{"id":1757,"date":"2023-02-28T04:04:14","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T04:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/28\/the-homebuyer-burnout-epidemic-why-house-hunting-feels-so-hopeless-now-and-when-the-agony-will-end\/"},"modified":"2023-02-28T04:04:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T04:04:14","slug":"the-homebuyer-burnout-epidemic-why-house-hunting-feels-so-hopeless-now-and-when-the-agony-will-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/28\/the-homebuyer-burnout-epidemic-why-house-hunting-feels-so-hopeless-now-and-when-the-agony-will-end\/","title":{"rendered":"The Homebuyer Burnout Epidemic: Why House Hunting Feels So Hopeless Now\u2014and When the Agony Will End"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When Jenna Watts<\/strong> moved to Savannah, GA, where her husband, Gil<\/strong>, was born and raised, she expected the couple would be renters for a year or two at the most. The couple began house hunting in October 2020, hoping to put down roots as they started a family.<\/p>\n

Three and a half years later, they have seen over 50 homes and made offers on several. Each time, the couple lost to an all-cash buyer, often someone from the Northeast or the West Coast who recently sold a home and were looking to downsize Down South.<\/p>\n

Jenna, 30, and Gil, 31, have a good budget for a home, but they can\u2019t pay all cash. The months and months of disappointments have taken a toll.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I see new listings, I don\u2019t get excited anymore,\u201d Jenna says. \u201cI feel burned out. Sometimes I feel numb to the whole process because it\u2019s been so repetitive, and it just feels like things are stagnant and there\u2019s no light at the end of the tunnel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the country, would-be homebuyers and their real estate agents\u2014and even some on the seller\u2019s side\u2014describe a sense of deep fatigue with what feels like a merciless housing market. Things are so difficult that even though some people might keep searching, they\u2019ve lost their enthusiasm, wondering whether this particular slice of the American dream might remain out of reach or\u2014even if they do succeed\u2014might require painful sacrifices or be a far cry from the ideal scenario they\u2019d imagined.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had to come to the realization that the home we buy isn\u2019t going to be perfect,\u201d Jenna says. \u201cAnd that\u2019s been hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Nobody\u2019s Market\u2019<\/h2>\n

Stories like the one Jenna tells are all too common for frustrated buyers. Now things have become so challenging that even sellers are struggling, says Realtor.com\u00ae Chief Economist Danielle Hale<\/strong>. This means that rather than a buyer\u2019s market<\/a> or seller\u2019s market, this is better characterized as a \u201cnobody\u2019s market.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like the market isn\u2019t working for anyone,\u201d Hale says. \u201cThat probably contributes to everyone\u2019s sense of fatigue.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is data to back up Hale\u2019s sentiment. A monthly survey from Fannie Mae<\/a> found that in February, only 17% of respondents thought now was a good time to buy, while 82% said it was a bad time to buy. Some 59% of respondents did say it was a good time to sell\u2014still, very few are walking the talk.<\/p>\n

Realtor.com data<\/a> shows that new listings\u2014a measure of sellers putting homes up for sale\u2014are lower than a year ago, by 13% in the most recent week. That\u2019s probably because many homeowners would be selling in order to buy something else, and few people want to be in that position.<\/p>\n

Andi DeFelice<\/strong>, the buyer\u2019s broker trying to help the Watts family find their home, has another client couple who are so frustrated with the process that the husband refuses to look at another home, DeFelice says.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can\u2019t handle the disappointment,\u201d she says. Like the Watts family, this couple has been outbid on multiple homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like being rejected for one date after another,\u201d DeFelice says. \u201cIt\u2019s exhausting, and they start to take it personally. I\u2019ve never seen this before in 30 years in this business. Everyone is feeling the same frustration, everyone from first-timers all the way up.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeFelice says the constant rejections don\u2019t affect her\u2014\u201cfor me, it\u2019s a business transaction\u201d\u2014but the grind is getting to some agents as well.<\/p>\n

Rich Harty<\/strong>, a broker with Harty Realty Group in Chicago, talks about the personal sacrifices he\u2019s made over the past few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re out to dinner with friends, and you get a call\u2014\u2019We want to put the offer in\u2019\u2014and you\u2019ve got to go,\u201d Harty says. \u201cSometimes you know your buyer doesn\u2019t even have a chance, but as the agent, you need to follow their instructions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harty is a marathon runner and tapped into what he calls the \u201cMile 23\u201d spirit to muscle through some of the hard times over the past few years. But he sees some of his buyers in the same boat as Jenna Watts: Just when they\u2019d started to get into the swing of bidding competitively, mortgage rates surged, knocking them down a notch in terms of affordability. Now they would have to stretch just as far, only for properties that aren\u2019t as good.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Watch: Mortgage Rates Are Rebounding: What Happens Next?<\/strong><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Inside home sellers\u2019 struggles<\/h2>\n

If buyers have it so hard, sellers must be sitting pretty, right? Not necessarily.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do see fatigue,\u201d says Chris Crook<\/strong>, an agent with Flyhomes in Seattle. But where many would-be buyers are fatigued after many attempts at a purchase, plenty of homeowners are fatigued just making the decision to sell or not.<\/p>\n

Crook says many are kicking themselves for not taking advantage of stronger market conditions\u2014higher prices, lower mortgage rates\u2014that were prevalent last year.<\/p>\n

And some who bought homes on the assumption they\u2019d be able to work from home indefinitely are now having to return to the office. Those owners might not have enough equity built up to make a sale worth it. What\u2019s more, many of them recently watched neighbors sell for thousands over the asking price<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNowadays, you have to have tough conversations with sellers because most of the time they have short-term memories,\u201d Crook says. On the flip side, he says, there are some agents who skip the \u201ctough\u201d part and just list homes for the higher prices owners demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s doing a disservice to them,\u201d Crook adds. \u201cThey\u2019re telling owners what they want to hear and not guiding and educating them in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hale agrees: \u201cThat normal housing market before the [COVID-19] pandemic seems so long ago, that it isn\u2019t a valid reference point for a lot of people,\u201d she points out. \u201cIt\u2019s been hard for sellers.\u201d<\/p>\n

What comes next for homebuyers and sellers?<\/h2>\n

But with everyone burned out, is it possible that things just might get better? This will depend a bit on where mortgage rates go. And seasonally at least, we\u2019re at the brink of the spring upswing, where buyers renew their resolve to find a house and get out there.<\/p>\n

DeFelice, for one, has hope for the Watts and other buyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I\u2019ve never seen conditions like this before, I know at the end of the day, we\u2019re going to find them the house,\u201d she says. \u201cWe just have to be patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

That philosophy<\/a> \u201ctruly does give us hope,\u201d Jenna says. \u201cEvery time we\u2019re disappointed, Andi says, \u2018We\u2019re going to find it, we\u2019re going to find it.\u2019 I trust her, and I know she\u2019s right\u2014and I know we\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post The Homebuyer Burnout Epidemic: Why House Hunting Feels So Hopeless Now\u2014and When the Agony Will End<\/a> appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com\u00ae<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Getty Images When Jenna Watts moved to Savannah, GA, where her husband, Gil, was born and raised, she expected the couple would be renters for a year or two at the most. The couple began house hunting in October 2020, hoping to put down roots as they started a family. Three and a half years…Read More→<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/billingsrealtybrokers.paradiseinnovations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}