The queen of NY real estate, Shark Tank entrepreneur Barbara Corcoran has just said something about the housing market that—out of context—takes tone deafness to a new level. And she’s taking quite a bit of heat for it.
On Monday, in an Instagram post to her one million followers, Corcoran argued for staying in the market, in spite of mortgage rates reaching a 23-year high. Because as soon rates go down, buyers will flood the market, and prices will go up.
The sentence that has got so many people riled up is this: “This is the very best time to buy a house.”
The thing is…she’s not completely wrong.
After all, she’s not saying, “There’s never been a better time to buy a house.” Because that would be insane. Nor is she saying, “It’s always a good time to buy.”
What she is saying is, for those who can buy now, now is the best time.
The days of the 2 or 3% interest rates are never going to come again. Forget about that, but they will come down. The minute they drop and come down to anything with a five in front of it, the whole world is going to jump back into the market, there’s going to be no houses around and prices are going to go up by 10% or even 15% — so don’t get out of the market.
Barbara Corcoran
SOME AGENTS ARE BACKING HER UP
Some of the agents commenting on the Instagram post agreed with her message:
This isn’t the first time Barbara Corcoran has spoken on the inevitable drop in mortgage rates and the impact that will have on buyers. Earlier this summer, speaking on Fox Business’s “The Claman Countdown,” she said—
The minute those interest rates come down, all hell is going to break loose and prices are going to go through the roof. Barbara Corcoran
MEANWHILE, ON X
Lance Lambert tweeted on Corcoran’s statement, sharing the headline from the Fortune article. As of this writing, his post has 137 comments, most of them critical.
The tone in many of the comments is not surprising given the widely felt frustration over the lack of housing affordability.
But Barbara Corcoran isn’t saying it’s the best time to buy—for everyone. She readily admits that many buyers have been priced out of the market. But for those who have not—who are in a position to buy a home and take advantage of the low level of buyer competition—now is a much better time to buy than when rates come down to around 5%.
GENERALLY SPEAKING…
Obviously, this isn’t the best time for every buyer. That’s exactly WHY it’s the best time for some buyers.
It also goes without saying that, even among buyers who can afford to buy a home right now, some will find it’s not the best time for them. Corcoran is speaking generally. So, while it might sound like a steaming pile of sales speak to many of the frustrated buyers out there, some of it makes sense.
On today’s Hot Sheet, host Byron Lazine spoke about the clip:
Agents can argue that home prices, over decade-long periods always increase. You can kind of always say, long-term run, now is the best time to buy. But you do sound inconsiderate…you don’t really appear to care about the pain that people are going through right now and that’s why Barbara’s getting some heat. - Byron Lazine
