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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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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*Your information will never be shared with any third party.

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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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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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Building Your Family’s Wealth Over the Next 5 Years

Over the next five years, home prices are expected to appreciate 3.24% per year on average and to grow by 21.4% cumulatively, according to Pulsenomics’most recent Home Price Expectation Survey.

So, what does this mean for homeowners and their equity position?

As an example, let’s assume a young couple purchases and closes on a $250,000 home in January. If we look at only the projected increase in the price of that home, how much equity will they earn over the next 5 years?

Since the experts predict that home prices will increase by 4.0% this year alone, the young homeowners will have gained over $10,000 in equity in just one year.

Over a five-year period, their equity will increase by over $43,000! This figure does not even take…

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Real Estate Tip – How To Shut Off Your Water?

Sometimes you can wait for a plumber…sometimes you can’t.

You should know how to shut off the water supply to your home before you have an emergency. Otherwise you might be running around your neighborhood trying to find someone who can help you…or calling your friendly Realtor who may be miles away.

Here’s a great video about how to shut off your water supply.

By the way, we have a list of trusted plumbers if you ever do need the help from a professional. Just send us an email to eric@koparealestate.com and I will forward the list to you.

Have a Question?

Contact Us Now!

*Your information will never be shared with any third party.

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Why Rising Mortgage Rates Won’t Hurt Home Prices

As expected we have seen mortgage rates slightly rise since the election. 

Although mortgage rates are still at historically low levels some fear this may cause a drop in the real estate market. You can see a nice explanation of why that isn’t likely to happen from Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan. 

Our job market is so strong and the demand for homes from people moving to our area means we still have room to go up next year.

Renters who are staying on the sideline because they think the market will go down will be disappointed. 

Today’s rates may not be quite as good as they were a month ago but we expect they will be better than 6 months from now.

Combined with the expected rental rate increases from the intense demand for…

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2017 Austin Real Estate Predictions

As we head into the new year everyone wants to know what’s going to happen wit the real estate market. Let’s look at some predictions for 2017. 

Keep in mind if you went back 14 years some of my predictions would be off the mark. That being said, this is the advice I would give someone in my family if they were interested in real estate in our area. 

Overall we will see the market continue to go from a super hot to only above average. Home prices will be higher at the end of the year but consumers need to remember there are markets within markets and typically you’re only buying or selling one home. 

Predictions For Austin Home Sellers

For home sellers we will see any increasing spread between the homes that are in great condition and…

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