Home Sales Archives - Page 2 of 5

December 14, 2016 by changescapeweb

Will 2017 be a buyer’s market or a seller’s market?

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Here’s what four economists had to say about whether 2017 is leaning toward buyers or sellers.

The consensus is?

Most economists we talked to said that overall, they thought 2017 was going to continue to be a strong market for sellers — for now.

“While I expect inventory levels to rise in 2017, it will likely remain a seller’s market,” said Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere. “New construction will pick up steam in 2017, but not to levels that will provide sufficient support to a stretched housing market. Sellers will likely find that it will take a little longer to sell, but demand will still outstrip supply on the back of a job market that continues to tighten.”

Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Zillow, opined that “2017 is probably going to skew more toward the seller’s market — most markets will skew more toward seller’s markets, and even in the Midwest there are probably more seller’s markets than buyer’s markets compared to their own history.”

Geography does play a role, however, said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at realtor.com.

“Ultimately, I do think it depends on where you are in the country — and not even at a market level,” Smoke said. “We’re seeing some clear patterns emerge within markets — one might be slowing down and cooling off where another part is really heating up. Real estate is so local that I would argue that a neighborhood view is really where you can see the differences and disparities and changes that are occurring around the country.”

Smoke noted that first-time buyers have been most successful in the Midwest this year, whereas markets in the West have seen the most significant price appreciation, making it difficult for first-time buyers to find success.

“We tend to have markets that are either above average in price expectation or sales expectation, and there aren’t many markets that have above-average expectations in both — supply constraint is driving the price movement in the strongest price markets, seller’s markets, but the buyer’s markets where buyers are getting a really affordable home, as a result, those markets are seeing a greater growth in sales,” Smoke explained.

“Either one is good for real estate,” he concluded.

Will we see a shift?

Gudell said that Zillow had just asked a panel of experts — more than 100 economists — “what they thought was going to happen to the tradeoff between buyers versus sellers.”

She said that among the economists surveyed, the most popular belief was that in 2018 or 2019, the bulk of markets will begin to shift from seller’s markets to buyer’s markets.

“In some markets, it’ll start to turn already in 2017, where demand isn’t quite so high and you get a little more inventory in and you have buyers better able to negotiate,” Gudell added.

What does the future buyer look like?

Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American, said that, “assuming an environment with modestly and predictably rising mortgage rates, it becomes a first-time homebuyer purchase-oriented marketplace.

“The question as a real estate agent is, how do you find and market to that first-time homebuyer?” asked Fleming. “Because that first-time homebuyer is going to be a young, technologically savvy millennial — and even more importantly, ethnically diverse. The demand for first-time housing is going to come from a different kind of individual than we’ve traditionally seen: Young, diverse, technologically savvy and much more likely to be college-educated.”

“The homeownership rate will grow, and they’ll be less white and a little younger,” said Gudell.

“Unfortunately, I think all of us will be spending more time in the car as more people have to look for more housing outside the city center as homes become much more expensive in the urban area,” she added. “During the recovery, it’s really picked up and the urban centers have appreciated much faster than the outerlying areas.”

“The potential is there for the market to have the most first-time buyers — certainly on an absolute volume basis, but also on a shared transactions perspective,” said Smoke.

“For the industry, this is the biggest shift we need to be able to contend with because it likely means elongated length of time that people are spending in that journey, especially the first-time buyer, but it potentially also means higher cancellation rates and lower conversion rates. You’re going to have more challenges with people contending with needing to qualify for and buy a home in the environment we’re in now than in the environment we were in the last two years.

“Highly qualified pent-up demand has been driving the market — now, it’s more organic activity at a time when interest rates are on the move-up,” he added. “The potential is there for an even bigger year than we’re forecasting, but it comes with challenges and that’s why we’re expecting only moderate growth instead of huge growth.”

“The thing about housing is that everybody needs it and you can’t outsource it,” said Fleming.

Article written by AMBER TAUFEN

https://www.inman.com/newsletter/brief-hedlines-tues-dec-13-2016/

P.S. Real estate is still booming this FALL! Homes are selling fast & for the highest prices in years. It is never too early to get your home ready for the Fall market or for next year. It is a great time for buyers to call me to discuss the market also.
Don’t miss out on your dream home & interest rates below 3.5%. Call me for details today!

March 22, 2016 by changescapeweb

Millennial buyers moving to suburbs: NAR 2016 trends survey

All year when you see or hear a news outlet citing a homebuyer or homeseller statistic, odds are that it came from the annual National Association of Realtors’ “Home Buyer And Seller Generational Trends” report. The 2016 report was released this morning and shows that more millennials(defined as buyers and sellers age 35 and younger) are purchasing homesoutside of urban areas, and that despite the common refrain of millennial debt, these buyers don’t have the biggest student debt balances. Once again — for the third year in a row — millennials comprised the largest number of recent homebuyers. Here’s the approximate breakdown of respondents (due to rounding, numbers add up to more than 100 percent):

Millennials: 35 percent
Generation X: 26 percent
Baby boomers: 31 percent
Silent generation: 9 percent

Millennials moving home to the suburbs

Younger buyers seem to be shifting from seeking homes in urban city centers to the more sedate suburbs. The share of millennials buying in an urban area decreased to 17 percent from 21 percent in the 2015 NAR survey. Also, fewer millennials purchased multifamily homes than last year (10 percent instead of 15 percent).

Other millennial trends

Millennials were certainly making compromises in the homebuying process, according to Jessica Lautz, NAR’s managing director of surveys. These compromises tended to be on the size of house, or the house itself not being perfect. Millennials were also more likely to buy foreclosures than other buyers, she said. Millennials were willing to see a “diamond in the rough,” fix it up themselves and customize it for their own needs, said Lautz. “Other notables are that millennials, more than any others, think that buying a home is a good financial investment,” she added. Rising rents were a major contributing factor for millennials who made the step to buy. While they still had student debt — 44 percent of millennials have student debt of a median size of $25,000 — 23 percent were using a financial gift from a friend or relative to help with a down payment, as well as using their own savings. “Among the biggest factors influencing neighborhood choice, millennials were most influenced by the quality of the neighborhood (63 percent) and convenience to jobs (60 percent); convenience to schools was most desired by Gen X buyers, and proximity to friends and family by the Silent Generation,” reported NAR in its release.

For the full article go to https://www.inman.com/2016/03/09/millennial-buyers-moving-to-suburbs-nar-2016-trends-survey/

P.S. Spring has sprung!! Real estate has exploded and homes are selling fast and for the highest prices in years! The market is very competitive for buyers, so call me to discuss the strategies to buy your Dream Home. Interest rates are still below 4%. Call me today for details!

October 13, 2015 by changescapeweb Leave a Comment

Renovation Tips for Home Sales

Real estate and properties in general can be improved and renovated for added benefit and value, which makes them more likely to be sold with success. The tips of this article will give you more information on ways you can improve your home and to make it work better for sales purposes:

Insulation is one of the most important aspects of a home that need to be taken care of if you hope you have a potential future selling it on the market. You need to focus on ensuring your home has a good insulation you can count on. This will help when you need to make a sale, but it will also ensure whoever lives there will be able to enjoy the place without it needing more work.

You can add a deck to your property if it allows such an approach, which will let your future buyers and tenants benefit from it as well as you would. You can create a nice flow between the outdoor and indoor areas you have, creating a nice balance between potential activities people living in the property can really enjoy.

Refitting your kitchen is another good way of adding more value to your property, as it will let you bring about positive new changes into it that will last for many years. A more modern kitchen will go a really long way toward making the property more noteworthy for potential new buyers. You may need to get a moving company involved, especially if you need to move certain items out of your home and if they happen to be meant for another place. A moving company you know can also work when your potential new buyers need one to move in, so it would be a great way of working together.

Repaint and do your best to update the bathroom as well when you move on with the renovation, choosing colors that fit the rest of your home or wildly contrast with it, whichever one you like. The last thing you will need to have around your bathroom is to have it look old and battered, as this will be the best way to turn people away from your property. Make sure you keep things functional above them being top of the line and fashionable. Even if the bathroom looks fairly boring, if it happens to be working right and looking brand new, few people would actually have a problem with its looks, as long as they don’t cross the line into being too terrible with colors.

Something else you will need to deal with is working on the curb appeal of your home as well as other aspects. The outside is just as important as the inside, so you will need to be able to cover things well enough to make the sale easier instead of allowing your yard to look terrible. Fix up your garden and see whether you can repaint the outside of the building as well, transforming the entirety of it into something completely different with a few simple touches.

Article provided by Ella A. on behalf of: https://carpetcleaningbow.org.uk/

P.S. Homes are selling fast and for the highest prices in years! It is never too late to put your home on the market or for buyers to call me to discuss the Summer & Fall market. Don’t miss out on your Dream Home, interest rates are still below 4%. Call me today for details!

June 29, 2015 by changescapeweb Leave a Comment

5 Big Spring Selling Mistakes Clients Make.

Next to sunshine and lead surges, seller slip-ups are one of the most common things. Each year, too many sellers find innovative ways to kill a deal or chance at maximizing profit.

Here are five too-common follies to keep an eye out for this year and a few suggestions for keeping your sellers, and commission checks, safe:

1. Banking on the Overnight, High-Dollar Sale

All the news points to the heat and low-inventory trends in today’s market. The good news is, many sellers have the confidence to get in the game. The bad news is that too many will do so thinking they will sell for top dollar in a flash.

According to Ralph McLaughlin, Housing Economist, “What’s quickening the pace of sales? It turns out it’s homes priced at the low end of the market.” National numbers show that homes are selling slightly faster than normal, but your sellers need to know that quick moves require competitive pricing.

2. Under-Staging

Too many sellers think “low inventory” means low competition. When pickings are slim, updates become much more important. If buyers believe there’s limited opportunity to get the home they’re dreaming about, an understaged listing can demotivate the already anxious.

Here, scare tactics might be one the best ways to get your sellers to see the light. Show them shockingly competitive, similar homes in person and online.

3. Unwanted Buyer Gifts

Contrary to many sellers beliefs, most buyers don’t want to make critical repairs and updates when making a purchase. Anytime you hear a seller say, “We’ll leave that for the buyers,” remind them they need a buyer to actually close the deal.

Also, show your sellers the real value of making critical repairs. Check out NAR’s 2014 comparison of repair costs vs. resale value of home repairs for real numbers on how much they stand to make with improvements.

4. Scenting Strain

In an effort to “sweeten” the showing, some sellers can go too far. According to agent Genevieve Gheorghiu, “I find when sellers try to make their houses smell TOO good, it can be just as awful (as bad smells).”

As a part of your staging plan, don’t leave the “scenting” to chance. Recommend some of these easy smell-neutralizers that are guaranteed to deodorize without overwhelming:

Bowl of Vinegar Overnight — Sit a bowl of vinegar in a smelly room overnight and it will help soak up the unwelcomed odor.
Happy Hour Spray — Add 2-parts water and 1-part cheap vodka into a spray bottle and spray almost any area in the room. The mixture grabs the smell and evaporates.
Have Coffee and an Orange — Coffee grounds and orange peels are great odor neutralizers. Add one of them to a bowl in the room, inside the trash can, or down the garbage disposal to ensure showing-friendly smells.

5. Not Protecting Privacy

Like it or not, showings can be an information security risk sellers don’t consider in the excitement of trying to sell. As a part of your “decluttering” conversation, be sure to discuss “what lies beneath” with your sellers. From important documents to valuables, like jewelry and electronics, get your sellers to think about things they need to protect from the strangers that will be roaming through their homes.

These are big five faux pas we’ve seen too often from sellers marketing during the start of the hot season. What would you add to the list?

for more on this article go to: https://www.trulia.com/pro/sellers/5-big-spring-selling-mistakes-clients-make/

P.S. Real estate is booming! Homes are selling fast and for the highest prices in years. It is never too early to get your home ready for the market or for buyers to call me to discuss the market. Don’t miss out on your dream home & interest rates below 4%. Call me for details today!

April 22, 2015 by changescapeweb Leave a Comment

Top 5 Real Estate Sales Tips and Guidelines to Follow

There are a lot of things happening on the real estate markets around the world, but things may not be all that bad for everyone involved. It has a good set of challenges involved, but with the right time and research being done, you will find a buyer for your property without too much trouble. The tips ahead will give you more information on that matter and how you can make your sale a reality:

1. The first and foremost thing you need to do is to ensure you have a proper maintenance done to your property before you put it on the market. There is no point in trying to sell something that doesn’t have a good look and happens to be in disrepair. A potential buyer will want to see all aspects of a home and if they see something that doesn’t work all that well, they will not feel interested in what the property has to offer. You need to ensure you manage even the smallest of issues, as they will become a big problem. Broken doorknobs, faulty duct-work and pipework, as well as any other types of damage will need to be dealt with promptly or else you will have little chance of a sale on any market.

2. You can focus on getting some staging done for the exterior of your home. A nice, fresh coat of paint, making your landscape shine and even some nice furniture to add to the overall appeal. The more comfort you have out there, the more welcoming the home will look overall and potentially more interesting to buyers.

3. You need to make sure your future buyers have unrestricted access to your property so they can see it in all its glory. There are many ways you can do this, but you should ensure you have done this ahead of time to allow your real estate agent to look at things and let them point out the good parts of your home while downplaying its weaknesses. Giving the agents a key and access is extremely important, so make sure you also have a good time they can do viewings, since this will make your potential sale more likely to happen.

4. Stick to keeping your prices as reasonable as you can. There are many buyers today that happen to be aware of the ways they can find more about prices in the area, so you will need to keep that in mind and that they will know if your price is abnormal and bloated. You can ensure a faster sale if you set your price at about a 10% or so lower than the rest of the homes in your area. This should still give you what you need, but you will not have to wait for a long time to make your sale as a result.

5. Another step worth taking is to de-clutter the entirety of your property, keeping it clear and allowing it to shine with more space than it had before you do that. If needed hire a professional house clearance company to help you out. You would do well to remove any personal items from the property as well, as this will allow people to project their own vision of what the home must look like instead.

For more helpful property maintenance tips read at this site

P.S. Real estate is booming this Spring! Homes are selling fast and for the highest prices in years. It is never too early to get your home ready for the market or for buyers to call me to discuss the Spring market. Don’t miss out on your dream home & interest rates below 4%. Call me for details today!