As the Housing Market Shifts to Favor Buyers

The recent slowdown in the housing market has been a 

boon for buyers. 

Since last summer, more properties have come onto the market; mortgage interest rates have dropped; and the rate of home price appreciation, once in the double digits, is waning.

But that still doesn't help the many would-be buyers on a tight budget.

Affordability is still the biggest hurdle to homeownership, with nearly half of aspiring buyers looking for residences costing $200,000 or less, according to a recent realtor.com® survey.

That may be wishful thinking—the national median home price was about a third more, at $295,000 as of March 1. And home prices are still up 7% year over year. More than 1,000 people who hope to buy a home within the next 12 months participated in the survey.

“The Spring home buying season is an improvement over last year from an inventory perspective nationwide, but would-be buyers still face challenges," Chief Economist Danielle Hale of realtor.com said in a statement. "This year, shoppers are going to be grappling with their budgets, rather than competition from a horde of other buyers."

Unfortunately, the lower end of the market is also the tightest. The number of homes at or below $200,000 actually declined 7% from this time last year. Ouch. Nationally, inventory is up 6% overall, with the high-end segment ($750,000 and up) seeing the largest surge of homes going up for sale, with an 11% annual increase.

But the decline in entry-level houses for sale could explain why the largest group of buyers surveyed has been scouring the market for seven months or more. An additional 26% have been looking for four to six months, while 34% have been searching for only three months or less.

And the balance of power clearly has shifted away from sellers. With more homes to choose from, just 17% of home shoppers plan to submit offers over the asking price. That's down from 26% last year.

Plus, mortgage rates have fallen to just 4.06% on 30-year fixed-rate loans from 4.06% a year ago. This means buyers get a break with lower monthly mortgage interest payments.

"More homes on the market and lower mortgage rates will help offset some difficulties associated with price gains.

NOW is the time to get a Pre-Approval letter from our preferred lender.  You'll be on your way to locking in your interest rate and giving the assurance to prospective sellers that you mean business. This is easy and necessary, and can be done via email or over the phone.

Need to get pre-approved for a loan? Call or text today 801-809-9866! 

Looking to sell or buy your home? Contact Carriene Porter at Precision Realty & Associates, LLC.  Her years of experience and vast knowledge can assist you in this important decision of buying and selling your home.

Call or text today 801-809-9866!

#Mortgage #UtahRealEstate #Selling #Buying

  

Source realtor.com® 

Rate Mortgage Plunged

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage plunged 22 basis points this week, the 

largest one-week drop in 10 years, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage survey.

“The Federal Reserve’s concern about the prospects for slowing economic growth caused investor jitters to drive down mortgage rates by the largest amount in over ten years,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

“Despite negative outlooks by some, the economy continues to churn out jobs, which is great for housing demand. We have recently seen home sales start to recover and with this week’s rate drop, we expect a continued rise in purchase demand.” Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending March 28:

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 4.06 percent, with an average 0.5 point, falling from last week’s 4.28 percent average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 4.40 percent.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.57 percent, with an average 0.4 point, dropping from last week’s 3.71 percent average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 3.90 percent.
• 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 3.75 percent, with an average 0.3 point, falling from last week’s 3.84 percent average. A year ago, 5-year ARMs averaged 3.66 percent.
• NOW is the time to get a Pre-Approval letter from our preferred lender.  You'll be on your way to locking in your interest rate and giving the assurance to prospective sellers that you mean business. This is easy and necessary, and can be done via email or over the phone.
• Need to get pre-approved for a loan? Call or text today 801-809-9866! 
• Looking to sell or buy your home? Contact Carriene Porter at Precision Realty & Associates, LLC.  Her years of experience and vast knowledge can assist you in this important decision of buying and selling your home.
• Call or text today 801-809-9866!
•   
• #Mortgage #UtahRealEstate #Selling #Buying
•   

• Source: 

   

  Freddie Mac

'What Will My Home Be Worth?'

Homeowners who plan on moving at some point in the future 

are likely to ask the question: "What will my home be worth?" Ah, if only there was a real estate magic eight ball that could reveal the price tag sellers should slap on their homes! 

Location and real estate market conditions help determine your home's value, but unfortunately, pinpointing an exact number is far from a perfect science.

But there are certain tried and true tactics you can employ to help you get a ballpark figure for your home's worth. Below, our real estate experts offer their most reliable methods.

'What will my home be worth?'

Projecting out what your home will be worth in just a couple of years can be challenging, but in a conservative market, 3% appreciation per year is a good guideline to use, says Carriene Porter at Precision Realty & Associates, LLC.

So, using that number, you can estimate that a $200,000 home you bought today could be worth $268,783 in 10 years. Of course, keep in mind that exceptions abound. In some markets, you can see jumps in value of 15% to 20% over short periods of time.

Look back to look forward

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Housing Price Index Calculator, for example, will show you market trends from the past that you can use to help you plan for the future.

For example, the calculator shows that a home purchased 20 years ago for $100,000, would be worth $252,335 today, meaning that it had increased 4.74% annually, for a total of 153.34%. Taking that same percentage and pushing it out 20 years, you could guess that your home might be worth $636,640 in 20 years.

“The some markets have appreciated an average of 4.2% per year over the last 40 years, so under that model, a $250,000 house today may be valued at $300,000 in five years, $350,000 in 10 years, and $450,000 in 20 years."

Keep in mind however, that these scenarios don’t take into account the specific circumstances of a neighborhood, the home's condition, or city revitalizations that would drive up the cost of housing.

The most accurate way to answer the question "What will my home be worth?" is to work with your real estate agent like Carriene Porter at Precision Realty & Associates, LLC. Her years of experience and vast knowledge can assist you in this important decision of buying and selling your home. 

This can help you get a handle on the comps—or comparable properties—in your neighborhood that will help give you an accurate read on how much your home could sell for. 

If you looked at nine homes in a given subdivision that sold for $100,000 in 2006 and were selling in the $140,000 range in 2016, you could say that real estate in that area was appreciating by 40% every 10 years. The bottom line is that the longer you stay in a home, the more time you have to reap the benefits of real estate appreciation.

Carriene, years of experience and vast knowledge will tell you that if you are planning to move, it's wise to keep yourself in the know about your property's value. That way, you won't be surprised when the time comes to put your home on the market.

Looking to sell your home? Get info on your home's value. Contact Carriene Porter at Precision Realty & Associates, LLC. can assist you in this important decision of buying and selling your home. Call or text today 801-809-9866!

#Mortgage #UtahRealEstate #Selling #Buying

Source realtor.com® 

'How's the Housing Market Right Now?'

The latest home-buying season is now in full swing! And if you're 

hoping to buy a house soon, listen up: The real estate market changes on a dime, so if you want to succeed in today's environment, you'll want to take its temperature and act accordingly.

Buyers are in luck: By and large, this year's home-buying season is a far better bet for buyers than in the past. So if you're craving some intel on what to expect—and how to use this to your advantage—here's the info you need to confidently buy a house right now.

The strong seller's market is on the wane

As inventory begins to rise, the strong seller's market that characterized last season's home-buying season is fading fast. In fact, many say we’re back into what can be considered more of a buyer’s market, where the seller doesn’t hold all the cards.

That means you’re going to have some wiggle room to negotiate.

“While you still want to prepare a competitive offer, your time window is likely to expand—meaning you can think it over before rushing in with an offer," Cox says. "And you aren’t going to have to include some of the riskier elements, such as waiving financing or inspection contingencies, that were a hallmark of past years."

But what you face still varies by the Big L

You’ve heard the adage "location, location, location," but it will definitely be a huge factor in 2019's home-buying season. Because while bidding wars are out in most markets, real estate is still very neighborhood-driven.

“While you might see a softening market in some areas, others may still be in a strong seller’s market," she explains.

She says the key metric to look for is “days on market,” which means how long a property has been waiting to sell. If you’re hoping to buy in an area where days on market are staying low, you’ll have to be prepared to act a little faster. But in areas where this number has started creeping up, you might be able to look around a little more.

For an accurate pricing picture, look only at the latest comps, 

Both buyers and sellers rely on comparables, aka comps, when determining a fair price. But that can get tricky as the market starts to turn, because sellers might be remembering a months-ago heyday and pricing accordingly. This  is where Carriene years of experience and vast knowledge can assist you in this important decision of buying and selling your home. Call or text today 801-809-9866!

5 Things First-Time Home Buyers Must Know

Volume 90%

 

But don’t forget that it’s still very easy to insult a seller

Yes, the house might have been on the market a few more days than it would have been last year and the comps might be sliding, but that doesn’t mean you can expect that anything goes when you’re buying a home in 2019.

“I am seeing far more buyers starting to make very aggressive lowball offers in an attempt to test sellers’ appetites, even if they’re totally serious about a given property,” says Carriene Porter , an agent at Precision Realty & Associates, LLC.

But in places where the market is still warm, that can turn sellers off—and turn their attention to the next offer that comes along instead of yours.

You may be able to get a better interest rate than you think

One of the big stories of 2018 was rising mortgage interest rates—but while they ticked up precipitously by the end of last year, they’ve fallen a bit again, so you could be in a good spot.

Bottom line: Now is the time to lock in a great rate, since today’s appealing numbers might not last long.

“Interest rates are predicted to rise in 2019 and 2020, so buyers would be wise to shop for and lock in their interest rate as soon as possible.”

Increasing rates can make a huge difference, she points out, noting that the difference between a 5% interest rate and 5.5% interest rate is $93 a month on a $300,000 mortgage loan, which can easily derail a buyer’s budget.

So even if you are trying to improve your credit or save a few more bucks for the down payment, you might be better off just wading in and locking in the rate. “You might work for three months to burnish your credit, and then find that the rate has risen so much that it doesn’t make a difference,” she adds.

Your credit score might be better than you thought

Two recent developments in credit scoring may help would-be buyers: One is the new UltraFICO, which takes into account how you manage your checking, savings, and money market accounts, in addition to your credit cards and consumer loans. And the second is Experian Boost, which adds your utility and cellphone bills into the mix.

But even if you have a stellar record in all those areas, there’s no guarantee these will be your golden ticket, cautions Lerner. That’s because it’s still early days for these initiatives: UltraFICO is currently available only in a pilot phase in certain areas, and Experian has yet to launch the booster product, although it is taking sign-ups.

But as these products become more widely available throughout the year, home buyers may reap the benefits.

A difference in 10 or 20 points to your credit score can make a difference between approval or denial—and can lower your rate, which can save thousands over the life of a mortgage,” Lerner points out. He also predicts that requirements will loosen a bit in 2019: “You might not think your credit is good enough for a mortgage, but it’s worth talking to a lender to see if there is a program out there that can help.”

NOW is the time to get a Pre-Approval letter from our preferred lender.  You'll be on your way to locking in your interest rate and giving the assurance to prospective sellers that you mean business. This is easy and necessary, and can be done via email or over the phone. Need to get pre-approved for a loan? Call or text today 801-809-9866!

Looking to sell your home? Contact Carriene Porter at Precision Realty & Associates, LLC.  Her years of experience and vast knowledge can assist you in this important decision of buying and selling your home. Call or text today 801-809-9866!

#Mortgage #UtahRealEstate #Selling #Buying

Source realtor.com®