Insights on the Valdosta Real Estate Market

Dedra:

I’m Dedra Hughes and this is Larry Mercer and together with my husband Jerry Hughes, we own Mercer Hughes Real Estate Group.

Do you know that today makes three days? Three days, three years that we have been in business? And it’s been very wild ride. We’ve grown, we’ve loved it. We’ve had a good time.

The Federal Reserve met yesterday, and we’ve had so many questions about what that might mean. I wanted to hear Larry’s thoughts on, what will that mean for buyers in our area?

Larry

Good question. Well, the Fed raised the interest rates yesterday, the federal funds rate. And what happens is that mortgage interest rates tend to follow federal funds rate. So we know that they just went up a quarter of a point. More importantly, they telegraphed that they’re going to go up six more times this year. So with rising rates, rising mortgage rates, then your payment is going to be higher, and that could cause a problem for people.

Dedra

What about for sellers? Does it mean anything to sellers?

Larry

Well, could kind of be the inverse. So if people are afraid of the new price tag that they’re going to get with rising interest rates, they may not buy the house that they want it. They may have to settle for less house, or they may actually rent and wait until things get better. But of course, we don’t know what that is. So it’s probably going to be a pretty good time to be selling right now and get ahead of the six interest rate bumps that are coming.

Dedra

Okay. We’ve both been in this business for 25 years. Long time.

I’ve never seen inventory as low. I pulled it last week. We were looking at about 200, 210 houses on the market in all of our MLS. That includes all of the surrounding counties.

I don’t remember it being that low. Do you remember it being that low and what does that mean right now?

Larry

Right. I’ve never seen it that long. That’s the lowest inventory, like you said, in 25 years. So it’s kind of a crazy, hectic market now with a lot of different things going on. But again, back to what’s going to happen. The rate is going to go up six more times this year. It’s probably going to change the supply – demand dynamic. We’re probably going to have less demand. That’s going to increase the inventory. That could mean their prices are going to go down. So bottom line to all of this, it’s a pretty good time to buy now to get ahead of the rising interest rates, and it’s a really good time to sell while the demand is still high.

Dedra

I think a funny question would be,  what was your first interest rate, first house you ever bought? What was your interest rate?

Larry

16.5% in 1982 and I have perfect credit.

Dedra

Okay. You’re sharing yours, so I’m going to share ours.

Ours was almost 11% in 1989. So let’s put all of this in perspective. When we’re talking about interest rates. Historically, we are still in phenomenal numbers to buy a home.

And I want to walk away with whether you’re buying or selling, now is the time. Give us a call here Mercer Hughes Real Estate Group. Group, where we would love to help you.

Final Conclusion:

We are not sure when interest rates will rise, but we do know the Valdosta Real Estate Market is booming right now. It is still a good time to buy a home or sell your home.