DENVER (KDVR) — The decision to rent a home over buying one in Colorado is not an easy choice, especially in a competitive market with high home prices.
Real estate experts say it’s important to take inventory of your lifestyle.
“If you’re trying to live somewhere and it’s going to be temporary, renting makes sense, Kelly Moye the media spokesperson for the Colorado Association of Realtors said.
Experts recommend weighing how much money of a down payment you can afford, along with a reserve for unexpected home repairs. Moye says home prices have cooled off in recent months, noting in February homes were selling for 20% over list prices in some instances, whereas that number is now closer to 5-8%.
Moye says that’s an important piece of information for prospective sellers to take note of.
“If you look back to February, the prices are going to be too high for right now, so you literally have to go back like 30 days and price appropriately so you don’t end up way ahead of the wave as the wave starts to go down,” Moye said.
As for whether the market will sustain its momentum, Moye says a housing bubble burst is not likely to happen in our state anytime soon.
“One thing that has to be in place in order for a bubble to burst is you have to have way too much inventory for your demand, so you have tons of houses on the markets and not enough people want to buy,” Moye said. “That is the rule of thumb when it comes to a bubble — we are literally opposite of that.”
Moye said right now, Colorado is in the opposite state of a housing market bubble burst.