Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) says that home sales are “stuck” this spring due to the limited number of homes available to buy. Though the spring market usually brings a larger supply of homes to market, this year does not reflect that common pattern. The current supply of homes [...]
Posts Tagged ‘current housing market’
3 Financial Reasons to Buy a Home Now
Adapted from our friends at Keeping Current Matters. 1. Prices are increasing at an accelerated rate. The price of a home is the major consideration when deciding whether or not it makes financial sense to purchase a house. Experts are not only projecting that house values will increase in 2013. They are also more optimistic in the level [...]
Shorewest Reports: US Banks Pay $8.5 Billion to End Foreclosure Reviews
The U.S. government currently mandates a case-by-case review of housing crisis foreclosures. Because of the large amounts of homes in foreclosure during the recession, it could take months or even years of waiting for courts to process the paperwork. On Monday, January 7, however, a group of 10 mortgage servicers agreed to pay a total [...]
Housing Market Rebound — Current Average Home Prices Now Match 2003
New information from the S&P/Case-Shiller national home price index shows the average prices of homes in July 2012 rebounded to the same levels as July 2003. The typical home price has risen by 5.9% for 2012 to date. It marks the third straight month that prices in all 20 major markets have improved, and we [...]
Should You Do A Short Sale in 2012?
Many homeowners are “under water,” meaning they owe more on their mortgage than their house is currently valued at. Some homeowners are choosing to wait for property values to return to normal levels, but others cannot wait for that to happen. They need to move for various reasons, or they simply cannot afford their mortgage [...]
The Ups and Downs of Mortgage Rates
As of today interest rates on a 30 year mortgage with no points is hovering around 3.875%. You may wonder if that is a good rate. Revisiting the past can shed some light on this question. If we look back 10 years it was January 2002. We had just lived through the horrific events of [...]
A Word of Caution
Difficult times cause some people to take drastic action without thinking. If you are in the midst of a very tough real estate scenario, I want to encourage you to think before you act. I am referring to a sale of a home where the seller, due to some very difficult circumstances, found himself in [...]
The Market is Always Better in Spring!
Sometimes the more you say something the more you believe it to be true. If numbers don’t lie then let’s take a look at what actually happens year after year. From the graph you can see that the inventory levels swell significantly each spring, however the level of sales does not increase as much as [...]
What about the Wall Paper?
We see houses with wallpaper every day. Sometimes it is as simple as a border in a room, and other times it is the whole house. Does having wallpaper hurt your chances of receiving an offer? Couldn’t the Buyer just write a contingency into their offer asking the Seller to remove it? Or better yet, [...]
Be Careful with Credit Checks as They Can Harm Your Score
Every single number counts when it comes to your credit score. Picture this: you’ve spent countless hours searching for the perfect house. You searched online, attended countless open houses, got pre-qualified for a mortgage and hired an agent to show you houses and then represent and guide you through the process of buying a home. [...]