For a number of months, I have been watching the stratospheric rise in home prices with shock, right along with my buyers; my sellers, of course, loved it, until the shoe was on the other foot and they were then faced with competing in a multiple offer environment. Ah, but now, with 30 year fixed rates approaching 7%, there seems to be a shift toward a more balanced market. I have been pleasantly surprised to see four bedroom homes listing in the high 300s to low 400s in Kennesaw, for the first time in nearly 18 months. One listing in particular, in the Powder Springs part of Paulding sold in the early summer (to an investor I am pretty sure) for the low 500s; it has now been on the market for four months and has trended down to a current asking price in the high 300s. While you and I cannot absorb a loss of 125k, institutional investors (think hedge funds) can and do absorb such losses regularly. Now may well be the time to actively search for a home during the traditionally slower market we usually see in the Fall and around the holidays. We can also look at 5/1 and 7/1 ARMs where the rate is lower than the 30 year fixed for that initial period of time and then adjusts five to seven years down the road to a yearly rate. Not a good plan for everyone, but it has worked well for some of my past clients who will have all their children in school within the next few years, so that both parents can go back to work, or in circumstances where college expenses will be over and done with 3-5 years down the road.
We do not have September stats yet, but those for August show the softening of the market.
https://gar.stats.showingtime.com/docs/hso/x/GeorgiaAssociationofREALTORS?src=map
Glad, as always, to discuss individual needs and develop a workable plan.