Picking up a good deal during a “slump”
You only have to read the newspaper or watch TV to be told that there is a “housing slump” at the moment with sales down nationwide. This can perhaps scare people into avoiding hunting for a new place until things pick up again. However, canny homebuyers can use this situation to their advantage to obtain a great deal which they may not be able to get under normal circumstances.
A “housing slump” can also be described as a “buyers market”. This means when you show an interest in a property, all the advantages are on the side of the buyer instead of the seller. During a slump, sellers cannot demand higher prices or hamstring you with what you would perceive to be unfair demands. The buyer instead gets to call the shots.
This allows you, the buyer, to be a little more relaxed about the homebuying process and with a bit of luck also grab a desirable property at an unbeatable price at great terms. You can even try to negotiate a better mortgage package as the home builder may have special arrangements with mortgage lenders or they may even offer mortgages themselves. In fact everyone from the seller to the mortgage lender will go out of their way to help because sales will be down overall due to the slump.
However, an interesting quote jumped out of a local Jacksonville newspaper. The Northeast Florida Builders Association notes that with over 2000 people a month moving to Jacksonville, property values in the area have always more-or-less remained stable so Jacksonville has never really slumped as much as the rest of the country.
But even so, buyers still remain in control right now and serious homebuyers should take full advantage of the situation.
