5 Philly-area homeowners on the roller coaster of buying and selling houses in 2022

The last couple of years have been a roller coaster for home buyers and sellers in the Philadelphia region, and that was especially true of 2022.

In early 2020, the pandemic delayed home sales, but soon, record-low mortgage interest rates, the desire for more space, and inadequate home supply helped drive buyers into bidding wars. Open houses were slow to return, and buyers relied more heavily on virtual glimpses of properties.

The frenzied housing market that marked much of the pandemic continued through much of 2022 but slowed toward the end as mortgage rates shot up, economic uncertainty increased, and inflation stayed high. Although home price growth eased, buyers paid more. Housing supply remained tight.

In other words, buying and selling was still challenging. And it will likely continue. Mortgage rates are predicted to remain higher than a year ago, and economists are predicting a recession. The National Association of Realtors expects existing-home sales in 2023 to drop almost 7% from 2022′s total.

The Inquirer asked a few people who bought or sold recently to talk about the challenges they faced last year.

Antoine Edwards, 34, decided to buy his first home to achieve a milestone and to give his children — ages 11, 2, and 1 — more space.

Edwards, a North Philadelphia native, wanted to move out of the city but not too far from family and his job in warehouse operations.

He started looking for homes in Montgomery and Delaware Counties in mid-August and visited two dozen. On the way to one, he got a call that the seller had accepted a cash offer. He got outbid for others that sold for $20,000 and $40,000 more than the asking prices.

» READ MORE: Eager home buyers are offering Spanish lessons and cash.

He jumped on a single-family house built in 2000 that had been on the market for less than 24 hours and was pretty much move-in ready. He offered $15,000 over the asking price, which he said was “way under” the $435,000 mortgage for which he had been approved.

Edwards closed on his five-bedroom, four-bathroom home in a Pottstown cul-de-sac on Nov. 1.

“When I walked in the doors, it felt like home,” he said.

His home-buying journey reflected several recent trends.

When Edwards got preapproved for a mortgage, interest rates were “next to nothing,” he said. When it came time for him to buy, his rate had jumped up by more than 4 percentage points.

» READ MORE: Loan preference is shutting some FHA-backed buyers out of Philly area’s hot housing market

Edwards also purchased with a mortgage backed by the Federal Housing Administration.

“It was a lot of homes that I really liked, but [home listings] said they were only accepting conventional and cash offers,” he said.

Some sellers have shied away from FHA loans because appraisals are more strict, sellers need to make repairs, and FHA borrowers historically have less cash on hand.

Walter Yarbrough, a 73-year-old retired hospital technician, was receiving calls and texts every week from wholesalers asking to buy his North Philadelphia home blocks from Temple University.

“It had to have been at least 30, 40 different people calling us,” he said. “With that whole ‘we buy your house as is.’ ”

Yarbrough and his wife, Gina, had mostly been living in Gina’s house in Hunting Park, but he had held onto his appreciating property for decades. The couple thought they could sell it to their children or grandchildren, but they weren’t interested. And it was time to let go of the extra expenses, so they listed it for sale. The couple wants to use savings to travel.

Yarbrough didn’t consider selling to unsolicited callers.

» READ MORE: Philly homeowners who regularly get harassed to sell can join the city’s Do Not Solicit List

“We weren’t comfortable with that, because we didn’t know they were reputable or trustworthy,” Yarbrough said. And he didn’t want to be cheated out of the value of his property.

His agent at RE/MAX @ HOME called in the fall with a buyer in less time than he expected. The house was old and needed electrical and other upgrades, so Yarbrough negotiated down to a “reasonable” price, he said. He sold the house in late October for $100,000 cash to an investor who owns a neighboring building.

Serrano Legrand Jr., a 34-year-old from Brooklyn, has always wanted to own a home and build generational wealth, “and it became that much more feasible and real when I moved to Philadelphia, and I realized it’s a real estate market I can participate in,” he said.

Legrand earned his doctorate in educational leadership at the University of Pennsylvania and works for the Philadelphia School District. He set his budget at about $300,000, “which I still felt like gave me a lot of options,” he said.

» READ MORE: Philly transplants have over $150,000 more to spend on homes than locals

He was living in a studio apartment and has a large extended family, so he wanted a home with lots of space. And he wanted a neighborhood with a strong sense of community.

Finding a property that didn’t need a lot of work was challenging. And during his search, he switched real estate agents because his first didn’t have enough time for him. After looking for about a year, he found a rowhouse in West Oak Lane that had recently been renovated.

“It was really refreshing thinking about just moving into something,” he said.

He closed on his home in August and moved in the following month. The home has four bedrooms and 3½ bathrooms. That includes a separate basement living space that Legrand plans to rent out as soon as possible.

“I definitely want to be making some money from my house for sure,” he said, “both in the short term and long term.”

Marlyn Rogers, 71, lives in New York, but she bought and renovated a fixer-upper in North Philadelphia in 2013 for her son when he separated from his wife. The arrangement came to an end after Rogers’ husband died this summer, and she decided to sell.

“Developers were calling me left, right, and center. I don’t want that,” Rogers said. “Even though I want it off my hands, I’m not going to give it to a developer.”

She said she’s not looking to make a big profit. Rogers, a retired assistant principal who emigrated from Guyana in the 1980s, said she knows what it’s like to struggle, and she wants to sell to someone in need so they can become a homeowner.

Rogers said she learned that in this market, “you have to have patience” as a seller. She listed her home for sale on Oct. 21. A buyer planned to purchase the home in January for $120,000. But when interest rates went up, the buyer could no longer afford the house. So it’s back on the market.

Beza Ayele’s goal for 2022 was to purchase her first home. Although she started looking in Philadelphia in January, that almost didn’t happen.

She found a home she liked right away, and the seller accepted her offer. But when she got the house inspected in February, “it failed miserably,” said Ayele, 30, who works remotely in health care.

When she restarted her search, the experience was “overwhelming,” she said. Properties flew off the market almost immediately. Competitors paid much more than she thought properties were worth. She looked at house after house.

“It just got to be very frustrating to be honest, because it was almost impossible,” Ayele said. “You almost become desperate and just want to buy any house to get it over with.”

» READ MORE: Trying to buy a house in the Philly region’s hot market? Prepare for battle. (From 2021)

She decided to take a break. Luckily, she was renting from a family member and didn’t have to move.

Then her brother came across a three-bedroom townhouse for sale in Delaware County in late summer and sent it her way. “I told him, ‘I’m not buying a house this year. I don’t even want to look at it,’ ” she said.

But she did, and she liked it. Although it wasn’t perfect — its kitchen was outdated, for one thing — she could see the potential. She bought it at the end of October.

Because her search took so long, she wasn’t able to take advantage of low interest rates in early 2022, but she hopes to refinance her mortgage in the future. She’s just relieved to finally have a house.

“It’s definitely worth it in the end,” she said, “but it’s a lot, especially around this time.”