[ASAP]

As everyone knows, we are kind of in a crazy housing market with interest rates and supply etc.

I recently looked at a few houses that i'd be purchasing... I don't need to move but I am in a comfortable enough situation to move. In any case, here is what I've seen... BTW I live in FL (which throughout the pandemic has had the highest pricing growth over the past 4 years and is now one of the most expensive places to live)... the things I've seen to say the least are strange.

First off, the housing market in my area is absolutely at a a dead halt... when during the pandemic, houses where getting multiple offers and sold within days, there is absolutely nothing going on right now... this is even backed up by my realtor who said there is 0 hurry to buy anything right now and there is little to no activity in my area... the 7.5% RATE is starting to do its things...

In any case -

House 1 - New construction, downtown... at a price of about 400K... there are about 8 empty houses by this builder next to each other... with a street on the other side with about 8 more. A few streets down, more expensive larger homes sitting empty. The builder doesn't seem to want to budge on price by more than 10-15k... again... they are sitting on miles of inventory in this area. There is also no special financing. These houses have now sat for 300+ days...

House 2- Nice neighborhood in the suburbs... about 4-5 years old... list price of about 360k... I offered based on similar comps from recent sales 310K. The sellers said this is outrageous... even tho I showed them this is based on comps... their realtor tells me, if they listed this house at 330k... it would have multiple offers... guess what, it's been 2 months and there are exactly 0 offers. They called me and said they can easily do 320k now... lol... i said i am not budging at all. Well this put the sellers in a quandry because unless they sell at that price, they can't even move (i.e) they don't even quality for a loan for their next home lol. Story continues later -

House 3- pops up in a neighborhood down the street from house 2... listed also at 360k but far larger than the one above... also much much nicer. I offer 330k... the sellers were "offended" by my offer... since that time... little to no movement on the house lol and the owners are somehow still convinced they can sell close to list price. In the meantime, house 2 owners reach out they will sell for 310k just to get the deal done lol.... however i am not even interested in house 2 based on seeing house 3 and what you get for just a little more.

I can conclude a few things-

1) There is a major tidal wave of recession upon us that will completely reset sellers expectations.

2) Most sellers are stuck in a sellers market from 2 years ago when rates were 2% not near 8% lol. Most people could not afford their own homes anymore at all with current rates.

3) We will return to a normal seller / buying market where houses sit for months and months.

I say this and understand that this is heavily influenced by the area you are in... but recall, I am in FL (aka what was the hottest market a few months ago). Not sure what everyone is seeing their markets... but the market will be in for a rude awakening very very soon.