by The KCM Crew on May 5, 2017 in First Time Home Buyers, For Buyers, Infographics, Interest Rates, Pricing
Some Highlights: The “Cost of Waiting to Buy” is defined as the additional funds it would take to buy a home if prices and interest rates were to increase over a period of time.Freddie Mac predicts that interest rates will increase to 4.8% by this time next year, while home prices are predicted to appreciate by 4.9% according to CoreLogic.Waiting until next year to buy could cost you thousands of dollars a year for the life of your mortgage! . . .

Slaying Home Buying Myths  by The KCM Crew on April 24, 2017 in Down Payments, First Time Home Buyers, For Buyers, Infographics, Interest Rates
Some Highlights: Interest rates are still below historic numbers.88% of property managers raised their rent in the last 12 months!The credit score requirements for mortgage approval continue to fall. . . .

by The KCM Crew on April 17, 2017 in For Sellers
If you thought about selling your house this year, now may be the time to do it. The inventory of homes for sale is well below historic norms and buyer demand is skyrocketing. We were still in high school when we learned the concept of supply and demand: the best time to sell something is when supply of that item is low and demand for that item is high. That defines today’s real estate market. Jonathan Smoke, Chief Economist at realtor.com, revealed in a recent article that: “The biggest challenge to buyers this spring will be simply finding a home to buy and getting it successfully under contract. That’s because the supply of homes for sale is at an all-time low, and yet demand is strong and getting stronger.” Smoke goes on to say: “We started the year with the lowest . . .

by The KCM Crew on April 10, 2017 in For Sellers, Housing Market Updates, Pricing
There are some homeowners that have been waiting for months to get a price they hoped for when they originally listed their house for sale. The only thing they might want to consider is... If it hasn't sold yet, maybe it's not priced properly. After all, 15,014 houses sold yesterday, 15,014 will sell today and 15,014 will sell tomorrow. 15,014! That is the average number of homes that sell each and every day in this country, according to the?National Association of Realtors’ (NAR)?latest?Existing Home Sales Report. NAR reported that sales are at an annual rate of 5.48 million. Divide that number by 365 (days in a year) and we can see that, on average, over 15,014 homes sell every day. The report from NAR also revealed that there . . .

by The KCM Crew on March 22, 2017 in First Time Home Buyers, For Buyers, Housing Market Updates, Interest Rates, Move-Up Buyers
Mortgage interest rates have risen over the last few months and projections are that they will continue their upswing throughout 2017. What impact will this have on the housing market? Here is what the experts are saying: Laurie Goodman, Co-director of the Urban Institute’s Housing Finance Policy Center: “In 1984, 1994, 2000, and 2013, every time we have rate increases, we have increases in nominal home prices. We expect this to be more pronounced, as there is a big demand-and-supply gap at the present time.” Scott Anderson, Chief Economist for Bank of the West: “The tightening labor market, rising wage growth, high levels of consumer confidence and a millennial generation with a pent-up demand for . . .

by The KCM Crew on March 7, 2017 in For Sellers, Housing Market Updates That headline might be a little aggressive. However, as the data on the 2017 housing market begins to roll in, we can definitely say one thing: If you are considering selling, IT IS TIME TO LIST YOUR HOME! The February numbers are not in yet, but the January numbers were sensational. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors, said: “Much of the country saw robust sales activity last month as strong hiring and improved consumer confidence at the end of last year appear to have sparked considerable interest in buying a home. Market challenges remain, but the housing market is off to a prosperous start as homebuyers staved off inventory levels that are far from adequate…” And CNBC says consumer confidence in the economy is fueling the . . .

by The KCM Crew on February 28, 2017 in First Time Home Buyers, For Buyers, Housing Market Updates, Move-Up Buyers
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 . . .

by The KCM Crew on February 27, 201 Today, many real estate conversations center on housing prices and where they may be headed. That is why we like the Home Price Expectation Survey. Every quarter, Pulsenomics surveys a nationwide panel of over one hundred economists, real estate experts, and investment & market strategists about where they believe prices are headed over the next five years. They then average the projections of all 100+ experts into a single number. The results of their latest survey: Home values will appreciate by 4.4% over the course of 2017, 3.4% in 2018, 2.8% in 2019, 2.7% in 2020, and 2.8% in 2021. That means the average annual appreciation will be 3.22% over the next 5 years. The prediction for cumulative appreciation fell from 21.4% to 17.3% by 2021. The experts making up the most bearish quartile of the survey are projecting a cumulative . . .