Green Real Estate Appraiser

What States Are Americans Moving To?

Posted on January 31, 2014 | Leave a comment

Q: Who are the winners and losers?

A: The top five outbound states — with the most departures — are New York (which jumped from fifth place), followed by Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Jersey. Texas and Florida were the top inbound destinations.

Q: At the height of the housing bubble, census data said Florida was experiencing an avalanche of people from other states relocating there. How does it look now?

A: Florida has evolved. Back in those days, a lot of that property that was sold during the housing boom was vacation or second homes. What we’ve seen over the last few years in Florida is actually a balancing, for a couple of reasons.

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Shedding Light on Homebuying

Posted on January 30, 2014 | Leave a comment

Real estate agents, who deal directly with buyers and sellers, are in a position to know firsthand what’s on the minds of both groups when it comes to home sales.

A new report from Redfin, the real estate brokerage, found buyers in the fourth quarter continued to be frustrated by the slim pickings among inventory, were willing to pay more than a seller’s asking price, and were willing to settle for less when it comes to home features.

Redfin’s national survey of 468 agents provides insight into a housing market that continues to experience tightening inventories, rising home prices and mortgage rates that continued to trend upward.

Most agents continued to think it’s a good time to buy a home (56 percent versus 55 percent in the third quarter), even if 63 percent believe sellers have “unrealistic expectations” about the value of their properties.

Among other findings:

• Eighty-seven percent of agents said limited inventory was buyers’ biggest challenge.

• Fewer agents think now is a good time to sell a home — 65 percent in the fourth quarter compared with 72 percent in the third quarter and 86 percent in the second quarter — even if the overwhelming majority still think the time is right.

• About 30 percent said buyers were “flexible on features” and were “prepared to waive contingencies” to win a bid.

The Redfin survey also found agents were concerned that rising interest rates would limit home sales, with 39 percent believing that if rates exceeded 5.5 percent sales and price growth would suffer. Other agents put the threshold at 6 percent.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

San Diego – Home Prices Flattening In the County

Posted on January 29, 2014 | Leave a comment

San Diego County home prices were nearly flat from October to November, but are still up 18.7 percent over the year, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed Tuesday.

From October to November, home prices rose 0.04 percent on the index, continuing a steady monthly slowdown from the roughly 5 percent gains seen in the peak spring and summer buying season. From September to October, prices rose 0.3 percent, and from August to September, they were up 0.9 percent. The last time home values fell was in January 2013, when they dropped 1.03 percent from December 2012.

“The market’s leveling off,” said Mark Goldman, a loan officer and real estate lecturer at San Diego State University. “Prices had gone too high, then in 2008 they went too low so they recovered from that. Now we’re back to where they ought to be. We’re on the trend line.”

Goldman said he expects annual price increases to level off over the next 12 months to around 3.5 percent.

The Case-Shiller index works by comparing repeat-sales of single-family homes. In November, the index reached 194.15 for San Diego County, up 18.7 percent from the same time last year. The annual gain ranks San Diego fourth on the 20-city index, which has an average year-over-year gain of 13.7 percent, up from 13.6 percent in October.

David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a statement that prices typically weaken in the winter months, and despite a monthly 0.1 percent decline, the November performance was its best since 2005.

Seasonality aside, the housing market has seen some headwinds, most notably lower affordability with higher median prices and interest rates that are creeping up. In November, the average 30-year-fixed was 4.26 percent, up from a low of 3.41 in January 2013, Freddie Mac reports. The November median price, according to DataQuick, was $415,000 in San Diego County. It rose to $420,000 in December, a 14.8 percent year-over-year gain.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

What States Are Americans Moving To?

Shedding Light on Homebuying

San Diego – Home Prices Flattening In the County

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