CREATING REAL PROSPERITY - San Gabriel Valley Real Estate, Homes For Sale

Thursday, July 30, 2015

3 Reasons Why It's a Great Time for Sellers

Rising home prices, demand from home buyers, and less competition is making 2015 a stellar year to sell for many U.S. home owners across the country, says Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac's vice president.

Blomquist points to these three factors behind why this year is shaping up more favorably for sellers

1. Stronger demand coming from buyers: Sellers in many markets are seeing stronger demand from a larger pool of buyers, including first-time buyers, boomerang buyers (previous owners who lost their home to foreclosure), as well as traditional owner-occupant buyers. Particularly of note lately, the number of buyers using Federal Housing Administration – typically low down payment loans often used by first-time home buyers – is on the rise, accounting for 23 percent of all single-family home and condo sales with financing in the second half of 2015. That marks the highest share since the first quarter of 2013, according to RealtyTrac's Midyear 2015 U.S. Home Sales report.

2. Home prices are skyrocketing: Single-family home and condo sellers in the first half of this year sold for an average of 13 percent above their original purchase price. "So far in 2015, [sellers] are realizing the biggest gains in home price appreciation since 2007," Blomquist says. "In June, sellers sold for above estimated market value on average for the first time in nearly two years." Median sales prices of existing-homes pushed above the previous 2006 peak to a record high in June, the National Association of REALTORS® reported this week. The median existing-home price for all housing types was $236,400 in June – surpassing the peak median sales price set in July 2006 at $230,400.

3. Sellers have less competition: Inventories of for-sale homes remains tight, which has forced buyers to have to compete for the limited supply. Distressed sales –properties in the foreclosure process or bank-owned – accounted for 8 percent of all single-family and condo sales in June, the lowest monthly share since January 2011. In 2011, the share of distressed sales had reached a monthly peak of nearly 46 percent of all single-family and condo sales.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

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Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Gay Marriage Ruling: 'Housing Game Changer'

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision late last week to make same-sex marriages legal throughout the country could lift home ownership among lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender couples.

"As with other momentous social landmarks, this progress will trigger key milestones along the path to home ownership," says Sherry Chris, CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. The LGBT community is "a powerful market segment that represents an estimated buying power of $840 billion."

With home prices on the rise and mortgage requirements more strict, home buyers may find that two incomes can be better in affording a home.

"There is no more awkwardness—no more 'joint tenants' or however gay people have had to take titles in order to own," says Summer Greene, a general manager of Better Homes and Gardens Florida 1st in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "That means less paperwork, and now it's therefore easier to qualify. Before you'd have people committed for 20 years and would have to have two different applications for mortgages, et cetera."

According to a recent survey, 81 percent of nearly 1,800 LGBT respondents recently surveyed felt that "a ruling for marriage equality will make them feel more financially protected and confident," according to the survey conducted by Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate and the National Association of Gay and Lesbian Real Estate Professionals.

Many of the LGBT's surveyed also expressed concerns about renting. Eighty-two percent said they were concerned about rising rents. What's more, 59 percent say they plan to have children in the future -- both factors are potential motivators for purchasing a home.

A 2012 study by the Harvard Business Review that looked at more than 20,000 real estate transactions in Ohio in 2000 suggested that gay couples gentrifying neighborhoods could even influence home values. The study concluded: "The addition of one same-sex couple for every 1,000 households is associated with a 1 percent increase in home prices in U.S. neighborhoods that are socially liberal, but a 1 percent drop in neighborhoods that are extremely conservative."

Migration of same-sex couples to an area increases home values, in part, because they tend to develop or enhance cultural amenities, the study's authors notes. However, in socially conservative areas, housing prices reflect prejudice against gays.