Should You Buy a Home Now or Wait? An Upstate Mortgage Broker’s Honest Answer
By Craig Williams — Independent Mortgage Broker serving Greenville, Travelers Rest, Spartanburg & Boiling Springs, South Carolina
If you’re sitting at your kitchen table wondering whether you should buy a home now or wait a little longer, you’re asking exactly the right question — and you’re not alone. It’s one of the most common things buyers bring to me when we sit down together, whether that’s at my office, a coffee shop, or over the phone.
Before I answer it, I want to tell you how I actually work, because it shapes everything that follows. I really enjoy getting to know a person — whether it’s a single buyer, a married couple, or a whole family. I get to hear about their kids, and I get to hear what their goals are for their future home. By the time most people reach out to me, they’ve been thinking about this for a while. It’s rarely a spur-of-the-moment decision. Maybe they’ve been waiting on a new job, or there’s a baby on the way, and now they’re finally ready.
The way I see it, my job isn’t to push you toward a decision. It’s this:
“I’m really here just to give advice and to give information so that they can make it their own — they can make their own plans.”
That said, I know the advice I give carries weight. Based on what I tell people, they sometimes make significant changes to their plans, so I take it seriously. Here’s my honest, current read on whether you should buy now or wait here in the Upstate.
Should I Buy Now or Wait? Here’s the Honest Answer
I’ll be upfront: I almost never tell someone a flat “yes, buy now” or “no, wait.” The only time I’ll give a hard answer is when someone simply can’t qualify yet — and even then, my goal is to help them get there.
It’s been a tricky couple of years in real estate. Up and down, and honestly a little confusing. There have been plenty of positives, but it’s been hard to keep up with. So when you ask “should I buy or wait?”, that’s a question worth asking — and worth asking a good real estate agent who will give you a straight answer, too. As a mortgage broker, I can speak into it from the financial side, because I’m seeing the rates and the financing landscape every day.
Here’s the short version of where things stand right now: if you can qualify, and you feel comfortable with the numbers, this is one of the better moments we’ve seen in a while to be a buyer in the Upstate. Let me explain why.
Why the Upstate Has Quietly Become a Buyer’s Market Again
The single biggest reason buyers have more leverage right now is inventory. I’ve seen a big increase in available homes on the market — the housing inventory has genuinely grown. When there are more homes to choose from, there’s less competition for each one, and that changes everything for a buyer.
This is a real shift, and a fairly recent one:
“Since COVID, we haven’t really been in a buyer’s market again.”
That return of buyer power has really come in the last six to nine months. What does it mean for you in practical terms? If you can qualify and you find a few homes you genuinely love — say you walk through three and could picture yourself living in any of them — you’re now in a position to actually win one. You may not even have to go up to the asking price. And in this market, you can often ask the seller to cover some, or even all, of your closing costs. That’s real money back in your pocket, and it’s the kind of thing that simply wasn’t on the table a couple of years ago.
Do You Really Need 20% Down? Almost Certainly Not.
This is one of the biggest myths I run into. A lot of people have it in their head that they need 20% down — or at least 10% — before they can buy. My honest answer is usually: you can, but do you really need to?
When I look at someone’s full financial picture and I see a good bit of other debt, I’ll often tell them to set some of that cash aside — use it to pay down higher-interest debt instead of pouring all of it into a down payment. In a lot of cases, planning for 5% down, or even less, makes more sense.
Here’s the logic. There are good reasons to buy with less than 20% — or less than 10%, or even 5% — down:
“…because you’re gonna build equity. But what else can you be using that cash for?”
Often your mortgage is your lowest-interest debt. So the smarter move can be keeping cash on hand for life’s surprises and knocking out the more expensive debt first, all while you start building equity in your home. The point isn’t a one-size-fits-all rule. The point is that you have options, and the right one depends on your specific story.
A Real Upstate Story — How One Couple Saved Money With the Right Loan
Let me give you a real example from this past spring, because it captures the moment we’re in.
I worked with a wonderful couple — they were about to get married and looking to buy their first home. Their realtor required a preapproval before showing them homes, which is smart. But in their case it mattered for another reason: they had several loan options worth comparing, and it’s really best to know your options before you buy.
They came in leaning toward a conventional loan. They’d heard somewhere — maybe a family member, maybe their own research — that conventional was the way to go. But when we actually ran the numbers side by side, a USDA loan came out cheaper, both short term and for the foreseeable future.
If you’re not familiar, a USDA loan is for more rural areas, and around here that covers a lot of ground — outside Greenville, outside Greer, there are plenty of eligible places. This couple was mostly looking outside of town anyway. The USDA loan let them put 0% down, the seller could still cover closing costs, their monthly payment stayed very comparable, and the interest rates were still strong. It simply made more sense for them. They were on the fence for a bit, but once they saw both options laid out, they confidently chose the USDA route.
Now here’s the part that really matters. It wasn’t a perfectly smooth ride. They hit some hurdles through the home inspection and the appraisal — a real problem we had to work through, and it was stressful. They got those results back and started to doubt the whole thing. So their real estate agent and I walked them through it, helping them stay focused on their goal. If that home hadn’t turned out to be the right one, I’d have helped them make that call too — and laid out exactly what it would mean.
But it was the right home. The inspection issues were small in their eyes, and they took care of them. They closed, they love the house, and I think they learned a lot along the way. That’s the kind of transaction I’m proud of — not because it was easy, but because we got them to their goal.
What Most Buyers Get Wrong About the Mortgage Process
If I had to name the most common mistake, it’s this: less experienced buyers
“…will operate off of too much emotion… and respond poorly or respond too quickly.”
I want to be fair here — most of the people I work with have either done this before or have good people around them giving solid context. And nobody buys a home every year, so of course you don’t know what you don’t know. That’s normal. But the buyers who do best are the ones who keep their end goal at the front of their mind.
You’re going to feel things during this process — that’s human. But emotion can’t be the thing that dictates your decisions. From your first offer, through getting under contract, through the loan process and inspections, all the way to closing, you’re really negotiating the entire way. Issues will come up. The question is how you work through them.
And working through them is exactly what your real estate agent and your lender are for. Sometimes the inspections come back and the right move is to take a stand — to negotiate harder, or even to walk away. That doesn’t have to be an emotional decision. With the right facts in front of you, you can feel genuinely confident and at peace with a tough call. Giving you those facts at the moments that matter is a big part of my job.
Why I Tell Buyers “Don’t Be Soft”
I actually have a quote on my website: “Don’t be soft.” It comes from Reed Shepherd, whose parents told him that growing up as a basketball player. I love it as a piece of home-buying advice, too.
To me, “don’t be soft” means this: if you know you can qualify, and you want to start building equity and make a good financial decision, then go for it. Don’t just play it safe and make cautious, careful decisions forever out of fear. Think through your options, make a real pros-and-cons list, decide what you actually value — and then commit. As I tell people, that means:
“…putting your best foot forward, and don’t throw money at the table.”
A big part of that is focus. I’d actually tell most buyers to start narrow: be very clear about what you ideally want and which neighborhoods or areas you’re targeting. Then get honest about what you’re willing to compromise on to get there. A narrow, focused goal — paired with a short list of things you’ll happily flex on — is one of the most powerful tools you have.
And don’t go in half-hearted. You can’t just throw out low offer after low offer on home after home; you’ll only get let down. If you genuinely think you can win a home at a lower price in this market, by all means make that smart, competitive offer. But when you find the one, put your best foot forward. Be flexible on the details when you need to be — just never be flexible on your end goal.
Why I Believe in the Upstate
Here’s one more thing: when people ask me what makes the Upstate a great place to buy right now, I think that’s really a question for a great real estate agent, or for some of the wonderful local resources online — sites like visitgreenville.com or the newer Visit Travelers Rest page, which give you a fuller, more objective picture of the towns, the events, and what makes each community special.
But I can tell you why I’ve made this my home. What makes this place special is the people, and the things we love together. We’re not in a major city — we’re not Charlotte or Atlanta — but we’re close, about two hours from each. We’re not buried deep in the mountains, but they’re right in our backyard, and so are the trails and the hiking. We’re not far from the beach either. You’ve got the hub of Greenville, the communities all around it — Travelers Rest, Spartanburg, Boiling Springs — easy interstate access, a great mix of new construction and established homes, good schools, and good business.
“I’ve made this my home, and I’m not leaving. I love it so much.”
I think a lot of people will find what I found: that the Upstate is a beautiful place to put down roots, raise a family, take care of the people you love, and eventually retire.
The Bottom Line — Should You Buy Now or Wait?
Here’s my honest summary:
If you can qualify and feel comfortable with the numbers, this is a genuinely good window for Upstate buyers. Inventory is up, competition is down, and sellers are more willing to help with closing costs than they’ve been since before COVID.
You probably don’t need 20% down. Often 5% — or a program like USDA at 0% down — is the smarter financial move, depending on your full picture.
Know your options before you shop. The right loan can save you real money, and you want that clarity at preapproval, not after you’ve fallen for a house.
Lead with your goal, not your emotions. Expect a few bumps, and lean on the people whose job it is to get you through them.
Don’t be soft. Get focused, commit, and put your best foot forward.
The reason I do this work is simple: I love getting to sit across from someone, hear their story, and help them make one of the biggest decisions of their life with real information and a clear head. If you’re weighing whether to buy now or wait here in the Upstate, let’s talk it through together — no pressure, just an honest conversation about your options.
Ready to find out what you’d actually qualify for? Reach out to Craig and let’s have that conversation — your goals first, your timeline, your numbers.
