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Showing posts from January, 2019

Do You Know How Much Your Home Has Increased In Value?

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Last year we saw headlines about a possible housing market bubble, and many wondered if Americans still felt confident about the value of their homes. Recently, the  2018 Houzz & Home Study  revealed: “ Homeowners with mortgages have seen their home equity more than double since 2011, increasing to a record-setting $8.3 trillion in 2017 .” The average homeowner gained $16,200 in home equity between Q2 2017 and Q2 2018 according to the latest release of  CoreLogic’s Home Equity Report . Since 2011 home values have increased significantly throughout the country, with prices rising by 5.1% in 2018 alone. When  surveyed , homeowners revealed the top four reasons why they felt their homes had increased in value. Desirable Location Improved National Economy Improved Local Economy Low Home Inventory in My Area As we can see, not only does the data show that the homes have appreciated, but homeowners also believe they know why. Many have taken advantage of the opportunity

4 Proven Ways Real Estate Can Build Sizable Family Wealth

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Recently, David Greene, co-host of the  BiggerPockets  podcast and a nationally renowned author and speaker, wrote an  article in  Forbes  explaining how investing in real estate could help build wealth. Many of the points he made also apply to a family owning their own home. Here are a few: 1. Appreciation “The rising of home prices over time, is how the majority of wealth is built in real estate. This is the ‘home run’ you hear of when people make a large windfall of money. While prices fluctuate, over the long run real estate values have always gone up, always, and there is no reason to think that is going to change. One thing to consider when it comes to real estate appreciation affecting your ROI is the fact that appreciation combined with leverage offers huge returns. If you buy a property for $200,000 and it appreciates to $220,000, your property had made you a 10% return. However, you likely didn’t pay cash for the property and instead used the bank’s money. If you co

Is Student Loan Debt A Threat To Homeownership? No!

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Over the course of the last thirty years, a shift has happened. An entire generation has been raised to believe that a college education is their key to unlocking opportunities that were not available to their parent’s or grandparent’s generations. Due to this, student loan debt has soared to $1.5 trillion and represents the largest category of debt, surpassing credit card and auto loan debt in 2010 and never looking back. As more and more Americans continue their education amongst rising tuition costs, this number will no doubt increase. Many housing experts have blamed student loans for a drop in the homeownership rate for young families, and to an extent, they’ve been right. Increased debt at the time of graduation has no doubt limited young people from being able to afford a home at the same rate as their parents or grandparents did at the same age. In a recent  Forbes  article , the author explained that  “in just the class of 2017, the average student has about $40,000 i

Why It Makes No Sense To Wait For Spring To Sell

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The price of any item (including residential real estate) is determined by the theory of ‘ supply and demand .’ If many people are looking to buy an item and the supply of that item is limited, the price of that item increases. The  supply  of homes for sale dramatically increases every spring, according to the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR). As an example, here is what happened to housing inventory at the beginning of 2018: Putting your home on the market now, rather than waiting for increased competition in the spring, might make a lot of sense. Bottom Line Buyers in the market during the winter are truly motivated purchasers and they want to buy now. With limited inventory currently available in most markets, sellers are in a great position to negotiate. JANUARY 28, 2019 / BY  THE KCM CREW

This Week in Real Estate

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According to a report from ATTOM Data Solutions  This Week in Real Estate  the average homeowner who sold their home in Q4 2018 realized a 30.2 percent return on their original purchase price. Below are a few highlights from the fourth week of January that influence our business : * Q4 2018 Home Seller Gains.   Nationally, homeowners who sold in Q4 2018 sold for an average of $54,500 more than their original purchase price, a slight decline from last quarter, a jump from last year. The $54,500 average home seller price gain in Q4 2018 represented an average 30.2 percent return on the original purchase price, down slightly from an average 30.4 percent return in the previous quarter but up from an average 25.6 percent return in Q4 2017.  Among those 20 markets, San Francisco saw the greatest seller gains in Q4 2018, selling for an average of $361,125 more than their original purchase price. The Seattle,  Tacoma, Bellevue sold for an average of $171,969 more than their original p

Think You Should For Sale By Owner? Think Again! [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Some Highlights: For Sale By Owner (FSBO)  is the process of selling real estate without the representation of a real estate broker or real estate agent. According to the  National Association of Realtors’  Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers,  36% of homeowners who decided to FSBO last year did so to avoid paying a commission or fee. But, homes sold with an agent net 6% more than those sold as a FSBO according to  Collateral Analytics ! Before you decide to take on the challenges of selling your house on your own, sit with a real estate professional in your marketplace and see what they have to offer. JANUARY 25, 2019 / BY  THE KCM CREW

3 Things You Need In A Shifting Real Estate Market

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Whether you are thinking of selling your house or buying a home, today’s real estate headlines can be confusing – perhaps even concerning. What is actually happening with mortgage rates? Are home values dropping or are they just rising at a slower pace? What impact will the economy have on the housing market? If you are either a buyer or seller (or both), you need to know what it will mean to your family if you go ahead with the move. You need to understand three things: 1. What is happening in the housing market right now? Consumers must get past those fear-mongering headlines and gain a deep understanding of what is truly happening. How strong is buyer demand right now? How much competition do listings have today compared to what they will have in the spring? People want to make an educated decision on what is probably their family’s greatest financial asset. 2. Why is it happening? Understanding the individual pieces that impact the sale or purchase of real estate is im

The Importance Of Homeownership To The American Dream

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For centuries, people in this country have seen homeownership as part of the American Dream. Whether they were born here or immigrated from another country, they wanted to own a piece of America. With so many prominent societal changes over the last few decades, it is fair to ask if people in America still feel the same way about owning a home. The answer was made abundantly clear in two separate reports released earlier this month. In their market trends report,  As Housing Trends Shift, So Does Renter, Buyer and Seller Sentiment ,  Trulia revealed that: “After two years of no change, the share of Americans who say that homeownership is part of their personal “American Dream” ticked up from 72 percent to 73 percent of Americans.” At the same time, the  National Association of Realtors  released their  Aspiring Home Buyers Profile .  As the report explained: “For both homeowners and non-homeowners alike, homeownership is strongly considered a part of the American Dream. F