Buying & Selling Homes with Penny

WHAT is the cost of waiting to BUY a HOUSE until next year? Some Highlights: The cost of waiting to buy is defined as the additional funds it would take to buy a home if prices & interest rates were to increase over a period of time.... Freddie Mac predicts interest rates to rise to 5.1% by the end of 2019. CoreLogic predicts home prices to appreciate by 4.8% over the next 12 months. >> If you are ready and willing to buy your dream home, find out if you are able to! CONTACT me today.

GOOD ADVICE for HOMEOWNERS

Excited About Buying A Home This Year? Here's What to Watch... As we kick off the new year, many families have made resolutions to enter the housing market in 2019. Whether you are thinking of finally ditching your landlord and buying your first home or selling your starter house to move into your forever home, there are two pieces of the real estate puzzle you need to watch carefully: INTEREST RATES & INVENTORY. INTEREST RATES ... Mortgage interest rates had been on the rise for much of 2018, but they made a welcome reversal at the end of the year. According to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, rates climbed to 4.94% in November before falling to 4.62% for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage last week. Despite the recent drop, interest rates are projected to reach 5% in 2019. 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 to buy will decrease if you plan to stay within a certain monthly housing budget. The chart "BUYER'S PURCHASING POWER" shows the impact that rising interest rates would have if you planned to purchase a $400,000 home while keeping your principal and interest payments between $2,020-$2,050 a month. With each quarter of a percent increase in interest rate, the value of the home you can afford decreases by 2.5% (in this example, $10,000). INVENTORY A ‘normal’ real estate market requires there to be a 6-month supply of homes for sale in order for prices to increase only with inflation. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), listing inventory is currently at a 3.9-month supply (still well below the 6-months needed), which has put upward pressure on home prices. Home prices have increased year-over-year for the last 81 straight months. The inventory of homes for sale in the real estate market had been on a steady decline and experienced year-over-year drops for 36 straight months (from July 2015 to May 2018), but we are starting to see a shift in inventory over the last six months. The chart "HOUSING SUPPLY" shows the change in housing supply over the last 12 months compared to the previous 12 months. As you can see, since June, inventory levels have started to increase as compared to the same time last year. This is a trend to watch as we move further into the new year. If we continue to see an increase in homes for sale, we could start moving further away from a seller’s market and closer to a normal market. BOTTOM LINE: If you are planning to enter the housing market, either as a buyer or a seller, make sure that you have an experienced local agent, like Penny Radney who can help you navigate the changes in mortgage interest rates and inventory. From: Keeping Current Matters

First Time HOME Flipper? I know a Casting Director who is looking for YOU!!First Time HOME Flipper? I know a Casting Director who is looking for YOU!!

Home inspectors are always sharing interesting things from the field so that we can all learn from each others’ homeowner wins and mistakes. Here’s one of the latest. SEE picture.... It’s pretty easy to spot what’s off about this picture. That wood definitely looks out of place! But why is it there in the first place? It turns out that what started as a broken sink turned into an even bigger issue when a homeowner placed heavy dishes in it. The weight of the dishes started ca...using the sink to collapse. To make matters worse, the sink is installed in a granite countertop, which will likely lead to cracking and early replacement. This very DIY repair is not a lasting solution to the issue, and could cause even more damage in the long-run. With any sink problem, you’ll want to avoid using it or storing any dishes there, and you’ll need to seek a professional’s opinion as soon as possible. See more

Should You BUY NOW? Or WAIT Until NEXT YEAR? The cost of waiting to buy is defined as the additional funds it would take to buy a home if prices & interest rates were to increase over a period of time.... Freddie Mac predicts interest rates to rise to 5.2% by the third quarter of 2019. CoreLogic predicts home prices to appreciate by 5.1% over the next 12 months. If you are ready and willing to buy your dream home, find out if you are able to! See more