“Next Year” always seems like a much better time to do something a little tough, particularly if that something might put you out of our comfort zone. Be it starting a new workout or the seemingly HUGE task of buying or building a new home. Recently a Facebook post by the leader of Greenville Real Estate team, The Haro Group,  Haro Setian got me thinking. How much money are buyers really leaving on the table when they have a year long “think about it” session.

Over the last several months i have heard a reoccurring question, “it is a little tough to find the perfect home, should i wait to buy a house?”  As a home builder I personally know that construction and land costs have continued to go up. Consequently the exact same home I could build last year would be impossible to build today for the same price.  You have heard the economy has improved, you’ve heard that unemployment rates are down, you’ve even heard that Greenville, SC is one of the top places in the country to relocate, but what does that really mean for YOU when considering buying  or building a new home later than sooner?  It’s a pretty simple concept, Supply & Demand….

Supply 

[suh–plahy]

1. Fundamental economic concept that describes the total amount of a specific good or service that is available to consumers. Supply can relate to the amount available at a specific price or the amount available across a range of prices”

realtor.com recently released their monthly report on the Greeenville,SC market.  The amount of available inventory has dropped by 10.5% year-over-year.  So there are fewer homes available now than there were March of 2015. So the homes, lots and condos you see with your agent on Sunday are  typically sold the following day. I heard Greenville agent, Jennifer Jagodizinski of the Bachtel Realty Group refer to this as a “sleep on it or sleep in it” market when talking about some of her clients that missed out on another opportunity because they were a day late making a decision.

Demand [dih-mand, –mahnd]

1. Describes a consumer’s desire and willingness to pay a price for a specific good or service. Holding all other factors constant, the price of a good or service increases as its demand increases and vice versa.

Example:

(Assuming the same 7% increase in property values)

Michael buys a house for $150,000 in 2015.

Chris buys an identical home for $160,500 in 2016.

Michael decides to move and sells his house to Peter for $171,375 in 2017.

Don’t be Peter, if its building a new home with me or buying a cool existing bungalow downtown, i think you would be wise to buy much sooner than later.