real estate market: 5 Steps Toward Buying A Home
- 12/28/16 10:43 AM
Buying a home can be a particularly stressful, painstaking process, especially for first-time home buyers. To prepare you for the real estate market, follow these 5 steps toward buying a home. #1 Save Years In Advance Down payment requirements depend on the loan program, ranging anywhere from 3% to 20% of the home value. Zero down payment loans are also available from the USDA or VA for those who qualify. Most buyers should expect to put a large sum of money down to buy a home, so it’s important to plan on saving years in advance. In addition to the down payment, is the … (1 comments)
real estate market: Job Market Spurs US Housing Market Forward
- 03/25/16 02:27 AM
Job growth in 2015 certainly helped spur the housing market forward. Most experts believe 2016 will follow the pattern, with job creation leading to increased activity in the United States Housing Market. Most believe the two sectors are linked and that as people find new, higher paying jobs, home values and activity will both rise with it. The job market created 2.6 million new jobs in 2015. Unemployment hit 5% in 2015, down from 5.8% in 2014. Urban centers and high tech hubs experienced the most growth in both job creation and housing activity. Places like San Francisco, Denver and Seatlle all … (1 comments)
real estate market: 2015 May Bring Millennials to Home Buying Table
- 04/01/15 07:19 AM
Realtor Magazine believes that this year will be the year when millennials, or Generation Y buyers, come out of the weeds and take a seat at the housing market table. The magazine has pointed to rising rent prices, a strengthening job market, and the impending Federal Reserve decision to raise interest rates. Last year, the number of first time homebuyer purchases sank to its lowest level in 30 years. However, millennials comprised 32% of the U.S. housing market, suggesting they have not been shifting into home ownership as expected. Many experts have pointed to 2015 as the year that trend shifts. Rent prices … (3 comments)
real estate market: Home Inventory Down in Early 2015
- 03/18/15 07:01 AM
Home inventories have fallen in early 2015 as markets have struggled to find a balance between homes for sale and qualified buyers. Home inventory fell in January by 6.7% month over month and 8.7% year over year.
Although obvious on the surface, the major problem causing a lack of homes for sale is that sellers have yet to put their homes up for sale. Many home owners have watched their markets increase, with the expectation that their home will sell higher the longer they wait. In many cases this will be true. However, in markets like Bozeman, Montana, where there are many … (0 comments)
Recent numbers compiled by the National Association of Realtors have shown a rise in previously owned home sales for the month of October. Sales of these homes rose 1.5% to an annual rate of 5.26 million dollars. October was the second straight month where the annual rate trended up and its upward pace has not been this fast since September 2013.
The combination of improving inventory, stable price growth and low interest rates continue to make buying pre-owned homes easier. The average October interest rate fell to 4.03%, the lowest it has been since June … (2 comments)
real estate market: Million Dollar Home Sales Increasing
- 11/13/14 06:11 AM
Over the 2014 year in the United States, the number of 1 million dollar plus home sales rose by 8 percent. Million dollar and up homes have seen a much faster recovery than any other price point. In fact, sales for million dollar and up homes are now almost comparable to prices seen during the housing peak in 2007.
Housing analysts believe one reason why the surge has occurred has been the increase in jumbo loans being given to high priced buyers. A jumbo loan is a loan that exceeds $417,000, or in very high priced areas, $625,000. Total … (3 comments)
“The power balance in the real estate world is shifting faster than ever. Travel titans, search engines, investment oracles and government entities all want to change the way we do business. Most just want to control a larger piece of the pie.” (Source)
In the everyday functioning of a real estate office, attracting and retaining agents is a top priority. Real estate, although a volatile market, is a rather stable numbers game when it comes to the number of agents entering versus retiring. With that being said, the ability of a broker or agent to … (0 comments)
real estate market: Selling Your Home in a Rising Rate Market
- 07/11/13 02:49 AM
This past year has brought with it significant improvements to the wounded market we all lived through last year. With this healing process, the world of a seller became an ease as the constraints of limited inventory, low prices, and low mortgage rates all converged. Slowly listing prices began to rise and now, mortgage rates are following suit. “There’s no one in the business right now who doesn’t think the market hasn’t taken a step back. The evidence is all around us,” said Glenn Kelman, chief executive of real-estate brokerage Redfin. (SOURCE) A good rule to follow is that 1% increase in … (13 comments)
real estate market: Healthy Real Estate: Bursting Bubble Fears on the Rise
- 07/03/13 06:07 AM
“Prices are increasing quickly, though that may not always be the most healthy development for the economy. Also, banks may soon loosen overly strict requirements, but a choke point remains in new-home construction.”(source) “The median home price jumped 8% from the previous month to $208,000, according to NAR. While month-to-month price swings are not unusual, the year-over-year rise is now 15%, and prices are at levels last seen in the summer of 2008, just before the bursting of the housing bubble.” (source)
The housing recovery is in full swing. The surge in the market caught many by surprise with how fast and how … (0 comments)
Misunderstood News: April saw a sharp fall in housing starts primarily due to apartment and condominium declines. The Census Bureau reported a 17% reduction for the month with a 38% drop in multi-family units. This emphasizes the volatility of the market since each livable unit with such buildings counts as an individual statistic. New building starts boasted gains of 14%--much coming from the building of large apartment buildings.
Straight–Forward Good News: The two more stable measurements, single-family home starts, fell only 2% allowing the overall stat to remain 21% above last year’s levels. In addition, near-record low mortgage rates in combination with the … (0 comments)
real estate market: 7 Year-Highs: Home Prices Post Their Biggest Gains
- 05/14/13 05:36 AM
Median Existing Single-Family saw their largest annual gain in more than seven years in the first quarter of 2013. The median home price rose from $158,600 to $176,600, a gain of 11.3%! “The supply/demand balance is clearly tilted toward sellers in a good portion of the country,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Inventory conditions are expected to remain fairly constrained this year, so overall price increases should be well above the historic gain of one-to-two percentage points above the rate of inflation. If home builders can continue to ramp up production, then home price growth is expected to moderate … (0 comments)
real estate market: Stalling Sellers May Miss The Boat
- 03/28/13 07:17 AM
People, especially those who are thinking of selling, are eying the market with calculated hesitancy. They are waiting to see by how much home prices will appreciate before they commit to the decision and plunging into the market for themselves. Oddly enough, the time to decide may be based on when they purchased their home rather than watching the current market like a hawk. If your home was purchased during the sluggish market in the last few years, moving up in 2013 is their prime opportunity. "Because they bought near the bottom, these home owners should have built up some good … (1 comments)
real estate market: Springtime—A Blooming Housing Market
- 03/13/13 06:38 AM
Home inventory is reaching its lowest point since 1999. This is stabilizing home prices in many markets, and since buyer traffic is continuing to pick up, multiple offers and bidding wars are going to become the common state of things. Many sellers still remain underwater while buyers are ready to buy, causing the housing inventory to continuously shrink. Currently, there is a 4.2-month supply of existing homes for sale, down from January’s 4.5-month supply, according to data from NAR.
“Buyer traffic is continuing to pick up, while seller traffic is holding steady," Lawrence Yun, the National Association of REALTORS®’ chief economist says. … (3 comments)
real estate market: Housing 2013: Predictions For Was Is To Come
- 02/08/13 12:45 AM
Liniger recently offered up some of his predictions for the new year: More buyers and sellers return to the housing market. Home sales increase 6-7 percent while home prices increase 3-4 percent. Inventory of for-sale homes will hit bottom. Higher-priced listings begin to sell more. The number of distressed properties continues to drop. The shadow inventory continues to fall. Short sales rise, reaching a peak. Mortgage rates rise slightly by year's end from record lows. Lending remains constrained for home buyers. Home affordability remains at record highs. Watch Liniger’s video to learn more about his housing predictions. Source: RE/MAX … (0 comments)
real estate market: Unpredictable Predictions
- 01/22/13 07:15 AM
The Wall Street Journal had a headline that did its job and grabbed my attention this morning: (http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2013/01/22/the-year-everyone-was-wrong-again-about-home-prices/?mod=WSJ_3Up_RealEstate) The Year Everyone Was Wrong (Again) About Home Prices. This statement makes everything I have ever written in a blog is all of a sudden being challenged. Accepting the challenge I read on…
Predictions are vague estimations of what people who study a specific area think may happen. Looking back retro-actively at the predictions made is sometimes an event of true comedy. For several years now experts who have studied trends, analyzed data, and put their own intuition into predictions have said the housing … (0 comments)
real estate market: Four Year High: The Housing Market Surges
- 11/27/12 12:47 AM
Housing Starts: A statistic referencing the number of residential building construction projects beginning during a specific period of time (most commonly a month). This serves as a key economic indicator of the viability and confidence in the housing market as well as the national economy. It has been in the headlines for weeks now, but with winter finally settling in and marking the end of yet another year, the housing market continues its trend rising 3.6% in October, the highest rate since July of 2008. Housing starts are reporting to have grown nearly 40% compared to the peak the market achieved in … (0 comments)
real estate market: Foreclosure News: This Is A Good One
- 10/16/12 01:45 AM
Trends are shifting! Foreclosures continue to drop so much so that the number of those not occurring has passed the critical mass of those that are coming on the market. Foreclosure rates have fallen 7% in September reaching their lowest since July of 2007. “We’ve been waiting for the other foreclosure shoe to drop since late 2010, when questionable foreclosure practices slowed activity to a crawl in many areas, but that other shoe is instead being carefully lowered to the floor and therefore making little noise in the housing market — at least at a national level,” says Daren Blomquist, … (3 comments)
real estate market: Investor Real Estate: Backlogs are Clearing On Single-Family Rentals
- 10/08/12 11:37 PM
The Blackstone Group is now the largest investor in the US of single family rental homes. The private-equity firm has purchased more than 6,500 foreclosed homes this year in eight metro areas. Investors play a significant role in determining the prices and health of a real estate market. Investors have recently been taking advantage of lower home prices in the last few years raising $6-8 billion in purchasing single family homes alone. “Of course, success is by no means assured for private-equity firms, especially given their high targets for investment returns in general and their lack of experience with this … (0 comments)
real estate market: Housing Prices Hitting Bottom: Real Estate News
- 09/24/12 03:26 AM
Housing Prices Hitting Bottom Economists have finally put their two cents in and have declared they agree that housing prices have indeed hit bottom. Over the last three years, housing prices have been volatile. There is a loose pattern of home prices rising… rising all spring and summer and then dropping off in the fall and winter, but this year is predicted to be different. There is no foreseeable drop to come as the seasons shift. While the fall months likely will bring out some sort of decrease in recent home price increases, “we have a much better supply … (0 comments)
More and more economic analysts are calling the housing market the bright light in the overall economic recovery. Home sales for existing homes ($100,000+) have risen since this time last year in nearly every region in the country. In addition, inventories have dropped nearly 26%. These two trends have done wonders to stabilize and improving market conditions. “The housing market is clearly superior this year compared with the past four years,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “The latest increase in home contract signings marks 13 consecutive months of year-over-year gains.” Consumer confidence, a number economists look at … (3 comments)
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