Real Estate Information

Each year research firm Sperling’s Best Places ranks large metro areas according to livability.  They just released their 2012 Stressful Cities Study which ranked the 50 largest metro areas for the most and least stress.

Utah didn’t make the top ten best or worst but here’s who did:

MOST STRESSFULL AREAS:

1. Tampa, Florida
2. Las Vegas, Nevada
3. Miami, Florida
4. Jacksonville, Florida
5. Detroit, Michigan
6. Orlando, Florida
7. Riverside, California
8. Sacramento, California
9. Seattle, Washington
10. West Palm Beach, Florida

The study based its findings on stress factors such as high levels of divorce, suicide, unemployment, turbulent real estate (Florida) and high crime rates.

Minneapolis is the most stress-free. Other least-stressed cities, ranking in the top ten, included: Long Island, NY; Cambridge, MA; San Jose, CA; Washington, DC; Orange County, CA; Virginia Beach; Pittsburgh; Dallas; and Cleveland.

Where’s your Least Stressful Place to Live?  I’d love to know, comment below.

Foreclosure starts climbed 28 percent in January, while foreclosure sales spiked 29 percent, according to the latest Mortgage Monitor report by Lender Processing Services. The latest figures could suggest that the backlog of foreclosures is beginning to move. 

The January data also shows that 47 percent of foreclosure starts are repeat foreclosures, a new all-time high. Most of the foreclosure activity has occurred in judicial states, where the average pipeline is now at 63 months, down from a peak of 147 months in February 2011. 

The national loan delinquency rate is 7.97 percent, and the rate of new problem loans was relatively low at 1.4 percent. Problem areas still exist in some parts of the country. Nevada, Florida, Mississippi, Arizona and Georgia have the highest percentage of new seriously-delinquent loans.

What does this mean to you?  We should see a lot more bank owned homes coming on the market in the next few months!

Warren Buffett appeared live on CNBC this week. He was asked about the current real estate market and whether he felt now was the time to buy. He emphatically said:

“If I had a way of buying a couple hundred thousand single-family homes I would load up on them.”

He also said:

Why invest in real estate now? 

“It’s a way, in effect, to short the dollar because you can take a 30-year mortgage and if it turns out your interest rate’s too high, next week you refinance lower. And if it turns out it’s too low, the other guy’s stuck with it for 30 years. So it’s a very attractive asset class now.” 

Is buying your own home better than investing in stocks right now?

“If I knew where I was going to want to live the next five or 10 years I would buy a home and I’d finance it with a 30-year mortgage… It’s a terrific deal.”

Should we buy multiple houses?

“If I was an investor that was a handy type and I could buy a couple of them at distressed prices and find renters, I think it’s a leveraged way of owning a very cheap asset now and I think that’s probably as an attractive an investment as you can make now.”

To see an informative and entertaining video about Warren Buffett's interview, click the picture above.

These days we all-too-often hear about someone losing their job and deciding they need to sell their house. I can only imagine the sadness of having to give up a home you’ve lived in for years. If it’s happened to someone you know, feel comfortable to use me as a trusted real estate consultant to explore the pros and cons of all the options, including short sale, renting, and refinancing.

If selling is the best option, then selling quickly and moving on seems to be the best medicine. A slow sale just seems to add insult to injury by dragging out the process and creating more stress.

If you know someone who’s weighing all their options because of a job loss, please call me at 801-652-8600, or email me at: jen@jengilchrist.com. I’ll send you my free report How to Sell Your House For the Most Money In the Shortest Possible Time, so you can give it to them!

Who’s the next person you know could benefit from a fast sale, job loss or not? I’ll be happy to talk with them about selling quickly.

I hope you can make it!

Today’s market is tough, especially when it comes to selling your home.  Sometimes it’s hard to know when to accept an offer and when to wait for a better one.  

Taking the emotion out of this decision is probably the hardest hurdle to jump.  But it must be done in order to get your home sold.  (Which is your ultimate goal.)  This is hard to do however because most people love their homes and it’s hard to put a number on the memories that come with it.

Once you do take the emotion away you can realize that your home is a commodity and is worth what someone is willing to pay.  At this point the decision about a current offer becomes a bit easier.

When an offer comes in you need to ask yourself a few questions:

1. Is it a “low ball” offer?
2. How long has your home been on the market?
3. How many showings are you getting each week?
4. What are the other terms besides price?
5. How soon do I need/want to move.
6. Are you at risk of becoming a distressed sale?
7. What does the “market” say your home is worth?

This is where you need the expertise of a realtor.  They will be able to help walk you through this process and help you get the best price possible in today’s market.

Housing Market Update

Utah’s housing market is improving as more people buy homes.  Utah home sales in 2011 were the highest they’ve been since 2007.  Utah REALTOR® sold nearly 33,000 homes in 2011, up nearly 9 percent compared to 2010 sales.  Home sales have been on the rise since June and are expected to continue the upward trend.

Pending sales, which measure future home sales activity, were up 11 percent for 2011 compared to 2010l  Jim Wood, of the University of Utah’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research forecasts home sales will rise 15 percent in Salt Lake County in 2012.

The sales increases are the result of increased home-buyer confidence and improved employment conditions.  The Utah Association of REALTORS® Housing Affordability Index was at its second-highest level on record in December while Fannie Mae reported that more customers believe that home prices will rise within the next 12 months.  Mortgage rates also remain at record lows, with Freddie Mac reporting that the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage in January was the lowest on records. Another positive influence on the housing market is the fact that Utah is in the top five states for employment growth.

Together, these factors have pushed down housing supply.  For the past 10 months, inventory declines have been in the double digits, with the number of active listings failing for more than a year.  The number of homes on the market has not been this low since March 2007, and inventory is being absorbed as its quickest pace since July 2007.  In December, it would have taken 7.2 months to sell all of the homes on the market, significantly lower than last year’s 10.5 months.

The tighter supply and increased demand should help put upward pressure on home prices.  A report from Fiserv, with analysis from Moody’s Analytics, says Utah home prices are set to rise 1.5 percent by the end of the summer 2012 and more than 7 percent during the subsequent year.

Have you been surfing the web looking for the perfect house to make a home for you? I bet you have been looking for several weeks now and if you’re like me when I bought my first home you may feel that you don’t know where to start.  

When my husband and I bought our first home I felt like a deer in the headlights.  All I knew was how much we qualified for and generally what I wanted in a new home.

Not ONE of the real estate agents we talked to sat down with us and explained the importance of a CMA, market statistics, home inspections, closing costs, negotiating the offer or anything!

Now that I am a Realtor and know these things, I realize the importance of educating my clients of these and other very important things.  Buying a home is a huge investment and I don’t want anyone looking back (as I do now) and wishing they had someone on their side!

Here are my top 5 reasons why you need a great agent looking out for your best interests!

1. I can recommend great financing options that will help you with your purchasing goals.  (Low to zero down, no MI etc.)  Working with proven lenders really can be the difference between moving into your new home vs. not even closing on the loan.
    
2. I can educate you on the process of buying a home and what it really takes to jump into this rapidly changing market.
    
3. I can provide price counseling via a CMA to give you power to make an educated offer on the home.
    
4. I can negotiate on your behalf, working hard to get you the lowest price and best incentives (i.e. home warranty, seller paid closing costs, etc.)
    
5. I will help you reach your home buying goals and what’s best for your situation.

According to the Salt Lake Board of Realtors, here are top 5 best selling cities:  (Info taken from fourth quarter of 2011.)

1.  Kearns/Taylorsville
2.  Lehi
3.  South Jordan
4.  Farr West
5.  Clearfield.

Over this time last year prices have dropped 10% and sales have increased by 18%!

BOTTOM LINE:  It's a great time to buy a home!

We all know that buying a short sale can take forever!  But who would have thought that buying a bank owned home would take SEVEN months!  Here's Jamie and Molly's story...