Q: I’m frustrated with this so-called “buyers market.” I’m 28 years old and looking for a starter home for about $400,000 in Massapequa, New York. I have around $100,000 saved for a down payment and closing costs. I’m also recently engaged and saving for a wedding. (We made $215,000 combined last year and have secure jobs.) I’ve looked at more than 50 houses over the last six months, and have put in five respectable offers, but haven’t had any luck striking a deal. My agent thinks I should up the ante, but I feel most homes are still overpriced, especially since most have not been updated since the 1950s. Should I take a break from looking?
A: If house hunting is wearing on you, take a break for a month or two and focus on your wedding plans. But don’t take too long, because as you’ve discovered, the entry-level market in Massapequa is heating up.
You wouldn’t think this is the case just looking at the statistics for Nassau County on Long Island, where Massapequa is located. According to Prudential Douglas Elliman, the median sales price of a property in the “middle island,” home to Massapequa, fell 10.6%, to $380,000, in the first quarter of this year from the same quarter a year earlier. Over the same period, the “listing discount”—the difference between what the seller was asking and the buyer paid for a property—grew to 7.7% from 6%.