Michigan Home Buying PSA: Stop Doing This, You’re Screwing All Of Us Over
You don't have to know much about real estate to know that it is a seller's market in Michigan. And right now if you're looking to buy a home, the odds are not in your favor.
Check out how many people were viewing this house in Raleigh.
Grand Rapids is one of the most overpriced markets in the country according to 24/7 Wall Street. Currently, the average home in the area is selling for about $276,826, according to estimates from real estate data company Zillow. This is well above the average predicted price buyers should be paying of $200,389 – an estimate based on calculations using historical sales data.
My wife Lindsey and I know about this problem all too well. We moved back to Grand Rapids in September 2021 when the opportunity came for me to host The Big Joe Show with Joe Pesh and Laura Hardy on Mix 95.7. At first we lived with my in-laws, and then we found a house to rent and have been on the hunt for our home since then.
What Makes It So Hard To Find A Home In Michigan?
I can't speak for everyone, but there are several issues we have been running into that have prevented us from finding a home to call our own.
Cash Offers: The first issue we are dealing with is cash offers on houses. We've lost out on multiple houses to a buyer that comes and offers up a fat stack of cash. I'm all for people having money, and I hope one day to have enough saved that I could do the same, but it really bothers me that people are selling their houses in states like California and taking all that money and buying a house that is 200k-300k cash. I know I'll get some heat for that but it's so frustrating when you miss out on a place because of a cash offer even if yours was higher.
Waiving The Inspection: Twice this week alone we've had the best offer and the house would have been ours if we would have agreed to waive an inspection. Even after having an inspection when buying our previous house in San Antonio, we still ran into $30,000 in repairs in just a year and a half of living there. I will never buy a house without doing at least a pass/fail inspection. I understand both sides, the seller wants to get out of the deal as quickly as possible, and desperate homeowners like my wife Lindsey and I just want to buy a house after months and months of trying, but this kind of behavior could blow up in your face with expensive repairs. It's also setting a terrible precedent for future buyers and sellers.
My Michigan Home Buying PSA Is Simple
We all want to find a house, but let's stop being irresponsible and waiving home inspections just to get one.