Mortgage Rates Inch Up, But Buyers Are Still Getting Deals

After three weeks of mostly staying steady, average mortgage rates rose this week. However, rates still remain at multiyear lows, keeping borrowing costs low for those shopping for homes this summer.
 
“The rise in rates was driven by continued improvement in consumer spending and partly due to optimism around a forthcoming cut in short-term interest rates, which should provide support for business and investor sentiment,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Despite this slight increase in rates, home buyers are taking advantage of the multiyear low rates in droves, which is evident in the consistently higher refinance and purchase application volumes. The improvement in housing demand should provide sufficient momentum for the housing market and economy during the rest of the year.”
 

What Qualifies as a ‘Dream Neighborhood’?

Seventy percent of homeowners say they’re not currently living in their dream neighborhood, according to a new survey of more than 2,000 respondents from Improvenet, a website focused on home improvement. The other 30% says that their dream neighborhood is located in a different town; 20% of that group say it’s three to 10 miles away, and 27% say it’s in a different part of the state or a neighboring state. So what qualifies as a “dream neighborhood?” Survey respondents ranked the following as their top criteria.
 

Sell it quickly!

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4 Tips To Sell Your Home Faster

4 Tips to Sell Your Home Faster

Since June of last year, we have seen an increase in the inventory of homes for sale month per month. Every spring and summer, the inventory increases because people want to sell their home. For those with children, they may want to be in their new home for the beginning of the school year.

If you are one of those sellers, you may find these 4 tips helpful in getting your home sold more quickly.

1. Make buyers feel at home

Declutter your home! Pack away all personal items like pictures, awards, and sentimental belongings. Make them feel like they belong in this house! According to the Profile of Home Staging by the National Association of Realtors,

“83% of buyers’ agents said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home.”

Not only will your house spend less time on the market, but the same report mentioned that,

“One-quarter of buyers’ agents said that staging a home increased the dollar value offered between 1 – 5%, compared to other similar homes on the market that were not staged.”

2. Keep it organized

Since you took the time to declutter, keep it organized! Before the buyers show up, pick up toys, make the bed, and put away clean dishes. It is also a good idea to put out some cookies fresh from the oven or a scented candle. Buyers will remember the smell of your home! According to the same report, the kitchen is one of the most important rooms to stage in order to attract more buyers.

3. Give buyers full access

One of the top four elements when selling your home is access! If your home is available anytime, that opens up more opportunity to find a buyer right away. Some buyers, especially those relocating, don’t have much time available. If they cannot get into the house, they will move on to the next one.

4. Price it right

As we mentioned at the beginning, more inventory coming into the market guarantees there will be some competition. You want to make sure your home is noticed. The key to selling your house in 2019 is ensuring it is Priced to Sell Immediately (PTSI). That way, your home will be seen by the greatest amount of buyers and will sell at a great price before more competition comes to market!

Bottom Line

If you want to sell your house in the least amount of time at the best price with as little hassle as possible, a local real estate professional is a useful guide. Call them today to find out what you need to do to sell your home more quickly.

Buyers Aren’t Shying Away From Supersized Mortgages

Borrowers found it easier to access credit in June, but it was jumbo mortgage credit that saw some of the highest growth. According to a new report from the Mortgage Bankers Association, jumbo loans—mortgages with higher debt—are on the rise and were easier to get in June than any other month in the past eight years.
 
Jumbo mortgage credit rose for the sixth straight month, rising to its highest level since 2011, when the MBA’s survey began.
 
A jumbo loan is a type of financing designed to finance luxury properties and homes that exceeds the limits set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The values vary by state. As of 2019, the limit for a jumbo mortgage was set at $484,350 for most of the country, and up to $726,525 in counties with higher home values.
 
Continue… https://magazine.realtor/daily-news/2019/07/11/buyers-aren-t-shying-away-from-supersized-mortgages

How Long Until Sellers Seriously Consider a Price Cut?

A lingering listing with no takers … how long does it take until the home seller to accept that a price reduction is needed? The most common answer was three months, if there have been zero offers, according to a new survey by ShelterZoom, a blockchain-based real estate platform.
 
Lowering price chart. Content reflects article text to left.
Thirty-three percent of 1,000 consumers surveyed say they would opt for a price cut after three months, the most common choice. Slightly under 20% say they would wait just one month; 17% would wait five months; and 9% say they’d wait an entire year before they’d consider reducing their asking price. The remainder say they would never lower their asking price.
 

‘This Is Staging on Steroids’

One possible avenue toward selling your listing is to make it a “show house,” which would give interior designers access to redecorate each room in the latest trends and then open the property to the public as part of neighborhood events. Such a selling strategy, which more real estate professionals across the country are trying, according to The Wall Street Journal, can give designers a platform to showcase their work while also attracting potential buyers to your listing.
 
Typically, each room in a show house is redone by a different designer; each designer covers the cost of his or her project. Visitors at community events pay an admission fee to tour show homes, and the proceeds usually go toward a charity. Following the event, designers take back any items that are removable from their designs. In the end, the seller is left with a freshly designed home to promote on the market without the cost of remodeling.
 
“This is staging on steroids,” Margaret von Werssowetz, a sales associate with Handsome Properties in Charleston, S.C., told the Journal. She’s selling a show house for $1.65 million.
 

8.2M Could Have Lower Mortgage Payments

Mortgage rates are dropping, giving millions of homeowners an opportunity to lower their monthly payments. An estimated 8.2 million borrowers could refinance and potentially lower their monthly payments by at least 75 basis points, estimates Black Knight, a mortgage software and analytics firm. This marks the largest percentage of homeowners who stand to benefit from lower mortgage rates since the end of 2016.
Last week, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reached a two-and-a-half-year low of 3.73%, Freddie Mac reports.
Continue reading…

Survey: Potential Gen Z Buyers Prefer Diverse Neighborhoods

Generation Z, the youngest potential home buyers, who are beginning to enter the housing market, show a preference for buying homes in culturally diverse neighborhoods, according to a new survey from Homes.com. It’s the first generation in American history to show such a strong diversity preference, Homes.com says. The real estate website surveyed more than 1,000 young adults ages 18 to 24 years old to examine their homebuying preferences.
Fifty-eight percent of potential Gen Z home buyers say they prefer a diverse community compared to 12% who prefer a homogeneous neighborhood, the survey shows. “Generation Z is more multicultural than ever before, with demographics that include the largest percentage of Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks, at 22% and 15%, respectively,” says David Mele, president of Homes.com. “Our survey suggests that their preferences will have a substantial impact on homebuying patterns. That, in turn, may create a new dynamic where diverse communities thrive more than ever before.”
Continue Reading…

Mortgage Rates Haven’t Been This Low Since 2016

For the seventh time in the last nine weeks, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped, reaching the lowest average since November 2016, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey.
 
“While the industrial- and trade-related economic data continues to dominate the news, the drop in mortgage rates over the last two months is already being felt in the housing market,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Through late June, home purchase applications improved by five percentage points compared to the previous month. In the near term, we expect the housing market to continue to improve from both a sales and price perspective.”
 
Continue reading…
https://magazine.realtor/daily-news/2019/06/28/mortgage-rates-haven-t-been-this-low-since-2016
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1932 E 2nd Ave
Hibbing, MN 55746
Phone: 218-262-5582
Fax: 218-262-5584
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