Murfreesboro, Tennessee (WSMV) – Rutherford County officials told News4 Monday that the real estate market is not what it used to be.
Buying a home in Rutherford County has been made more difficult by out-of-state real estate investment firms, according to that county’s real estate appraiser.
Rutherford County’s Rob Mitchell said 10 percent of the entire Rutherford County single-family real estate market is owned by out-of-state companies. Rutherford County real estate brokers say this trend affects first-time home buyers the most.
“One of the biggest is Progress Residential, which operates in this market,” said Rob Mitchell, a property resident in Rutherford County. “We’ve got people moving to the middle Tennessee area and they’re looking for a home. These big, multimillion-dollar companies come in, they pay cash and shut down in a week.”
“So the more homes we looked at, we were losing out on offers. We ended up having to rent for a while here,” Adam Robb, who had just bought a home in Rutherford County, said.
Rob just closed his house in February. He knows the difficult market, which also includes competition with real estate investment companies outside the country.
“We were even giving you a contingency estimate or an assessment gap and also failed inspections. But it looks like we were beating the $25,50K price tag,” Rob said.
“Most of the homes we see listed are where there are multiple offerings. We see many investment firms as part of those offerings. This really creates a more competitive environment,” said Chris Jarrett, principal broker and co-owner of Weichert Realtors The Andrews Group.
Garrett said the competitive environment has left homebuyers with the creative choice to accept their offers.
“In a lot of cases, they have to review the price list. They have to do what we call appraisal gaps where they agree to bring in money if it isn’t valued. This is something sellers are looking for. They actually sometimes give up on home inspections,” Garrett said. We don’t recommend forgoing a home inspection.” “But if you’re competing, there are plenty of buyers out there who may choose to do this or opt to do a home inspection without ordering the items to be repaired. Therefore, there are a lot of things that buyers have to do in order to get an acceptable offer just at this point.
With 10 percent of the entire Rutherford County single-family real estate market owned by real estate investment firms, News 4’s Tosin Fakile wondered if 10 percent was too much for the county.
That’s approximately 14,000 parcels. So 14,000 homes are not available for purchase because they have been removed from the market. And Rutherford County cuts through the seams as new people move into the community. “So we’re growing at a rate of 20 to 30 people every month, with not having that real estate available for people to buy to make a home,” Mitchell said.
“I love the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, and it tends to turn Central Tennessee into Butterville. You have big corporations that own all the property; the wealth of generations is taken away from families because they can’t create that wealth through property ownership, and that’s a real problem,” Mitchell added.
Experts say this adds to a market with already limited inventory.
“Anytime, you know someone is buying a home that isn’t a homeowner, and that limits the inventory for homeowners that are in the market,” Garrett said. “Where we see that most of the problems for getting accepted offers are government backed loans, or FHA very little money or even VA. So our veterans are really affected by this restriction of inventory,”
But all hope is not lost. Jarrett said home buyers can do things to outperform investment firms.
Most investment firms will have a structure they have to adhere to. They will be subject to a certain type of inspection; They will have a certain number of days to close. There are certain things that they can’t really differ from because they have a lot of offers in so many markets. “They must have some kind of rigid structure,” Garrett said. “A lot of the time, they can’t offer occupancy agreements. I would say be very honest with their offers, maybe offer occupancy and certain things like that will give them an edge over investment firms.”
Tosin asked Fakile News 4s if there’s anything the county or cities in Rutherford County can do to help homebuyers.
“That’s the perfect question. Counties are restricted by statute and state law in what they can do. Cities have more leeway in what they can do through zoning regulations and through the process of letting property rentals,” said Rutherford County’s Mitchell.
Rob, who just bought a home, had this encouragement for those still trying to buy a home while competing with real estate investment firms.
“You just have to keep going. You just have to be bent on finding a home and realize that the home you find might not be the perfect home. I think you have to take a kind of give and take here and there. But sure, at the same time, be happy and make sure that it’s It would be the right home overall,” Rob said.
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