In many areas of the country, there are not enough homes for sale to satisfy the number of buyers looking to purchase their dream homes. Experts have long proposed that a ramp-up in new, single-family home construction would be one of the many ways to overcome this inventory shortage.
According to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) andWells Fargo, housing market confidence amongst builders reached an 11-year high last month.
What Does High Confidence Mean for the Housing Market?
In a recent interview, Rob Dietz, Chief Economist and SVP for NAHB, put it this way:
“Higher market confidence will translate into more building and more inventory in 2017. We expect single-family construction to grow
That headline might be a little aggressive. However, as the data on the 2017 housing market begins to roll in, we can definitely say one thing: If you are considering selling, IT IS TIME TO LIST YOUR HOME!
The February numbers are not in yet, but the January numbers were sensational. Lawrence Yun,Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors, said:
“Much of the country saw robust sales activity last month as strong hiring and improved consumer confidence at the end of last year appear to have sparked considerable interest in buying a home. Market challenges remain, but the housing market is off to a prosperous start as homebuyers staved off inventory levels that are far from adequate…”
Over the next five years, home prices are expected to appreciate 3.22% per year on average and to grow by 17.3% cumulatively, according to Pulsenomics’ most recent Home Price Expectation Survey.
So, what does this mean for homeowners and their equity position?
As an example, let’s assume a young couple purchased and closed on a $250,000 home in January. If we look at only the projected increase in the price of that home, how much equity will they earn over the next 5 years?
Since the experts predict that home prices will increase by 4.4% this year alone, the young homeowners will have gained $11,000 in equity in just one year.
Over a five-year period, their equity will increase by nearly $43,000! This figure does not even take into
As a seller, unreasonable buyer expectations can make contract negotiations on your house more difficult than they need to be. Luckily, there’s a way for you to solve this problem.
Today I want to talk about the emerging trend in buyer expectations that impacts marketing, contract negotiations, and—most importantly—home inspection negotiations.
Let’s imagine you’re a seller and we’ve got a contract on your house, we’ve negotiated the price and all the terms with the buyer, and we’re ready for the home inspection. This buyer will expect that your house is move-in ready and nothing is wrong with it other than what you’ve already disclosed in your disclosure document.
Suddenly, the home inspector comes in and has a long list
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There is no doubt that historically low mortgage interest rates were a major impetus to housing recovery over the last several years. However, many industry experts are showing concern about the possible effect that the rising rates will have moving forward.
The Mortgage Bankers Association, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the National Association of Realtorsare all projecting that mortgage interest rates will move upward in 2017. Increasing interest rates will definitely impact purchasers and may stifle demand.
In a recent study of industry experts, “rising mortgage interest rates, and their impact on mortgage affordability” was named by 56% as the force they think will have the most significant impact on U.S. housing in 2017. If rising rates slow
According to a recent survey conducted by ClosingCorp, over half of all homebuyers are surprised by the closing costs required to obtain their mortgage.
After surveying 1,000 first-time and repeat homebuyers, the results revealed that 17% of homebuyers were surprised that closing costs were required at all, while another 35% were stunned by how much higher the fees were than expected.
“Homebuyers reported being most surprised by mortgage insurance, followed by bank fees and points, taxes, title insurance and appraisal fees.”
Bankrate.com recently gathered closing cost data from lenders in every state and Washington, D.C. to be able to share the average costs in each state. The map below was created using the closing costs on a $200,000
Today I want to talk about another strategy you as a buyer can do to avoid the frustration caused by no houses being for sale.
You need to find an agent who knows how to find properties “under the radar.” They need to be able to network for you by networking with the other agents who are working in the neighborhoods where you want to live. They need to do things like knock on doors, send mail, and advertise on Facebook.
Most neighborhoods where we live also have neighborhood Listservs. If you can find an agent who can utilize Listserv, that would help tremendously.
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Your agent needs to be able to network.
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For example, I’m working with a family right now who wants to live in a particular location, so I
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) keeps historical data on many aspects of homeownership. One of the data points that has changed dramatically is the median tenure of a family in a home. As the graph below shows, for over twenty years (1985-2008), the median tenure averaged exactly six years. However, since 2008, that average is almost nine years – an increase of almost 50%.
Why the dramatic increase?
The reasons for this change are plentiful!
The fall in home prices during the housing crisis left many homeowners in a negative equity situation (where their home was worth less than the mortgage on the property). Also, the uncertainty of the economy made some homeowners much more fiscally conservative about making a move.
