Why 2017 Might Be a Rough Year for Homebuyers

Shopping for a home this year? These three factors might cause you a lot of angst.

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Prepare to do some stressing out and shelling out if you’re considering buying a new home this year.

A combination of high home prices, low housing inventory and rising interest rates means that buying a home is currently “an emotionally charged process for many,” as Steve Udelson, president of Owners.com, describes it.

Owners.com is an online brokerage. For its 2017 homebuyer survey, it polled 1,289 consumers who are “very or somewhat likely” to purchase a home this year.

The survey found that 72 percent of potential homebuyers expect stress to be part of the process, with many buyers citing financial factors as their biggest concern.

The most commonly cited financial concerns about the homebuying process include fears of:

Losing earnest money deposit (64 percent)
Becoming “house poor” (61 percent)
Bidding wars driving up the price (59 percent)

Additionally, a majority of potential buyers — 55 percent — say they are willing to go over their budget in a competitive bid for their dream home. On average, those willing to do so would go over budget by $37,809.

To help cut costs elsewhere:

85 percent of consumers are likely to consider handling homebuying or selling themselves if they have access to some of the more complicated transaction services, such as appraisals or legal documents.
23 percent would be motivated to work with a real estate agent or broker who would reward them financially for work the consumers do on their own.

Udelson notes:

“Buying a home is one of the largest purchases most people ever make and it’s exciting to see that consumers are willing to take on some of the work themselves to save money, which can make all the difference in this current market.”

Owners.com’s 2017 homebuyer survey findings are in line with other recent research. For example, the National Association of Realtors reported in February that homebuyers at a variety of income levels “could see an inadequate amount of listings on the market within their price range in coming months.”