The Actual Costs of Borrowing vs Interest Rates Everyone who has a mortgage or who will be getting one soon is rightfully paying attention to what is happening with long term mortgage interest rates. For years analyzing your Actual Costs of Borrowing was straightforward since there was essentially no interest being paid on [...]
Finally a bump in inventory! It's all about context as we are at 1,961 listings in the NOVA area, which is about a third of what we'd like to see, but that is up 11% from 2 weeks ago! We'll take it! So what is behind that primarily? Segue to some market trends [...]
The REAL effect of interest rates on the market People think of the effect of interest rates on purchasing power, and thus demand and pricing, and that is true and important but it doesn't lay out the full picture. Every 1% decline in rates brings 5 million more prospective buyers into play (and [...]
The market has changed! Is it still a full on sellers market? Yes it sure is. What you think you are overpaying for today will still look good in 6 months. But there are some not so subtle changes as a perfect storm of increased inventory, buyer fatigue, COVID easing and the return [...]
It's a New Year, but with familiar opportunities and challenges. Some of the whole year numbers for 2020 are starting to roll in but I'm going to initially focus on what we are seeing as a group in our Platinum Club team. The inventory shortages that I have posted about ad nauseum are [...]
We've got a major shift in the market!! I've got some startling numbers to demonstrate that. For those of you who follow my blog you've heard me talk at length about how the COVID induced work from home reality was going to reshape housing demand. Here are some stunning inventory figures to drive [...]
Inventory, inventory, inventory! Those of you who have followed my posts for the last several years have often heard me lament the imbalance of inventory and it's distorting effects on the market. Well, we have reached a new low, so to speak. We now have a meager 2,500 homes on the market in the entire [...]
The market is still humming along in a very balanced fashion. Open houses are very busy and folks are still out looking, but they are getting increasingly frustrated by the lack of inventory in general and good inventory in particular. And it's likely not ready to improve. We have a 10% drop in week [...]
Fall is a great season for stunning color and a still hot real estate market! Plus this signals the pending end of the year and we are all eyeing big decisions by major corporations that will have a huge impact on our region. More on that below. Our region continues to out perform [...]
The Summer Market is Different From the Spring Spring was absolutely crazy as the confluence of interest rates actually rising, tortuously low inventory levels and a blazing hot economy created a tough patch for home purchasers and a boon for home sellers (and mild schizophrenia for those doing both!). Summer has brought a slightly [...]