Why buyers and sellers are ready to go

Doing nothing is easy. It is quiet; unwritten; defense against criticism. It remains unchanged; with static confidence.

But if buyers and sellers were forced to document their inactivity, it would read like a sociopath’s diary entry:

“We could watch you grow, but your grandfather and I weren’t willing to give up our 2.875% average to get closer to you.”

“Your mother and I could send you to the best schools, but we didn’t have the strength to solve the new monthly payment.”

“I know we have two kids now honey, but I’m not willing to pay what it takes for you and them to have more space.”

People don’t talk like that. But their inactivity is possible.

A group of buyers and sellers stand outside the stage waiting for any direction of the weather to click on the spot that shows the right time to jump in.

What they read is a parody of Mr. Keynes: prices can last longer than you can stay stubborn. Prices too. This group is not going to finish another year watching this program pass them by.

Buyers and sellers are ready to step away from the spreadsheet and move on with their lives.

I dare say so because of the magical certainty that emotion will always trump reason. That’s about as far as I’m willing to go into the black hole of publishing predictions. In fact, stay strong, add more.

This release is nothing new. Over the past few years, the noisy misrepresentation of data has led us to think that homeownership is a brain drain.

That’s not the case. It is discussed. It is the ballet of our lives played out on a stage that we can finance thanks to a strong secondary market.

You are entering a new listing with a price and schedule. You walk out looking your whole life at the rooms you just passed through. And how do we help?

By giving people what they need but don’t want. My clients really don’t want what I do and never have.

I’m fine with that.

In fact, let’s halve that feeling. People don’t even want a house. They want a place of their own to live out their life story. So the house is just a book with blank pages. Mortgages are ink on a typewriter.

This year, buyers and sellers are ready to go back to writing. And that capitulation will overcome the inertia of inaction. As it happened every year before.

And every year after that.

David Wickert is president of Accunet Mortgage.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners.

To contact the editor responsible for this piece: [email protected].

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