If you're planning to buy your first home, then you're probably focused on saving for all the costs involved in such a big purchase. One of the expenses that may be at the top of your mind is your down payment. If you’re intimidated by how much you need to save for that, it may be because you believe you must put 20% down. That doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. As the National Association of Realtors (NAR) notes:
“One of the biggest misconceptions among housing consumers is what the typical down payment is and what amount is needed to enter homeownership.”
And a recent Freddie Mac survey finds:
“. . . nearly a third of prospective homebuyers think they need a down payment of 20% or more to buy a home. This myth remains one of the largest perceived barriers to achieving homeownership.”
Here’s the good news. Unless specified by your loan type or lender, it’s typically not required to put 20% down. This means you could be clos. ...

Don’t Talk to Strangers!
Well that’s an odd thing for a Real Estate Broker to say given that we often make our living doing exactly that!
Turns out that as we make our way through the trials and tribulations of raising a small human, we are quickly approaching the point at which we will need to have that conversation with her.  While Aubrey does tend to have a pretty good initial hesitation when it comes to strangers, she is also a very warm and bright little girl (wow…no longer our baby!) and she feels very secure in her world.  She is also quite curious and adventurous. These qualities could lead her to trust a smiling face when she ought not.  Soooo… we will have the talk but in a way that is educational vs. fear based so as not to kill that adventurous spirit or cause her to feel insecure or afraid (not the best way to go through life!).  We will tread lightly. 
Um…ok, Dennis, what has that got to do with Real Estate?&nbp ...

You may have seen reports in the news recently saying it’s better to rent right now than it is to own your home. But before you let that impact your decisions, you should understand what these claims are based on.
A lot of the time, these reports are assuming things that aren’t realistic for the average household. For example, the methodology behind one of those reports says that renting is the smarter financial option because of the opportunity to invest money elsewhere. It assumes renters take the money they’d spend on costs tied to buying a home and put it in an investment portfolio.
But here’s the thing – most people who rent aren’t making those investments.
Click the link here to read more from Keeping Current Matters! We enjoy their insights and want to share them with you!  ...

Buyers May Face Less Competition as Bidding Wars Ease

One of the top stories in recent real estate headlines in the past couple years has been the intensity and frequency of bidding wars. With so many buyers looking to purchase a home and so few of them available for sale, fiercely competitive bidding wars became the norm during the pandemic – and it drove home prices up. If you tried to buy a house over the past two years, you probably experienced this firsthand and may have been outbid on several homes along the way. 
Fear not! Things are beginning to shift as seen in the graph below. According to the National Association of Realtors, the average number of offers on recently sold homes has declined considerably over the past few months:


The graph shows homes were seeing a high of around five offers earlier this year. But the latest data shows that average was down to just shy of three offers per recently sold home. This shift is happening largely because rising ...

There is a lot of questions and concerns around the housing market and a lot of us are experiencing resurfaced pain from scars caused from the 2008 housing crisis.  The big question on everyone’s mind is if this is going to be like 2008?
 
As we are all looking at capacity, staffing, compensation, UW guidelines and overall P&L management; looking at the numbers and not just the headlines is the key in this market.  Based on all the data it looks like we need to be prepared for a surge not decline in the months ahead.
 
I thought the below data was very helpful in analyzing what is coming in the months ahead.  Based on the data, almost all economist and experts are calling for a  3rd to 4th quarter rebound.  Many feel that the housing market is going to help push the economy forward and that we will need to handle the volume and demand pre-health crisis plus the pent up demand from people that held off buying in 2nd quarter! ...