Balancing Your Wants and Needs as a Homebuyer This Spring


Though there are more homes for sale now than there were at this time last year, there’s still an undersupply with fewer houses available than in more normal, pre-pandemic years. The Monthly Housing Market Trends Report from realtor.com puts it this way: 
“While the number of homes for sale is increasing, it is still 43.2% lower than it was before the pandemic in 2017 to 2019. This means that there are still fewer homes available to buy on a typical day than there were a few years ago.”
The current housing shortage has an impact on how you search for a home this spring. With limited options on the market, buyers who consider what’s a necessity versus what’s a nice-to-have will be more successful in their home search.
The first step? Get pre-approved for a mortgage. Pre-approval helps you better understand what you can borrow for your home loan, and that plays an important role in how yon ...

 

Rising interest rates have begun to slow an overheated housing market as monthly mortgage payments have risen dramatically since the beginning of the year. This is leaving some people who want to purchase a home priced out of the market and others wondering if now is the time to buy one. But this rise in borrowing cost shows no signs of letting up soon.
Economic uncertainty and the volatility of the financial markets are causing mortgage rates to rise. George Ratiu, Senior Economist and Manager of Economic Research at realtor.com, says this:
“While even two months ago rates above 7% may have seemed unthinkable, at the current pace, we can expect rates to surpass that level in the next three months.”
So, is now the right time to buy a home? Anyone thinking about buying a home today should ask themselves two questions:
1. Where Do I Think Home Prices Are Heading?
There are two places to turn to answer this question. First is the consensus of what experts are sa ...

The last two years caught many of us off guard—and not just because of the pandemic. They

also ushered in the hottest housing market on record, with home prices rising nationally by

nearly 19% in 2021, driven primarily by low mortgage rates and a major supply shortage. 1

But while some had hoped 2022 would bring a return to normalcy, the U.S. real estate market

continues to boom, despite rising interest rates and decreasing affordability.

So what’s driving this persistent demand? And is there an end in sight?

Here are three factors impacting the real estate market right now. Find out how they could affect

you if you’re a current homeowner or plan to buy or sell a home this year.


MORTGAGE RATES ARE RISING FASTER THAN EXPECTED

Over the past couple of years, homebuyers have faced intense competition for new homes—in

part due to historically low mortgage rates that were a result of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to

keep the ec/ ...

The annual inflation rate in the United States is currently around 7.5%—the highest it has been since 1982.1 It doesn’t matter if you’re a cashier, lawyer, plumber, or retiree; if you spend U.S. dollars, inflation impacts you. 

Economists expect the effects of inflation, like a higher cost of goods, to continue.2 Luckily, an investment in real estate can ease some of the financial strain. 

Here’s what you need to know about inflation, how it impacts you, and how an investment in real estate can help.

WHAT IS INFLATION AND HOW DOES IT IMPACT ME?

Inflation is a decline in the value of money. When the rate of inflation rises, prices for goods and services go up. Therefore, a dollar buys you a little bit less with every passing day.

The consumer price index, or CPI, is a standard measure of inflation. Based on the latest CPI data, prices increased 7.5% from January 2021 to January 2022.1 A little bit of inflation is considered healthy fol ...

As a homeowner, you should begin to consider what you’ll do to protect your home as the weather gets colder. It doesn’t take a whole lot of time and effort to make sure your home is ready for the seasonal change and here are the top four tips I give my clients.
1. Change all the filters and the dryer lint trap.
Now that you’re running the air conditioner less and less, it would be a great time to service and make sure your unit is operating smoothly and efficiently. In fact, hiring a professional HVAC technician to come by and check the actual unit isn’t a bad idea. The easiest thing you can do as a homeowner though, is change the filters. It helps keep the air clean and circulating easier and you’re going to want everything to be neat and clean as you transition to using the heater.
Whenever I think of changing the filters, I think of the lint trap in the dryer. You should be cleaning that out regularly already but if you’re not, now is the . ...