The questions should I buy a house now, or should I wait is on many people’s minds. Bear in mind that those buying now have increased leverage, HomeLight buyer and seller insights for end of year 2022 have revealed.

In the survey, nearly 30 per cent of buyers said the seller completed repair requests or provided a repairs credit at closing; 25 per cent said the deal was closed on their preferred timeline; 21 per cent said they negotiated a lower price than the home was listed for.

But the right time to buy a house will depend on your own circumstances. Before you consider the current real estate market, your priority has to be assessing your individual situation.

If you are in a strong position to purchase your home – ample cash reserves, good credit scores, and solid employment, then now is absolutely a good time to buy a house.
In the Reno-Sparks area, the median price home was $615,000 in May and dropped $95,000 to $519,950 in December - just seven months later.

Interest rates are considerably higher than we’ve seen in recent years, but interest rates are always changing. In a higher rate market, buy the home with the understanding that you can always refinance later if the rates come down. 

On the flip side, if you buy now and the rates wind up going up, you are the clear winner in that scenario.

Buyers are in a stronger position than they have been in the last two years, with sellers open to taking lower prices, and offering seller concessions that many buyers are using to help buy down their mortgage rate.
Definition of Contrarian - a person who takes a contrary position or attitude, specifically: an investor who buys when most others are selling and sells when others are buying.

In a down turned economy, contrarian real estate investing offers profit to investors who take action based on strategies that are "opposite" to the masses of people who follow conventional wisdom.
From a buyer’s perspective, home prices tend to be suppressed during difficult economic times. If housing inventory is low, waiting can be a bad strategy.

People invest in real estate from an emotional point of view. It is not simply a transaction, there are real emotions tied to whether you have timed the purchase of your investment right.

Understanding this cycle and taking a contrarian approach can greatly assist you in determining the motivation of the seller, which in turn can benefit you when negotiating a purchase price.

If the fundamentals are correct, but the positioning of the masses in the emotional cycle has most people holding off, smart investors taking a contrarian approach reap the benefits.