Buying this Spring? Be Prepared for Bidding Wars

Traditionally, spring is the busiest season for real estate. Buyers come out in force and homeowners list their houses for sale hoping to capitalize on buyer activity. This year will be no different!

Buyers have already been out in force looking for their dream homes and more are on their way, but the challenge is that the inventory of homes for sale has not kept up with demand, which has lead to A LOT of competition for the homes that are available.

A recent Bloomberg article touched on the current market conditions:

“It’s the 2017 U.S. spring home-selling season, and listings are scarcer than they’ve ever been. Bidding wars common in perennially hot markets like the San Francisco Bay area, Denver and Boston are now also prevalent…

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How Long Do Most Families Stay in Their Home?

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) keeps historical data on many aspects of homeownership. One of the data points that has changed dramatically is the median tenure of a family in a home. As the graph below shows, for over twenty years (1985-2008), the median tenure averaged exactly six years. However, since 2008, that average is almost nine years – an increase of almost 50%.

Why the dramatic increase?

The reasons for this change are plentiful!

The fall in home prices during the housing crisis left many homeowners in a negative equity situation (where their home was worth less than the mortgage on the property). Also, the uncertainty of the economy made some homeowners much more fiscally conservative about making a move.

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10 Questions To Ask A Listing Agent

You owe it to yourself to hire the best listing agent for your home. Here are a few questions you should ask when interviewing listing agents.

1. Are you a full time Realtor?
2. Will we be working with you personally or passed off to an assistant?
3. What updates or changes can we make to increase our sales price?
4. Do you believe an open house will help sell our home?
5. Do you work with a home stager and provide furniture for staging?
6. Will our home be featured on Zillow and Realtor.com?
7. What is your cancellation policy? 
8. Do you also work with buyers? 
9. What day of the week should we list; do you have a marketing strategy?
10. Do you promise gimmicks like “I’ll buy your home…” that we heard on the radio? 

Want to know our answers?…

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A Tale of Two Home Buyers

Our real estate market in certain price ranges and areas is still extremely competitive. In a market like ours there are two ways to buy a home. One way gives you the best chance to buy a great home. The other way will be frustrating and leave you picking through only the homes nobody else wants.

Joyce Peterson was recently contacted by a buyer who wanted to move his family into a larger home. In his desired neighborhood there are many people who want to buy this type of house. We have seen several other agents post messages in Realtor Facebook groups asking for this exact type of property and we know from open houses we have done in the same neighborhood there is a great demand for larger, newer homes in the neighborhood.

Because this buyer…

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March Book of the Month

The Magic Of Thinking Big

A friend suggested I read this book a couple months ago. Some of the ideas in the book have helped our business tremendously this year. 

In particular Chapter 5 titled “How to Think and Dream Creatively” has helped us get over a few challenges we have experienced as our business has grown. 

I’ve found if you face any challenge optimistically instead of thinking of the reasons why it can’t be done you’ll have a much better chance of success.

https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Thinking-Big-David-Schwartz/dp/0671646788

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What to Expect From Your Home Inspection

So you made an offer, it was accepted, and now your next task is to have the home inspected prior to closing. More often than not, your agent may have made your offer contingent on a clean home inspection.

This contingency allows you to renegotiate the price paid for the home, ask the sellers to cover repairs, or even, in some cases, walk away. Your agent can advise you on the best course of action once the report is filed.

How to Choose an Inspector

Your agent will most likely have a short list of inspectors that they have worked with in the past that they can recommend to you. Realtor.com suggests that you consider the following 5 areas when choosing the right home inspector for you:

1. Qualifications – find out what’s included in your…

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2017 Home Builders Association Housing Forecast

Earlier in the month we attended the Annual Home Builders Association Housing Forecast event at the Marriott downtown.

You can read more details but here are a couple takeaways we thought were interesting:

• Eldon Rude was one of the speakers. Eldon’s company provides data for home builders. I have known Eldon for almost 20 years and for as long as I have know him he has preached about the #1 driver of our real estate market being job growth. 
• Last year we saw job growth slow down compared to previous years. It’s not expected to impact real estate much this year because of the pent up demand from all the people who have moved to the Austin area recently but it’s something to pay attention to going forward.
• Interestingly enough some of the…

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Avery Ranch Buyer Needs

We have been asked by two families to help them find a home in Avery Ranch. If you know of anyone planning to sell their home and it sounds like a fit please contact us as soon as possible.

Both families are flexible about a move in date and can offer a lease back for sellers wanting to move up with the security of selling their home.

Family #1

• 2 story home with high ceilings
• 4+ bedrooms
• Parkside, Morningside or Brookside
• Up to $550,000

Family #2

• 1 story home with a larger floor plan (over 2,100 sf)
• Prefer wood floors but are open to tile or carpet if the floor plan works.
• Up to $360,000

If you are interested in buying a home or selling your home this year call/text me directly at 512-791-7473 or send me…

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Have You Saved Enough for Closing Costs?

There are many potential homebuyers, and even sellers, who believe that they need at least a 20% down payment in order to buy a home or move on to their next home. Time after time, we have dispelled this myth by showing that many loan programs allow you to put down as little as 3% (or 0% with a VA loan).

If you have saved up your down payment and are ready to start your home search, one other piece of the puzzle is to make sure that you have saved enough for your closing costs.

Freddie Mac defines closing costs as:

“Closing costs, also called settlement fees, will need to be paid when you obtain a mortgage. These are fees charged by people representing your purchase, including your lender, real estate agent, and other third parties…

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How Low Interest Rates Increase Your Purchasing Power

According to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, interest rates for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage are currently at 4.09%, which is still very low in comparison to recent history!

The interest rate you secure when buying a home not only greatly impacts your monthly housing costs, but also impacts your purchasing power.

Purchasing power, simply put, is the amount of home you can afford to buy for the budget you have available to spend. As rates increase, the price of the house you can afford will decrease if you plan to stay within a certain monthly housing budget.

The chart below shows what impact rising interest rates would have if you planned to purchase a home within the national median price range, and planned to…

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