PBP Real Estate

What Most Veterans Don't Know About Their VA Home Loan Benefit

VA home loans can put homeownership within reach, and a trusted lender can help make sure you understand the details before you move forward. If you’re active duty, you’ve served, or know someone who has, connect with a trusted lender who can walk you through whether you’d qualify and what the VA benefit offers. You may be able to buy a home sooner than you thought.

What Most Veterans Don't Know About Their VA Home Loan Benefit Nearly half of Veterans (49%) feel homeownership is currently out of reach, according to a recent survey from NewDay USA.

After a year or more of rates coming down, things have changed. And lately, mortgage rates have been climbing again.

And if that's made you wonder whether you should delay your move until they drop, you're not the only one.

The honest truth is that rates probably won't come down much until inflation cools off and some of the global uncertainty settles. And no one knows exactly when that'll be.

But what most headlines won't tell you is that rates aren't the only thing that affects affordability. Sure, they’re a big factor, but not all of the affordability news is bad.

Wages, home prices, and inventory are all trending in a direction that could still help make your move possible.

Want to know what that actually looks like for your situation? Drop a comment or send me a DM.

Because even though rates are higher, there are pockets of opportunity in any market, if you know where to look.

Are Home Prices Going To Fall?

Home prices have a long track record of going up over time. And that’s why buying a home is generally considered a safe long-term investment.

That certainly doesn’t mean you have to buy now. You should only move when it makes sense, and you plan to live there for a while.

But if you’re interested, let this reassure you. If you want to talk through what home prices are doing in our market, your goals, or your timelines, let’s have a quick conversation.

Are Home Prices Going To Fall? It’s one of the biggest hold ups some buyers have right now: “What if I buy, and home prices go down?”

Newly Built Home Prices Hit a 5-Year Low

Builder incentives and lower new home prices are working to your advantage in a way they haven't in years. Want to see what's available in your area and what kind of deal a builder may be willing to make? Let's connect.

Newly Built Home Prices Hit a 5-Year Low If you’ve always assumed a newly built home is just not in your budget, you should know the math just got a little friendlier.

80% of homeowners still expect to get their asking price or more when they sell. But right now, only about 40% actually do.

That might sound surprising, but it’s not. It’s normal.

The issue is where those outdating pricing expectations are coming from.

Some sellers are still pricing high just to “see what happens.” And that strategy doesn’t work now that inventory has grown.

When a house is priced above where it should be today, buyers don’t negotiate. They move on to other options.

That’s when homes sit, and sellers have to slash prices – sometimes below what they could’ve gotten if they’d just priced right from the start.

That’s why the sellers getting the best results right now are doing something different.

They’re pricing at (or even slightly below) market value from day 1. Because that’s what creates demand early and puts you in a position to sell faster… and potentially for more.

So don’t price...

Foreclosures are up, but don't panic.

Yes, filings have risen over the past year. But zoom out and look at the full picture.

We're still below historical norms – and nowhere near levels seen around 2008.
This isn't a crash. It's the market returning to normal after foreclosures were artificially low during the pandemic.

And here's something else worth knowing. These are filings. Not all of them will actually turn into completed foreclosures.

If you've been hearing a lot about this lately and want to make sense of what it means, drop a comment or send me a DM. Happy to talk it through.