Like an opium-fueled fantasy, what’s been called “The American Dream” is simply disappearing like smoke from a pipe. It’s no longer a given reality. Fewer and fewer people can reach it. For those that can’t, it’s sold to them as a ‘possibility’. Sure, it’s possible but not likely. It’s becoming more and more like winning the lottery. The elite have convinced the lowest income classes to spend the highest percentage of their income on things like the lottery in the hope that one day they can obtain the wealth, control and sustainability that’s offered to them in the opium-fueled fantasy called, “The American Dream.”
Single-family housing has plunged 18.5% year over year.
According to Redfin, 63,000 home purchase agreements were called off in July. That’s almost 20% of all homes under contract in that month. So you’re getting closer to flipping a coin if you want to sell your house. We’re creeping close to 25%. That’s not a coin flip, but sellers are basically getting close to where they’re rolling dice.
If you come up on one pip, no one’s buying your house. Imagine investing your entire life into counting on selling your home, and at the end of the day, it comes down to a roll of the dice. If only one pip rolls up, that single pip, that one dot, means the buyer is going to pull out. Would you want to invest that much time, money, and effort, paying the Realtors, taking the pictures, and keeping it pristine in trying to sell that house? Would you invest that much if it was just the roll of the dice? Because if it comes up on one, a single dot, that buyer is going to pull out and the next person isn’t going to offer as much as the last person did.
We read that homes are sitting on the market longer, so buyers realize that they have more room to negotiate. They’re asking for repairs, concessions, and contingencies. If the sellers say no, they are backing out or moving on because they are confident now that they will find something better, not something else, but something better.
According to Heather Kruayai, a Redfin real estate agent in Jacksonville, buyers are skittish because they’re afraid of a potential housing collapse – a recession. They don’t want to end up in a situation where they purchase a home and it’s worth $200,000 less in 2 years, so some are waiting on their options. They’re waiting to see how bad things get.
Surveys indicate that 72% of Millennials have regrets that they overpaid or settled on a house now. They’re saying that people are starting to preemptively feel buyer’s remorse and they’re pulling out.
Annual home price growth has started to slow 8% today from 17% a year ago. They say that even though prices are still on the rise, it’s just like inflation: Only the rich, the ultra wealthy or investment funds are starting to pay those prices.
It’s not necessarily the case that a huge crash is coming. Homes in many parts of Florida are still selling for a pretty penny, but it’s not the average buyer that is purchasing them. They say that those who started their search months ago, when rates were closer to 3%, may have realized that the type of home they wanted is now out of their budget.
According to another Redfin agent, “The last four buyers I’ve worked with have all backed out of deals.”
As an example, “One of my clients asked the seller for money to cover the cost of the home being repainted. The seller said no at first, so my buyer canceled the contract. Then the seller, seeing how bad things are and how the times are shifting, changed their mind and repainted the whole house. The buyer still walked away because they decided they didn’t love the home that much and knew they had other options.”
Right now, don’t count on selling your house right away. It’s getting to be a crap shoot. It’s becoming a roll of the dice to make “The American Dream” come true.
Source: Full Spectrum Survival, Edited by InfoArmed
