Texas Home Sales Are Slowing, So Can We Buy in Lubbock Now?

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The housing market is cooling in Texas and the United States as a whole. Here's the latest from Trading Economics, which also predicts this trend will continue for quite some time.

Existing home sales in the US dropped 5.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.12 million in June of 2022, a new low since June of 2020 and well below market forecasts of 5.38 million. Sales declined for a fifth consecutive month as falling housing affordability continues to take a toll on potential home buyers.

Essentially, more houses are available, but they still cost too much. In fact, Texas still has some of the most overvalued homes in the country. However, interest rate hikes are shooing off some "flippers". I finally have hope that I, a person who would like to just own a house of my own, has a chance of finding one, even if I have to do some light remodeling myself.

To be fair, it was never impossible to buy a home in Lubbock, but it sure has felt impossible. I was working with an outstanding realtor who was attentive to me and aggressive in finding homes that matched my wants and needs. But every single time we found something, it slipped out of our hands nearly immediately. Unless a house was ridiculously over priced or an actual nightmare, it was gone in a day or two.

Call me crazy, but I can't make the largest investment of my life with only mere hours to decide. Although I did get desperate enough to try that for one house. The seller took the first offer which beat mine by a few hours. Buying a house was too frustrating and too stressful, so I decided to take a few months off.

Of course, paying more in interest stinks and can really raise your monthly mortgage. But I figured waiting was best, as I could refinance if rates went down. But no one was ever going to come to me with a check, "Hey, I really overcharged you, here's $25k."

Of course, it's way worse in other Texas cities. Lubbock doesn't make the top 10 of Texas cities for overvalued homes, or property availability decreases (sorry Waco and Bryan). And we all know that buying in Austin might as well be buying in outer space- totally unobtainable for many people.

I wish I had an amazing, uplifting story to tell here. I wish I had excellent advice. Instead, I'm really just hoping that patience, in addition to being a virtue, is also a good tactic in homebuying.