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The latest  Existing Home Sales Report  issued by the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR) revealed that home sales have decreased for four consecutive months and are at their slowest pace in over two years. This has some industry leaders puzzled considering the fact that the economy is strengthening, unemployment is down, and wages are beginning to rise. This begs the question:  “Where are the buyers?” Actually, agents in the field of most communities are still seeing strong desire from prospective purchasers. They have a list of potential buyers ready to go if the right houses come on the market and they claim it is not a shortage of demand, but is instead a shortage of inventory that is causing the market to soften. Why is there a shortage of inventory? You only need to look at the graph below to understand: New construction sales over the last ten years are far below historic numbers from 1995-2002. A recent   industry report   looked at building permits

There are many conflicting headlines when it comes to describing today’s real estate market. Some are making comparisons to the market we experienced 10 years ago and are starting to believe that we may be doomed to repeat ourselves. Others are just plain wrong when it comes to what it takes to qualify for a mortgage. Today, we want to try and clear the air by shedding some light on what’s causing some of these headlines, as well as what’s truly going on. Myth #1: We Are Headed for Another Housing Bubble Home prices have appreciated year-over-year for the last  76 straight months . Many areas of the country are at or near their peak prices achieved before the last housing bubble burst. This has many worried that we are headed towards another housing bubble. Reality:  The biggest challenge facing today’s real estate market is a  lack of homes for sale!  Demand is strong, as many renters have come off the fence and are searching for their dream homes. Historically, a nor

Freddie Mac ,  Fannie Mae,  and  t he  Mortgage Bankers Association  are all projecting that home sales will increase nicely in 2019. Below is a chart depicting the projections of each entity for the remainder of 2018, as well as for 2019. As we can see,  Freddie Mac ,  Fannie Mae,  and   t he  Mortgage Bankers Association  all believe that homes sales will increase steadily over the next year. If you are a homeowner who has considered selling your house recently, now may be the best time to put it on the market. Powered by  WPeMatico For More Info : Visit Here :  Home For Sale NC

There are some people who have not purchased homes because they are uncomfortable taking on the obligation of a mortgage. Everyone should realize, however, that unless you are living with your parents rent-free, you are paying a mortgage –  either yours or your landlord’s . As  Entrepreneur Magazine , a premier source for small business, explained in their article,  “12 Practical Steps to Getting Rich” : “While renting on a temporary basis isn’t terrible, you should most certainly own the roof over your head if you’re serious about your finances. It won’t make you rich overnight,  but by renting, you’re paying someone else’s mortgage . In effect, you’re making someone else rich.” With home prices rising, many renters are concerned about their house-buying power. Mark Fleming, Chief Economist at  First American ,  explained : “ Over the last three years, renter house-buying power has increased fast enough to keep pace with house price appreciation , so the share of hom

Last week, in a  new report  from  Zillow , it was revealed that there has been a rash of price reductions across the country. According to the report: There are more price cuts now than a year ago in over two-thirds of the nation’s largest metros About 14% of all listings had a price cut in June Since the beginning of the year, the share of listings with a price cut increased 1.2% This is the greatest January-to-June increase ever reported, and more than double the January-to-June increase last year Senior Economist Aaron Terrazas further explained: “A rising share of on-market listings are seeing price cuts, though these price cuts are concentrated at the most expensive price-points and primarily in markets that have seen outsized price gains in recent years.” What this DOESN’T MEAN for the real estate market… This doesn’t mean home values have depreciated or are about to depreciate. A seller may put a home worth $300,000 on the market for $325,000 hoping a b

You read that right! First-time buyers across the country are getting creative when it comes to saving the necessary down payment to buy a home. Many couples are asking their wedding guests to contribute to their “Down Payment Fund” rather than fulfilling a traditional registry. This is fueled by the fact that many couples live together prior to marriage and already have the necessary items to make a house a home… they just need the house! The average wedding in the United States has 120 guests who give wedding gifts valued, on average, at $186. This means that couples could walk away from their nuptials with over $22,000 towards their down payment! Services like  HomeFundMe  allow friends, family members, and almost anyone else in a buyer’s network to contribute funds toward the buyer’s down payment. Contributors can determine, at the time of their donation, if their gifts are ‘conditional’ or ‘non-conditional’ on the beneficiary buying a home. According to a recent  Wa

Have you ever been flipping through the channels, only to find yourself glued to the couch in an HGTV binge session? We’ve all been there, watching entire seasons of  “Love it or List it,” “Million Dollar Listing,” “House Hunters,” “Property Brothers,”  and so many more all in one sitting. When you’re in the middle of your real estate themed show marathon, you might start to think that everything you see on TV must be how it works in real life, but you may need a reality check. Reality TV Show Myths vs. Real Life: Myth #1: Buyers look at 3 homes and decide to purchase one of them. Truth: There may be buyers who fall in love and buy the first home they see, but according to the  National Association of Realtors  the average homebuyer tours  10 homes  as a part of their search.     Myth #2: The houses the buyers are touring are still for sale. Truth: Everything is staged for TV. Many of the homes being shown are already sold and are off the market.   Myth #3: The buyers

Every three years, the  Federal Reserve  conducts their  Survey of Consumer Finances  in which they collect data across all economic and social groups. Their latest survey data, covering 2013-2016 was recently released. The study revealed that the median net worth of a homeowner was $231,400 – a 15% increase since 2013. At the same time, the median net worth of renters decreased by 5% ($5,200 today compared to $5,500 in 2013). These numbers reveal that the net worth of a homeowner is over 44 times greater than that of a renter. Owning a home is a great way to build family wealth As we’ve said before, simply put, homeownership is a form of ‘forced savings.’ Every time you pay your mortgage, you are contributing to your net worth by increasing the equity in your home. That is why, for the fifth year in a row,  Gallup  reported that Americans picked real estate as the best long-term investment. This year’s results showed that 34% of Americans chose real estate, followed b

Some are attempting to compare the current housing market to the market leading up to the “boom and bust” that we experienced a decade ago. They look at price appreciation and conclude that we are on a similar trajectory, speeding toward another housing crisis. However, there is a major difference between the two markets. Last decade, while demand was being artificially created by extremely loose lending standards, a tremendous amount of inventory was coming to the market to satisfy that demand. Below is a graph of the inventory of homes available for sale leading up to the 2008 crash. A normal market should have approximately 6 months supply of housing inventory. As we can see, that number jumped to over 11 months supply leading up to the housing crisis. When questionable mortgage practices ceased, and demand dried up, there was a glut of inventory on the market which caused prices to drop as there was too much supply and not enough demand. Today is radically different!

It should come as no surprise that buying a home in a good school district is important to homebuyers. According to a  report  from  Realtor.com , 86% of 18-34 year-olds and 84% of those aged 35-54 indicated that their home search areas were defined by school district boundaries. What is surprising, however, is that 78% of recent homebuyers sacrificed features from their  “must-have”  lists in order to find homes within their dream school districts. The top feature sacrificed was a garage at 19%, followed closely by a large backyard, an updated kitchen, the desired number of bedrooms, and an outdoor living area. The full results are shown in the graph below. Buyers are attracted to schools with high test scores, accelerated academic programs, art and music programs, diversity, and before and after-school programs. With a limited number of homes available to buy in today’s real estate market, competition is fierce for homes in good school districts. Danielle Hale,  Ch

For many Americans, buying their first home is their first taste of achieving part of the American Dream. There is a sense of pride that comes along with owning your own home and building your family’s wealth through your monthly mortgage payment. It may seem hard to imagine that the first home you purchased (which made your dreams come true) might not be the home that will allow you to achieve the rest of your dreams. The good news is that it’s ok to admit that your home no longer fits your needs! According to  CoreLogic’s  latest  Home Price Index , prices in the starter home market have appreciated faster than any other category over the last year, at 9.4%. At the same time, inventory in this category has dropped 14.2%. These two stats are directly related to one another. As inventory has decreased and demand has increased, prices have been driven up. This is great news if you own a starter home and are looking to move up to a larger home as the equity in your hom

The number of building permits issued for single-family homes is the best indicator of how many newly built homes will rise over the next few months. According to the  latest U.S. Census Bureau  and  U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development  Residential Sales Report ,  the number of building permits issued in June was 850,000, a 0.8% increase from May. How will this impact buyers? More inventory means more options.  Mark Fleming,  First American’s Chief Economist,  explained  that this is good news for the housing market – especially for those looking to buy: “The continued year-over-year growth in completions means more homes on the market in the short-term, offering some immediate relief in alleviating housing supply shortages.” How will this impact sellers? More inventory means more competition.  Today, because of the tremendous lack of inventory, a seller can expect: A great price on their home as buyers outbid each other for it. A quick sale as buye

Some Highlights: According to the  National Association of Realtors’  latest  Existing Home Sales Report , sales in June were down 2.2% from last year. Inventory of homes for sale showed a modest improvement of 0.5% over last year’s figures, but still remains under the 6-month supply needed for a normal market. NAR’s Chief Economist  Lawrence Yun had this to say:  “There continues to be a mismatch since the spring between the growing level of homebuyer demand in most of the country in relation to the actual pace of home sales, which are declining. The root cause is without a doubt the severe housing shortage that is not releasing its grip on the nation’s housing market.” Powered by  WPeMatico For More Info : Visit Here :   Home For Sale NC

Will home values continue to appreciate throughout 2018? The answer is simple: YES! – as long as there are more purchasers in the market than there are available homes for them to buy. This is known as the theory of “supply and demand,” which is defined as: “The amount of a commodity, product, or service available and the desire of buyers for it, considered as factors regulating its price.” When demand exceeds supply, prices go up. Every month this year, demand ( buyer traffic ) has increased as compared to last year and for the first five months of 2018, supply (the number of available listings) had decreased as compared to last year. However, a  recent report  by the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR) revealed the first year-over-year increase in supply in three years. Here are the numbers for supply and demand as compared to last year since the beginning of 2018: The increase in the June numbers doesn’t mean that prices won’t continue to appreciate. In tha

Many have written about the millennial generation and whether or not they, as a whole, believe in homeownership as a part of attaining their American Dream. Comparatively speaking, millennials have taken longer to obtain traditional milestones (like getting married, having kids and buying a home) than generations before them, but that does not mean that they do not aspire to still achieve those things. For older millennials (aged 25-34) who have established themselves in their career and are starting to build their families, homeownership is the next logical choice. According to the  Urban Institute’s  State of Millennial Housing ,  the probability of a millennial becoming a homeowner increases by 17.9% if they are married, and an additional 6.2% if they have children. Last year, according to the  US Census Bureau , the average age at first marriage was 30 for men and 27 for women, while the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR)  reports  that the average first-time h