Buying a House in Northern Kentucky or Southern Onio in 2023: Good or Bad Decision?

Is buying a home in Northern Kentucky or Cincinnati a good idea in 2023? Today we will look at the three major things to consider, whether you're thinking about buying your primary residence or a second home.

1. You have leverage, which is power, when you're buying anything and negotiating, but especially in real estate.

We always say cash is king because cash offers are extremely strong because of the certainty of closing compared to a loan. If you, like many others, cannot buy a house in cash, where is your leverage power? It comes from negotiating terms. As a buyer, you may be concerned that the down payment and loan terms may not be competitive, but if your agent is a skilled negotiator, you might be able to get that 3.5% down FH loan accepted with seller credits, lowering your closing costs to almost nothing.

2. The uncertainty that creates opportunity.

There are a lot of sellers that are coming on the market in fear that prices are going to come down significantly in 2023, and there are a lot of buyers that are sitting on the sidelines waiting for another 20% price decrease.

Those who are taking advantage of the market are locking in interest rates that they know they're going to be able to refinance in the next handful of years, and they do not feel prices are going to come down in any meaningful way. Currently, investors are great examples of people successfully taking advantage of the market. We have investors buying properties in cash seven days a week. They are going to put some work into the property and force that appreciation up there. Investors haven't had those opportunities in the last two, maybe even three years.

3. The strengths and weaknesses on all fronts are being highlighted way more than you're going to think before you make this move.

In the last two years, sellers have not had to worry about making their property look good, but that has changed. With more inventory on the market, buyers are going to scroll through their home search site and compare properties. Properties that are clean, fixed up, and stages get more inquiries than those properties that don't. So what does that mean for the buyer? If a home does not have is not fixed up and clean, it typically means sellers are not looking to get top dollar for their home. Buyers can go in and offer several percent below market value on the home with a likelihood of their offer being accepted.

In summary, there's three major things leverage, uncertainty, and strengths and weaknesses.

If you're thinking about buying and you don't want to start looking until the spring or the summer, that is totally fine, but I would ave these conversations way ahead of time so that if the opportunity presents itself, you're not scrambling at the last minute.