Category Archives: Buyers

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Millennials will Soon be a Force to be Reckoned with in Housing Markets

Family

The U.S. homeownership rate dropped for the ninth year in a row in 2013, thanks in no small part to the fact that millions of 20- and 30-somethings were still living with their parents, according to the latest “State of the Nation’s Housing” report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

The decline in homeownership rates from 2004 to 2013 was most dramatic among 25- to 34-year-olds (down nearly 8 percentage points) and 35- to 44-year-olds (down 9 percentage points). Some 15.3 million adults in their 20s and 3.1 million in their 30s were still living with their parents last year, helping bring the homeownership rate down to 65.1 percent.

Read the article on Inman News…

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4 Trends in Real Estate Right Now

The 48th annual conference for the National Association of Real Estate Editors, held recently in Houston, provided a snapshot of emerging trends in the real estate market.

  1. With obesity an ever-growing problem in the United States, access to fitness facilities and outdoor recreation is taking on increasing importance. According to Will Holder of Trendmaker Homes, buyers now favor communities that have trails winding through them over golf-course developments.
  2. In the multifamily niche, more and more projects are accommodating occupants’ desire for parks, grooming, and sitting services for their pets.
  3. There’s a growing tendency for young people discouraged by tight underwriting standards to stick with renting instead of buying.
  4. Current home owners are increasingly keeping and renting out properties with ultra-low mortgage rates rather than put them up for sale when they are ready to buy another house.

Read more…

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King County Home Prices up 6 percent over year

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Summer has eased the drought of available homes for sale in Greater Seattle, and sales are growing at a pace not seen previously this year.

After five months of declining sales activity compared with a year earlier, the number of June sales was up 2 percent annually, and the supply of homes for sale grew by almost 6 percent, according to a report Thursday by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

The larger inventory hasn’t lessened competition among buyers in the most sought-after areas, said Mike Gain, president of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate.

“We don’t have enough supply of homes for sale in desirable neighborhoods to satisfy the demand,” he said. “In those areas, it is just like a feeding frenzy when a house goes on the market,” he said.

The median price of homes sold in King County has been steadily increasing since February, last month reaching $453,500, a 6 percent increase from a year ago.

Read the article in The Seattle Times…

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The Great Debate: Old vs. New Homes

There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to the question of old vs. new in real estate.

Ask yourself, do you enjoy a home with character and timeless style? Or, are you a fan of the starting-from-scratch approach, which begins from the ground up—literally—and creates something new, modern, sleek and, energy efficient?

Read Jessica’s post…

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Bidding Wars, Cash heat up Eastside’s Real Estate Market

Would-be buyers in Bellevue and other Eastside communities are going above list prices, waiving inspection and writing flowery letters to sellers. And if they can pay in cash, all the better.

Read the article in The Seattle Times…

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Did the Internet Kill the Real Estate Star?

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These days, there’s a limitless amount of information available to the technology-savvy home shopper. It appears—at least on the surface—that the role of the real estate agent is diminishing, especially for the younger generations of buyers. In fact, as millennials embrace every emerging social platform and application from Vine to SnapChat, expanding their ability to access an incredible wealth of real estate information and opinions generated by their peers and friends, what will become of agents?

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Housing Market Righting Itself – Buyers, Brokers Get Creative to Compete

NWMLS

Housing around Western Washington is on an upward trajectory, but inadequate inventory “in the right prices and locations” makes for a “very difficult market for purchasers and brokers,” according to an executive with one multi-office real estate company.

New figures from Northwest Multiple Listing Service show inventory increased in May compared to a year ago, but brokers say competition is keen. “Multiple offers and escalation clauses occur on a regular basis for properties that are extremely well priced and in great condition,” reports Dick Beeson, principal managing broker at RE/MAX Professionals in Tacoma.

Mike Gain, a former chairman of the Northwest MLS board of directors, also commented on the bidding wars. “We are experiencing more multiple offers than I have experienced in my 35 years of practicing real estate in this marketplace,” stated Gain, the president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate. “This is a very difficult market for purchasers, our agents and brokers. If we had inventory to handle the demand our pending and sold numbers would be greatly increased,” he believes, adding, “We desperately need good quality inventory.”

Last month’s pending sales topped the 10,000 mark for the first time in twelve months. The number of mutually accepted offers totaled 10,373, outgaining a year ago by 328 transactions for an increase of almost 3.3 percent. Last month’s total was the highest volume of pending sales since June 2006 when brokers tallied 10,448 transactions.

With demand outpacing supply in many parts of the region, brokers are noticing more creativity among competing parties. “Offer review deadlines have become pretty commonplace in this market, as have pre-inspections,” said OB Jacobi, president of Windermere Real Estate. He said some agents and buyers are getting even more aggressive by submitting their offer prior to the deadline.

Jacobi said there’s also an increase in the number of cash buyers, and buyers willing to waive their financing contingency, “making it even more difficult for the vast majority who don’t have this option.” With ongoing competition likely to continue, Jacobi expects agents and buyers to be “increasingly creative until the market becomes more balanced, which probably isn’t going to happen any time soon.”

Contact Jennifer for more details!

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Be ready to buy your first home

Money

First-time home buyers have it tough. The supply of homes for sale is tight, and lenders are tightfisted.

Student debt, at an all-time high of nearly $30,000 per grad, is getting in the way of saving for a down payment, says David Stevens, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association. But it’s a great time to get your foot in the door.

“Interest rates remain the envy of even your grandparents,” says Keith Gumbinger, vice president of mortgage publisher HSH.com. First, make your finances sparkle.

Read the turning-point checklist…

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Here’s Why Owning Your Own Home Really is a Good Investment

Home

According to a recent Gallup poll, more Americans are beginning to view real estate as a viable long-term investment. Thirty percent of those surveyed early last month took this view, up from 25% just a year ago. Gallup credited an improving housing market as being the chief driver of the change in popular opinion on this matter.

But, wait. Some experts, notably Yale economics professor Robert Shiller, disagree heartily with this view. In interviews over the past couple of years, Shiller referred to his research in which he studied home price appreciation from 1890 to 1990. He found that, considering costs of construction and inflation, homes really didn’t appreciate in value at all.

Does that mean that buying a home is a lousy move? Not at all, and here’s why…

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Mortgages may be easier to get than potential home buyers believe

Are you on the home-buying sidelines this spring because you think you won’t be able to qualify for a mortgage? Do you know what sort of FICO credit scores are being accepted by lenders at the moment — they’re lower than they were a year ago — and whether yours could now be good enough?

You may be part of the surprisingly large crowd of folks who fear the home-loan unknown. A new national consumer survey found that 56% of potential purchasers of homes say they’re out of the market because they don’t want to face the possibility of rejection by lenders. Even 30% of current homeowners believe that they wouldn’t pass muster today.

Many potential buyers think they need near-perfect credit scores to get a home loan. But lenders may be loosening their tight underwriting standards.

Read the details…