Category: Buying

Home sellers are more than twice as likely to get their homes sold if they use a REALTOR®, rather than trying to sell their home on their own, according to a new survey conducted by HomeGain of 400 home owners nationwide from July 31 to Aug. 10.

Seventy-three percent of the home owners surveyed said they used a REALTOR®. On the other hand, 21 percent of those surveyed said they tried to sell their home themselves.

The survey found that 66 percent of the home owners who used a REALTOR® were able to successfully sell their home compared to 30 percent of for-sale-by-owners.

What’s more, the survey found that 22 percent of the for-sale-by-owners eventually decided to use a REALTOR® to try to sell their home. More than half of those who did were then able to sell their homes too, the survey found.

“The value of a REALTOR® in a real estate transaction is made strikingly apparent in our 2012 FSBO verses REALTOR® survey of home sellers,” says Louis Cammarosano, general manager of HomeGain. “A qualified REALTOR® understands the dynamics of the market and can better assist home sellers in the pricing and preparation of their homes for sale.”

Source: HomeGain

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Builder confidence in the new-home market continued to inch higher this month, reaching its highest level since February 2007, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, which measures nationwide builder sentiment about current and future sale conditions and buyer traffic. This marks the fourth consecutive month that builder confidence has been on the rise.

“From the builder’s perspective, current sales conditions, sales prospects for the next six months, and traffic of prospective buyers are all better than they have been in more than five years,” says Barry Rutenberg, NAHB chairman. “While there is still much room for improvement, we have come a long way from the depths of the recession and the outlook appears to be brightening.”

Still, the sector is still in a very “fragile stage” and builders continue “to express frustration regarding the inventory of distressed properties, inaccurate appraisal values, and the difficulty of accessing credit for both building and buying homes,” says NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe.

On a regional level, builder confidence rose the most in August in the Midwest, followed by increasing confidence in the South. However, builder confidence in the sector declined slightly in the Northeast and West.

Source: National Association of Home Builders

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“It’s hard to argue against buying a house now, assuming you can get a loan,” writes John Waggoner, a columnist with USA Today. Sure, Waggoner says that getting a credit check for approval of a mortgage can be a “only slightly less intrusive than a CIA background check,” but for those who are able to qualify, a lot of analysts say that now can be a good time to purchase a home.

1. The price is right. The median single-family home price hit its lowest in more than a decade when it reached $154,600 in January, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. That was the lowest since October 2001. During the height of the housing market in July 2006, the median home price for a single-family home was $230,900.

2. It’s cheaper to buy than rent. In nearly every major metro market, it is cheaper to buy a home than rent. Rents have been on the rise the last few years and are predicted to continue to rise. Meanwhile, home affordability is at record highs, which means that buying a home is more within reach to the median income family.

3. Inventories of for-sale homes are shrinking. Ned Davis Research estimates that excess inventories of homes to be eliminated by the end of next year. “When excess supply dries up, people start building more new houses, which has the virtuous effect of reducing the unemployment rate and increasing the economy generally,” according to the USA Today article.

4. Mortgage rates are at record lows. Mortgage rates have hovered near record lows for weeks, which has helped pushing housing affordability higher. For example, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, which is the most popular among home buyers, is 3.59 percent, according to Freddie Mac—just above its record low set on July 26 of 3.49 percent average. “It’s conceivable that at some point in the next 30 years, your interest rate would be less than the rate of inflation,” writes Waggoner for USA Today.

Source: “If You Can Pull it Off, a House is a Smart Investment,” USA Today (Aug. 9, 2012) 

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Some Americans are still jittery over the housing market, but here are eight positive signs that should quell some of their fears.

1. Housing prices are on the rise across the country.
2. Foreclosures have slowed. Analysts suggest that as the supply of distressed homes slows, buyers will be forced into higher-price properties too.
3. Inventories of for-sale homes on the market are decreasing. In fact, inventories of for-sale homes have dropped 24 percent from a year ago.
4. Mortgage rates are at ultra record level lows, for those who can qualify
5. Housing starts rose 6.9 percent in June. Also, existing-home sales were up 4.5 percent higher in June compared to one year ago.
6. Home building stocks are on the rise.
7. For investors who are buying homes, rents are soaring, allowing them to cash in on their investments. Rental prices are at a 10-year high as median units rent for $710 a month.
8. Home affordability is at record highs for the median income family, due to falling home values and super low mortgage rates. In fact, a recent study found that it is cheaper to buy a home than rent in basically ever major city in the U.S. For those who buy, you can save the cost of renting by owning the home for five years or less.

But while the signs point to a housing market on the mend, some Americans still remain hesitant. Many Americans are still underwater on their mortgage, owing more on their home than it is currently worth. Also, the economy continues to weigh on the recovery, particularly a dampening employment outlook, which analysts see as tied to housing.

Still, The Wall Street Journal concludes in a recent article that if you take into account all the positive signs lately in the housing market, “housing presents an attractive long-term investment that should hold steady or even have upside surprise in the short term.”

Source: “Finally, It Is Time to Buy a House,” The Wall Street Journal (Aug. 1, 2012)

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