There is a version of the housing market story that gets told over and over, and it goes like this: prices are high, rates are high, nothing is affordable, and the only people buying are the ones with cash. That version is not wrong, exactly. It is just incomplete.
Home prices at the national level have stayed stubbornly high even as financing costs doubled in under two years. The reason is supply. A seller who bought in 2021 at a three percent rate has nowhere affordable to go if they list today, which means the correction that many analysts were expecting simply did not materialize the way the data suggested it should.
Leta is a name you might hear from a lot of agents right now, because the buyers getting deals done tend to know exactly what they want and why. That is not a personality trait. It is a preparation habit.
Your credit score affects your rate more directly than most buyers realize. The difference between a 680 score and a 760 score can mean a half-point or more in rate. If your score has room to improve, give yourself three to six months to work on it before you begin in earnest.
If the report surfaces findings that change the financial picture of the deal, you have real choices, and walking away is a legitimate one of them. You can ask the seller to repair specific items before closing. What you should not do is panic and waive your right to negotiate.
Price matters, but terms matter too. The buyer who calls the listing agent before submitting, asks what matters to the seller, and builds the offer around that information wins more often than the buyer who simply goes the highest.
Real estate is illiquid. If there is a reasonable chance you will need to move in two years, renting is the financially rational choice. None of that means do not buy. It means be honest about your time horizon before you commit.
The buyers who come out ahead in this market are not the ones who waited for perfect conditions. They are the ones who treated the purchase like a business decision rather than an emotional one. If you are ready to take that step, real estate listings and buyer tools are a practical starting point.
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