{"id":10774,"date":"2026-05-10T02:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T02:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo1.xpertixe.com\/index.php\/agent\/caitlynshillit\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T05:02:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T05:02:06","slug":"caitlynshillit","status":"publish","type":"agent","link":"https:\/\/demo1.xpertixe.com\/index.php\/agent\/caitlynshillit\/","title":{"rendered":"caitlynshillit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three Causes Your Buy Isn’t What It Should be<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a version of the housing market<\/a> story that gets told over and over, and it goes like this: prices are high, rates are high, nothing is affordable, and the only people buying are the ones with cash. That version is not wrong, exactly. It is just incomplete.<\/p>\n

In markets where new construction<\/a> has been active, prices have pulled back. Several Sun Belt metros<\/a> that boomed during the pandemic have given back a portion<\/a> of those gains. But those are the exceptions. Most markets are not working from excess; they are working from scarcity.<\/p>\n

Affordability, by the standard measure of what share of median household income goes toward the monthly payment on a median-priced home, is near its worst level since the early 1980s. That is a real problem, and it is not going away quickly. A market can stay unaffordable for longer than most buyers expect to wait. What it means, practically, is that the buyer who can close confidently has more leverage<\/a> than the headline numbers suggest.<\/p>\n

Before you look at a single listing, get your pre-approval locked down. Not a rough estimate. Not a verbal confirmation<\/a> from a loan officer you met once. A full pre-approval based on verified<\/a> income, tax returns, bank statements, and a hard credit pull. Without that letter, you are not a buyer, you are a browser.<\/p>\n

The appraisal is the lender’s<\/a> check, not yours. A low appraisal<\/a> means the buyer has to make up the gap in cash, renegotiate, or cancel. Ask your agent whether recent comparable sales support<\/a> the price you are offering.<\/p>\n

Budget between two and five percent depending on your loan type and the state you are buying in. First-time buyers routinely underestimate<\/a> this number. Ask your lender for a Loan Estimate as early in the process<\/a> as possible.<\/p>\n

The timing question, whether to buy now or wait for rates to come down, is the one that trips up more buyers than any other single factor<\/a>. No one consistently times the real estate market. The more useful question is not whether now is the right time in the abstract; it is whether you can carry the payment without strain.<\/p>\n

The buyers who come out ahead in this market are not the ones who waited for perfect conditions. They are the ones who got their finances in order early. The most useful thing you can do today is look at homes for sale near you<\/a> and see whether the numbers work for your situation<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","agent_location":[59],"agent_category":[],"class_list":["post-10774","agent","type-agent","status-publish","hentry","agent_location-miami"],"cmb2":{"_agent_contact_details":{"_agent_attached_user":"","_agent_featured":"","_agent_job":"","_agent_email":"caitlynshillito@instantemailinbox.shop","_agent_website":"","_agent_phone":"4186727233","_agent_fax":""},"_agent_socials":{"_agent_socials":[{"network":"fab fa-pinterest"}]},"_agent_location":{"_agent_address":"4756 Boulevard Ste-Genevieve","_agent_map_location":{"address":"","latitude":"","longitude":""}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo1.xpertixe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/agent\/10774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo1.xpertixe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/agent"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo1.xpertixe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/agent"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo1.xpertixe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo1.xpertixe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"agent_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo1.xpertixe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/agent_location?post=10774"},{"taxonomy":"agent_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo1.xpertixe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/agent_category?post=10774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}