a year ago. In October, However, there were the home
sales actually ticked up from September to October. That is
not something we necessarily see in a quote unquote you
know typical year. You know, typically when we get to
(12:01):
September October, every month you kind of see a little
bit fewer home sales as you get into the deeper
winter months, going into the holidays, into January and February
before things kind of start to rebound and head back up.
I think some of what was driving what we saw
in October was interest rates had started to come down.
That peaked buyer's interests. We had some buyers that maybe
(12:22):
that taken a pause, that got back into the market
as they saw interest rates coming down. Certainly helped maybe
give a little shot in the arm to home sales there.
So just one of the you know, kind of talk
through what's happening in the market as we look from
county to county. There's not a lot of discrepancy between
the counties. I would say the one county that always
(12:43):
kind of seems to be a little you know, kind
of listening to the beat of their own drum as livingstone.
You know, they kind of bucked the trend on home sales.
They went down when everybody else went up from a
county perspective, but when it came to price increases and
other things like that, all the counties were pretty much
in the same in the same boat. So taking a
(13:03):
look at, you know, people that are looking to apply
for mortgages and things like that. We certainly have noticed
over the last month or so as interest rates have
ticked down, that seems said there's a correlation and an
increase in people that are putting in mortgage applications. So
buyers are you know, watching what's going on from that perspective,
And I guess just a little bit of advice for
sellers out there, if you are, you know, considering selling
(13:26):
your home, this is the time. This is the market
right now. It has shifted a bit, you know, it's
shifting towards a more balanced market, but it has a
seller you know, in years in the in the recent past,
you've been able to kind of maybe come to market
with a little bit of a higher price point, and
you probably were going to be okay with that. Now
I would say, you really have to make sure you're
(13:47):
pricing your house. You're threading that needle as accurately as possible,
that you're pricing your house kind of right where the
market is, so that you do attract buyers coming in
and you want to have your house present is you know,
nicely as possible that first impression, So you know, talk
to an agent, you know, make sure if you're looking
to put your home on the market, you get their
expertise on where and if and when to spend money.
(14:11):
You don't want to spend money foolishly as a seller,
but have an agent come out and tell you maybe,
you know, if there is a little you know, a
little couple of things you can do here and here,
here and there to make it present. Well, if maybe
there is, hopefully not, but if there is a little
bit of a bigger ticket item that you may be
it may be in your best interest for you to
address it versus it coming up on an inspection. Because
(14:31):
what we know or what we're seeing is that buyers
are becoming they're flexing their muscle just a little bit.
For the last several years, you know, it really has
been a full on seller's market, and buyers knew that.
Buyers are now looking to do a little negotiation. If
they're going to pay, you know, if they're going to
pay you near or at asking price, which is still
(14:53):
where most homes are selling at. They're still selling very
close to asking price, then they're expecting the home to
you know, kind of you know, have everything in good order.
So if you're a seller, I would say, talk to
talk to you, you know, an agent, get some good
advice so that you can, you know, kind of prepare
your home wisely so that it positions your home in
the eyes of buyers very well and you don't spend
(15:16):
money that that you don't need to. From a buyer's perspective,
I would say, we have had a little bit of
inventory coming on the market. Now could be a great
time of the year to buy. You know, everybody thinks
that spring, you know, is the time, and certainly that
is that that is the season that you know, late
spring early summer has always been historically in our market.
We're going to see more business, the weather is more favorable.
(15:39):
If you're trying to work around a school year, you know,
looking at homes in late spring, moving during the summer
with kids, It totally makes sense if that's not a
concern for you, you know, and you're and you could
be out in the market now. Certainly that the market
is not as frantic right now. As a buyer, you're
probably going to face a little bit less competition when
it comes to service providers or moving companies or other
(16:02):
things that you may need to work with during this time.
They're not as busy either, so booking the moving company
or getting the painter to come in or you know,
things of that nature may be a little bit easier
now than it will be if you wait until spring.
So just wanted to kind of throw, you know, some
of those tips out there. And as always, if you're
looking to buy or sell, your local Remax office and
(16:24):
your local Remax agents would be happy to chat with you,
happy to come out and meet with you, share with
you what's going on in your local market, answer any
questions that you may have pertinent to your situation, and
you know, ultimately help you buy or sell your home.
So with that, this is going to be the end
of the podcast for today, and again we have talked
(16:45):
a little bit about those fifty year mortgages. It'll be
interesting to see what, you know, what actually happens out
of Washington, if this gets any legs, if it if
it goes anywhere, or you know, if this was just
a trial balloon and they come out with some than
outs down the road. But I do know that they
are talking about the housing market, and overall, I think
that's good for everybody because anything that you know, can
(17:08):
be done, however small, to move the needle, to make
homes more affordable and to help support the housing industry
really helps not just the housing industry, it helps buyers
and sellers, but there's so many ancillary service providers and
businesses you know that support and are funded by, you know,
real estate. When you buy a home, that's not the
(17:29):
only thing you buy. I mean, typically you're you're going
to be going to home depot or lows and you're
going to be potentially hiring contractors to do some work,
and you're going to likely be buying maybe some new
furniture or furnishings for that home. And all of those
businesses also benefit and when we have a healthy housing market.
So anything that we can do to help, you know,
kind of shore that up is certainly welcome news. That
(17:50):
is it for today until next time. We hope you
have a good week and we will be chatting with
you soon. We hope you enjoy today's episode. Don't forget
to subscribebe write a review, or rate the show as
it helps us reach more people. You can also follow
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