Have we found the bottom of the Housing Market? Well for the third month in a row, sales of new homes have increased. Last month sales were up 11% and as many “economy watchers” look on, the news is a welcomed sign of things to come. We have to stop here to mention that each area of the country is different and National Numbers often hold little clout in regional sales figures, but never the less, this is great news.
Here in Honolulu, the real estate market has been a “mixed bag” for some time. Some areas of Oahu have been in what’s known as a buyer’s market for and other areas like Kailua, Hawaii Kai and Manoa have been in a Seller’s market.
How do you know the difference? It is basic supply and demand. If the supply of available homes goes up or out paces the sales of the homes in the area, it will be a buyer’s market. If the supply of available homes goes down or the sales of homes in a given area out pace the addition of supply, then it is most likely a sellers market.
There is still the wild card...”Distressed Properties”. A distressed property is one that is in Foreclosure, a Short Sale or even a Lender Sale-REO-Bank Owned Property. When one of these properties sells in a specific area, it will affect all of the homes or properties in that area because the value of a home is found in the sales price of other similar homes in the same area. Realtors and sellers can always make excuses as to why that sales price should not affect the value of the home they are selling, but the simple fact is that it does in one way or another.
If you are looking for a new home, or thinking that it may be time, home prices and interest rate are both near their lows. Now is an excellent time to buy the home you have been thinking of. FHA and VA buyers will have added benefits like 0 to 3.5% down and programs where the lender will give you the money to renovate the property along with 6 months of mortgage payments and loan amounts based on the after renovation value of the property.
Yes, it is an excellent time to purchase a new home and we would like to assist you in doing so. Please call upon us anytime and we will share with you all of the homes and programs that will perfectly fit your needs. If you would like to search for homes that might interest you, go to http://gayle.hawaiirealtygroup.info and use our award winning search tool.
Have a great week!
Cheers-
Mike & Gayle
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