Clare Trapasso, the executive news editor at Realtor.com, joined Cheddar News to discuss the current housing market for first-time homebuyers.

Where Can First-Timers Buy a Home This Year?

purchasing a home. It's been difficult in the last few years, especially for first time Homebuyers. Now, according to realtor dot com this year will continue to be challenging. So what's your new No, if you're looking to buy a home for the first time, while realtor dot com's 2023 best markets for first home buyers is listing out the top 10 market that stand out. And joining us now to discuss this is Claire que paso executive news editor at realtor dot com. Clare, thanks so much for joining us. Welcome to the show. Let's talk about the number one market on this list which is portsmouth Virginia topping this list is one of the best markets for first time Homebuyers. What makes this city so great. It's a little bit more affordable than some of the surrounding areas and there's a little more inventory to choose from. So that means more houses for sale plus there's plenty of things to do and there's a lot of people ages 25-34. So that means you're buying in a place where you might be able to get a little bit of a better deal and you don't have to sacrifice your social life to do. So yeah, Claire was there any city on this list that surprised you? Honestly, all of them surprise me. These are not cities that you these are not places that most people know across the country. These are not the big glitzy cities on the coast, these are smaller, midsize cities suburbs, smaller places, usually outside of bigger cities that are more recognizable that many people haven't really heard of, but you might be able to find better deals and more inventory to choose from. I'm glad you mentioned that claire because I was looking through this list and as a midwesterner, I honestly didn't recognize many of the cities on this list. So aside from that, you know what too many of these cities have that makes them stand out. What were some of the criteria that went into determining the top 10 cities on this list? Sure there was a lot that went into this, you know, it was affordability compared to local incomes. It was the availability of homes for sale. Things like population, you know 25-34 year olds, things to do like eating and drinking establishments. Um strong job markets for people of that age. So all the things that basically homebuyers want when they're moving into a market plus a short commute times, which is a bonus for anyone who has to go into the office. Major bonus there. Claire now speaking of these first time homebuyers obviously it's a challenging time in the economy. What unique challenges are they facing right now is they attempt to buy their first home. So it's different than it was a year ago, a year ago, there were lines down the block at open houses, they were bidding wars. 25 offers 100,000 over asking price. It was it was madness. Um This time around mortgage rates are higher. So that sort of dried up some of the pool of buyers because they can't afford to buy. So it's not so much a seller's market anymore. I wouldn't call it a buyer's market but buyers do have a bit more power. There are more homes to choose from and they can negotiate a bit on the price of a home that's been sitting there a while. They can ask for closing costs. They can ask for mortgage rate by downs, which can help them. But there's still going to be faced with not as many homes as there were before the pandemic and they're probably going to be paying larger mortgage payments because interest rates went up so much. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that claire is still a bit strapped for inventory here. Um so given that you know, first time buyers or buyers in general might have a bit more power although they're contending with these higher mortgage rates, what kind of what kind of advice do you have for first time home buyers in this market. Save, save whatever you can, if you have a 20% down payment, that means you don't have to pay private mortgage insurance and that'll save you some money every single month. I'd also say negotiate again. This isn't a year ago. If you see a home that's been sitting on the market for a while, Maybe a fixer upper maybe it's a little bit further out. You know, it doesn't seem to have a line of buyers out the door put in a lower ball offer. I wouldn't say go terribly low but but try to get you know, a little bit try to get some concessions. Ask for costly repairs, ask for sellers to tribute to your closing costs. You can also shop around for a mortgage rate. I mean if your lender says I'm going to offer you this and you think you can get a better rate elsewhere. It doesn't hurt to try. Many lenders will actually match if they get a good if you get an offer from someplace else. And I recommend cleaning up your credit score the higher your credit score, the lower your mortgage rate, which is going to save you money. And finally, don't don't give up if you can afford to buy a house and it's the right time in your life to do it. And you know this is what you want, then then go for it. Don't get discouraged, keep putting in the offers and eventually you'll get one accepted. But don't go over your meets some excellent advice there. Claire, I hope first time home buyers were listening. That's claire que paso executive news editor at realtor dot com. And thanks again for your insight