QUOTE OF THE WEEK... "If you don't understand the details of your business, you are going to fail." --Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com
INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE... It was certainly important to understand the details of last week's Existing Home Sales report. The headline numbers showed June Existing Home Sales were down a disappointing 1.2%, to a 5.08 million annual rate. But other details were encouraging. Existing Home Sales are up 15.2% over a year ago. The median price of an existing home rose and is now up 13.5% from a year ago. Sales are near their highest levels since November 2009, when they were spiked by the big home buyer tax credit. Existing home sales remain above the 5 million a year threshold, a very decent place to be.
No need to dig into the details of New Home Sales to see success. New single-family home sales shot up 8.3% in June, to a 497,000 annual rate, their highest level since May 2008. These sales are now up a humongous 38.1% versus a year ago. The median price of a new home also gained for the month and is now up 7.4% from a year ago. For those worried about how the recent uptick in mortgage rates would affect sales, this first look at purchase contracts signed in June shows no impact. The FHFA index of prices for homes financed with conforming mortgages was up 0.7% in May, up 7.3% over a year ago.
BUSINESS TIP OF THE WEEK... Learn all you can about the people you want as clients. Check into their social networks and blogs. Then when you get together, you can offer them something meaningful and create immediate rapport.
Please contact me if I can help you buy or sell your next home!
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