Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northwest Real Estate Federal Way & Puyallup

Some Highlights: June is National Homeownership Month! Now is a great time to reflect on the many benefits of homeownership that go way beyond the financial. What reasons do you have to own your own home? MAY 31, 2019 / BY  KCM CREW

There have been many headlines decrying an “affordability crisis” in the residential real estate market. While it is true that buying a home is less affordable than it had been over the last ten years, we need to understand why and what that means. On a monthly basis, the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR), produces a  Housing Affordability Index . According to NAR, the index… “…measures whether or not a typical family earns enough income to qualify for a mortgage loan on a typical home at the national and regional levels based on the most recent price and income data.” Their methodology states: “To interpret the indices, a value of 100 means that a family with the median income has exactly enough income to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home. An index above 100 signifies that family earning the median income has more than enough income to qualify for a mortgage loan on a median-priced home, assuming a 20 percent down payment.” So, the higher the index,

As loved ones start to get older, we start to wonder: how long will they be able to live alone?  Will they need someone there to help them with daily life? There’s a reason to ask those questions now more than ever, as the average life expectancy in the U.S. is  78  years old!  As a result,  41%  of Americans in the market are searching for a home that can accommodate a multigenerational family. The graph below shows the number of people by generation that purchased a multigenerational home because they will either be taking care of an aging parent or they just want to spend time together. Of those buyers, 26% indicated they will be taking care of an aging parent, and 14% said they want to spend time with an aging parent. These numbers do not come as a surprise. According to  Pew Research Center , 64 million Americans ( 20% of the population ) lived in a multigenerational household in 2016 ( Last numbers available ). An increasing number of studies affirm the benefits of being p

This Week in Real Estate   mortgage rates fell to the lowest levels in more than a year while new home sales are up 6.7% through the first four months of 2019 compared to the same time prior year. Conclusion: the market is positioned for a strong summer selling season thanks in part to a healthy job market, continued low interest rates and steady sales pace of new homes. Below  are a   few highlights from the  third week  of  May  that influence our business : *  New Home Sales Post Solid Numbers in April.  After an upward revision, March and April newly-built single-family homes sales data indicate that lower mortgage rates and price incentives increased the volume of transactions as the spring home buying season stabilized after weakness in late 2018. Contracts for new, single-family home sales declined to a 673,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate according to estimates from the joint release of HUD and the Census Bureau. However, this decline was off a strong 723,000 sale

In today’s housing market, home prices are increasing at a slower pace (3.7%) than they have over the last eight years (6-7%). However, they are still are above historical norms. Low supply of listed homes and high demand from buyers has pushed prices to rise rapidly. In the mind of the homeowner, annual home price appreciation over 6% has become the new normal. This becomes a challenge when a homeowner looks to refinance or sell their home, as the expectation of what the homeowner believes the home should be worth does not always line up with the bank’s appraisal. Every month, the  Home Price Perception Index (HPPI)  measures the disparity between what a homeowner seeking to refinance their home believes their house is worth and what an appraiser’s evaluation of that same home is. Over the last five months, the gap between the homeowner’s opinion and the bank’s appraisal has widened to -0.78%. This is important for homeowners to note, as even a 0.78% difference in appraisal c

We remember, today and always. MAY 27, 2019 / BY  KCM CREW

Some Highlights: The  National Association of Realtors  surveyed their members & released the findings of their  Profile of Home Staging . 62% of seller’s agents say that staging a home decreases the amount of time a home spends on the market. 50% of staged homes saw a 1-10% increase in dollar-value offers from buyers. 77% of buyer’s agents said staging made it easier for buyers to visualize the home as their own. The top rooms to stage in order to attract more buyers are the living room, master bedroom, kitchen, and dining room. MAY 24, 2019 / BY  KCM CREW

Every year,  Gallup   surveys  Americans to determine their choice for the best long-term investment. Respondents are given a choice between real estate, stocks, gold, and savings accounts. For the sixth year in a row, real estate has come out on top as the best long-term investment! That has not always been the case.  Gallup  explains: “Between 2008 and 2010, covering most of the Great Recession period that saw plummeting home and stock values, Americans were as likely to name savings accounts or CDs as the best long-term investment as they were to name stocks or real estate.” This year’s results showed that 35% of Americans chose real estate, followed by stocks at 27%. The full results are shown in the chart below. Bottom Line Now that the real estate market has recovered, so has the belief of the American people in the stability of housing as a long-term investment. Agents:  Join us today for our Free Webinar as we share the keys to  Unlocking the Power of Video  

According to  CoreLogic , from 2006 to 2014 “ there were 7.3 million housing foreclosures and 1.9 million short sales. ” The hesitation some Americans feel after experiencing a foreclosure brings to mind the old saying: “ Fool me once- shame on you. Fool me twice- shame on me. ” According to the  2019 Home Buyer Report  from  NerdWallet, “ Thirteen percent of Americans have lost a home due to a financial event such as foreclosure in the past 10 years. More than 6 in 10 of them (61%) have not bought a home since, and 20% of those who haven’t repurchased say they never plan to again .” This makes sense. They don’t want to go through the same pain again. As a  cornerstone  of the American dream, nobody wants to lose homeownership. But let’s illustrate this simply: Recall learning to ride your first bike during your childhood. Did you stop riding it because you fell on the ground and scraped your knees? Or did you get back on and try again until you were able to ride without fal