Will People Stay in Their Homes Longer Now
One of the questions that we have to consider about the changing environment of real estate is whether or not homeowners will stay in their homes longer that it has become more difficult to borrow and buy and sell their homes. Over the last couple decades more people have been staying in the same home for a shorter period of time. Many people continually moved up into bigger and better homes. This continual movement meant that they did not always have defined a dream home the first time, because they could experiment and try again in a few years when they bought their next house.
Now that things are slowing down and it’s to be more difficult to buy and sell a house, buyers may have to become a little bit more choosy about what they buy and why they buy it.
Impact of Higher Energy Prices on Home Buying Decisions
at the same time there is a slowdown in the real estate and mortgage market, energy prices are at all-time highs. The price of oil has finally reached the level of $100 a barrel in people are definitely noticing the cost of energy. I suspect that people may take a look at the homes they are buying and work to ensure that these homes are built and energy efficient ways, using energy-efficient products, and possibly even powered with alternative energy it least in part.
I think the putting green products in the homes before a buyer closes on a home will also become a bigger trend. Many alternative energy products are expensive and most buyers don’t necessarily want to foot the bill for an energy system separate from their home mortgage. I suspect that many buyers may start requiring a sellers install alternative energy systems into their houses as a requirement of sale so that the buyers can then finance the upgraded home and the new alternative energy products with a single mortgage.
It only makes sense, why spend $20,000 on an alternative energy system and finance at 10 or 20% interest when you could pay six to 7% interest on the same energy system. I also think this makes sense for small upgrades like replacing light switches with switches that automatically timeout in turn lights off in many other common everyday things in the household or a house that add to the cost of electricity, heat, natural gas and many more aspects.
