Where You Want To Be In CT

WILL THE HOUSIING BUBBLE BURST?

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In a recent article from Senior Wells Fargo Economist, Jay Bryson, the short answer is no.  If there is a correction at some point in the future, it will not have the devasting effects that we all experienced in 2006.  The rise, he asserts, has to do with fundamental changes rather than on the speculation of the previous bubble.  There is a definite, seismic shift in buying trends, household saving and equity positions and more tightly regulated financing.

LOW INVENTORY

Surge in remote work encouraging baby boomers to hold on to their existing homes.

Multi-generational family situation also encourages the baby boomer to stay put.

More disposable income so homeowners are adding-improving existing housing.

The CARES mortgage forbearance act means that fewer short sale/foreclosures are available.

With the surge in the price for building material, new construction is less desirable and less

available.Continue Reading

Do You Save Money with a Limited Service Real Estate Company?

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I believe a Full-Service Realtor is more than worth the money and an EXPERIENCED, FULL TIME, LOCAL Realtor is worth their weight in gold.

If you’re trying to save money when buying or selling your home, you may consider using a limited service real estate company. While their lower fees are appealing to some, the reality may be that you lose money in the end.  With so much information on the internet some Buyers and Sellers feel that they do not need all the services that a traditional agent provides.  A limited service Realtor will give you a price opinion and enter it on the multiple listing service.  Some will charge as little as $99 for this service which is almost always paid up front.  Remember that you are still paying a fee to the Realtor who brings the Buyer to the transaction. Additional services can be added on an hourly rate or billed as an up-front fee.  Adding many additional services will end up costing the same as a traditional Realtor and these fees are traditionally paid up front instead of at the time of closing as is the case with Full-Service Realtors.

With a Limited Service BrokerageContinue Reading

WHEN TO SAY NO TO AN OFFER.

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I recently had a Seller who turned down a full price CASH offer. Many agents would have a stroke if this happened to them. There are many reasons not to accept an offer. In this case, the Seller was building a new home in Westchester County. The offer came in in August and the Buyer was insistent on a 30 day closing. The Sellers’ new home would not be done until late December. We sat down and calculated 2 moves, storage, and temporary housing cost and determined that it would cost the Seller an additional $30,000. We were all confident that even if we needed to lower the price, we could sell this lovely home and coordinate the closings, greatly reducing costs and stress. The Seller ultimately received $10,000 less but realized a positive delta of $20,000 and then, what is minimal stress worth??Continue Reading

WHY IS MY PHONE RINGING?

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As I see friends, neighbors and family this holiday season the question that is always asked is, “You must be enjoying some time off now that the holidays are here.” Nothing could be further from the truth. I am busier now than I have been all year. We started 2019 with the worst first quarter that I have ever experienced. The second and third quarters were normal compared to historic levels and this fourth quarter is blowing the roof off. Continue Reading

Do You Have the Multiple Offer Blues??

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In certain price ranges we are seeing a significant lack of inventory. The Buyers, however, are out in record numbers. The positive economic news, low unemployment and low interest rates have set the stage for many of the reluctant Millennials to begin their house hunt in earnest. If you are currently looking to buy a home you may have already experienced losing a potential home to a multiple offer situation. There are some strategies that will position you to win instead of continually coming up short.

The first step is to get pre approved by a local lender. A Listing Agent will take a pre approval much more seriously if it is from a lender or loan officer who they know. Get approved ahead of time for the maximum for which you qualify. As a Listing Agent, I recently had an offer accepted at $520,000 with a Buyer who had a pre approval to $625,000. It did not tell me that the Buyers wanted to pay that much..the house was only listed for $535,000…but it told me they were more than qualified rather than stretching. If at all possible the pre approval should specify that the mortgage is not contingent on the sale or successful closing of another home. In a multiple offer situation it may not be good enough to have a solid contract on your existing home.Continue Reading

When Renting Is the Best Option

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When faced with a rent vs. buy option, Realtors will always encourage you to buy. In almost every case this is sound advice. After all, homeowners amass 42 times the net worth of renters over a lifetime. Homeowners can take advantage of the tax benefit of deducting mortgage interest. Homeowners can take up to $500,000 (per couple) of tax free capital gains on the sale of a primary residence every 2 years. It is also forced savings as you pay down principal and of course appreciation on the residence.
There are times, however, when renting is the right, interim decision.

1- WHEN YOU ARE DOWNSIZING. My feeling is that Baby Boomers are not downsizing because they don’t know if they really want to retire and have no idea of what that next housing option looks like or where. Step one, sell the house. Rent while you figure out the next move so that you can be flexible and take advantage of or try out options.Continue Reading

Keeping Homeowners in Place

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Finally there are some programs that will help homeowners who have experienced TEMPORARY hardships stay in their homes. After years of short sales and foreclosures someone has finally figured out that many of these situations were temporary with homeowners losing jobs and eventually finding new employment but never being able to get caught up on past due mortgage bills. I had always thought that there should be a forbearance program much like with student loans but that never came to pass. A Realtors job is NOT just to sell homes but also to help people STAY in their homes.

One such program is the BlueHub SUN program, now available in CT. This is for homes already in foreclosure. Aura Mortgage Advisors buys the home at the foreclosure price and then immediately sells it back to the original owner at the reduced amount of the foreclosure sale. This way the principal owed and the monthly payments are automatically reduced. The owner must have steady employment and demonstrate a commitment to keep current on their mortgage payments. You can call them at 855-604-HOME for information and to complete the inquiry form.Continue Reading

How to BEAT the Amortization Table.

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Just some perspective facts to start. There are 136 million home owners in the US. 34%, or 1/3 of those homes, are owned free and clear and another 14 million homeowners owe less than 50%. I am NOT in either one of those categories. Thankfully I am also not in the statistic of 5.4 million who are negative 20% or more on their homes. Another interesting fact is that the median amount that a homeowner put down on a home was 20% 10 years age, while today it is at 5%.

Homeownership is still a hope of almost all of the younger generations. Those who own eventually realize 44X the net worth of those who rent (or live at home with parents). Neighborhoods with high ownership tend to be safer with less crime and the owners more engaged in their communities.

Continue Reading

What Day of the Week Should the Listing Go LIVE?

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James Philipakos from Flagstar Bank forwarded me this great information about which day to make your home ACTIVE on the MLS.  James is a trusted advisor and you can reach him at 203 856-4771.

Redfin studied 100,000 recently sold homes and found a pattern for price and time results based on which days of the week listings went active.

To understand why this information is both accurate and important, we should think about consumer behavior. Potential homebuyers who are in the “looking” mode don’t do a lot of planning. They jump out on the weekend and check out open houses.

Serious buyers plan much more, setting up a list of homes for sale that fit their needs and they schedule their time to see as many as possible, usually on the weekend. To get their schedule together, they need at least a couple of days, so (drum roll), what is the best day to take a listing active?
By a stretch, Wednesday came out on top. Take a listing active on Wednesday to give the serious buyers two days to plan before the weekend. The study showed an average $2,023 higher selling price and a shorter time on the market for Wednesday-activated listings. Thursday came in second, but Wednesday was much better when compared to activating the listing on the weekend.

Get the serious buyers to your listing on its first active weekend by taking the listing active on Wednesday.

What Do the Housing Numbers Say?

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I do statistics every quarter to try to get a handle on how to counsel our Buyers and Sellers. The numbers after the first 6 months seemed very dismal. All our numbers were down. Prices were down and numbers sold were also down. At the time however, I predicted that it was not an accurate picture of what our housing market was doing. It was based on what had happened in the past and did not accurately reflect what was currently happening. We were experiencing an active spring market with many homes being sold with multiple offers for over the asking prices. In the lower range I was comfortable pushing prices higher than the number were indicating, while in the upper register homes were languishing much longer than we would like.

I have just completed calculating the nine month numbers and indeed it shows rising prices in MOST of our markets as well as increases in the actual number of homes sold. Bethel is UP 7.1% with 11.9% more homes sold over the first 3 quarters of 2017. Brookfield values rose 4.6% with 5.8% more closings. New Milford up 6.7% with 11.8% more home sold year over year for the same period. Danbury was up 4.8%, New Fairfield 1.3%, Newtown 3.8%, Southbury 10.6%, Redding 11.9% with Ridgefield showing an even showing. Prices were up in every town with the exception of Woodbury, Roxbury and Sherman.

The actual numbers sold was not as encouraging. Bethel, Brookfield, New Milford saw substantial increases year over year while all of the other towns declined in the number of sales. Some smaller towns like Roxbury and Sherman saw substantial decreases in the number of homes sold but these towns sell so few homes annually that a change of 5-6 homes will tilt the numbers. Every other town saw declines in closings year over year.

Just returning from a Coldwell Banker retreat in Boca Raton for the company’s top producers across most of the nation, I found that we are virtually the only state that is still below the high values of 2006!! I knew that we were absolutely the last state to recover BUT I did not anticipate hearing that many of these markets was already 10%+ OVER their 2006 values. So, although we are seeing increasing prices, it is dwarfed by the national recovery. In summary, I find these results promising and positive but also very disappointing when measured against other regions.

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