3 Must-Do’s When Selling Your House in 2024

If one of the goals on your list is selling your house and making a move this year, you’re likely juggling a mix of excitement about what’s ahead and feeling a little sentimental about your current home.

A great way to balance those emotions and make sure you’re confident in your decision is to keep these three best practices in mind when you’re ready to sell.

1. Price Your Home Right

The housing market shifted in 2023 as mortgage rates rose and home price appreciation started to normalize once again. As a seller, you still need to recognize how important it is to price your house appropriately based on where the market is today. Hannah Jones, Economic Research Analyst for Realtor.com, explains:

“Sellers need to become familiar with their local market and work closely with a local agent to make sure their listing is attractive to buyers. Buyers feeling the pressure of affordability are likely to be pickier, so a well-priced, well-maintained home is the ticket to drumming up big demand.”

If you price your house too high, you run the risk of deterring buyers. And if you go too low, you’re leaving money on the table. An experienced real estate agent can help determine what your ideal asking price should be, so your house moves quickly and for top dollar.

2. Keep Your Emotions in Check

Today, homeowners are staying in their houses longer than they used to. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), since 1985, the average time a homeowner has owned their home has increased from 6 to 10 years (see graph below):

This is much more than what used to be the norm. The side effect, however, is when you stay in one place for so long, you may get even more emotionally attached to your space. If it’s the first home you bought or the house where your loved ones grew up, it very likely means something extra special to you. Every room has memories, and it’s hard to detach from the sentimental value.

For some homeowners, that makes it even tougher to separate the emotional value of the house from fair market price. That’s why you need a real estate professional to help you with the negotiations and the best pricing strategy along the way. Trust the professionals who have your best interests in mind.

3. Stage Your Home Properly

While you may love your decor and how you’ve customized your house over the years, not all buyers will feel the same way about your vibe. That’s why it’s so important to make sure you focus on your home’s first impression, so it appeals to as many buyers as possible.

Buyers want to be able to picture themselves in the home. They need to see themselves inside with their furniture and keepsakes – not your pictures and decorations. As Jessica Lautz, Deputy Chief Economist and Vice President of Research at NAR, says:

“Buyers want to easily envision themselves within a new home and home staging is a way to showcase the property in its best light.”

A real estate professional can help you with expertise on getting your house ready to sell.

Bottom Line

If you’re considering selling your house, reach out to a local real estate professional to help you navigate the process while prioritizing these must-do’s.

Read more at KeepingCurrentMatters.com

Related Links

• 3 Key Factors Affecting Home Affordability

• Signs Point to More Inventory this Spring

• Sorry, Marble: Home Buyers Still Prefer This Kitchen Countertop Material

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

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3 Key Factors Affecting Home Affordability

Over the past year, a lot of people have been talking about housing affordability and how tight it’s gotten.

But just recently, there’s been a little bit of relief on that front. Mortgage rates have gone down since their most recent peak in October. But there’s more to being able to afford a home than just mortgage rates.

To really understand home affordability, you need to look at the combination of three important factors: mortgage rates, home prices, and wages. Let’s dive into the latest data on each one to see why affordability is improving.

1. Mortgage Rates

Mortgage rates have come down in recent months. And looking forward, most experts expect them to decline further over the course of the year. Jiayi Xu, an economist at Realtor.com, explains:

“While there could be some fluctuations in the path forward … the general expectation is that mortgage rates will continue to trend downward, as long as the economy continues to see progress on inflation.”

And even a small change in mortgage rates can have a big impact on your purchasing power, making it easier for you to afford the home you want by reducing your monthly mortgage payment.

2. Home Prices

The second important factor is home prices. After going up at a relatively normal pace last year, they’re expected to continue rising moderately in 2024. That’s because even with inventory projected to grow slightly this year, there still aren’t enough homes for sale for all the people who want to buy them. According to Lisa Sturtevant, Chief Economist at Bright MLS:

“More inventory will be generally offset by more buyers in the market. As a result, it is expected that, overall, the median home price in the U.S. will grow modestly . . .”

That’s great news for you because it means prices aren’t likely to skyrocket like they did during the pandemic. But it also means it’ll probably cost you more to wait. So, if you’re ready, willing, and able to buy, and you can find the right home, purchasing before more buyers enter the market and prices rise further might be in your best interest.

3. Wages

Another positive factor in affordability right now is rising income. The graph below uses data from the Federal Reserve to show how wages have grown over time: 

If you look at the blue dotted trendline, you can see the rate at which wages typically rise. But on the right side of the graph, wages are above the trend line today, meaning they’re going up at a higher rate than normal.

Higher wages improve affordability because they reduce the percentage of your income it takes to pay your mortgage. That’s because you don’t have to put as much of your paycheck toward your monthly housing cost.

What This Means for You

Home affordability depends on three things: mortgage rates, home prices, and wages. The good news is, they’re moving in a positive direction for buyers overall.

Bottom Line

If you're thinking about buying a home, it's important to know the main factors impacting affordability are improving. To get the latest updates on each, connect with a trusted real estate agent.

Read more at KeepingCurrentMatters.com

Related Links

• Gen Z’s Homeownership Rate Stagnated in 2023, But Millennials and Gen Xers Saw Gains

• Signs Point to More Inventory this Spring

• Sorry, Marble: Home Buyers Still Prefer This Kitchen Countertop Material

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

Search Homes in Colorado

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Search Homes in Oklahoma

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Sorry, Marble: Home Buyers Still Prefer This Kitchen Countertop Material

Thanks to AI, you no longer have to restrict your online house hunt to a zip code.

You can ask for all the other things that matter to you. And that’s exactly what home buyers did when Zillow introduced its AI-powered natural language search last year. After analyzing more than 250 billion search queries, the company found that people prioritized looking at places with a garage, backyard, fireplaces, and walk-in closets first and foremost. But there was a surprising term that cracked the top 10 in 2023: granite countertops. Not milky white Carrara marble. Not super-durable quartz. Granite. 

While granite has been a popular choice for decades, the construction boom of the early 2000s brought on a new kind of mania. You couldn’t watch an episode of House Hunters without hearing the words granite countertops. But like most design trends, the coarse-grained, igneous rock reached the point of being overdone…or so we thought. DeVol’s creative director, Helen Parker, called it last February when she predicted that granite—specifically, black granite—was bound to bounce back. “Black granite was a staple in the 1990s, and it still has a certain understated luxury, especially when honed,” she told Domino. 

It’s true that when we think of granite countertops, we tend to picture a sandy-colored surface with flecks of black, the kind you’d most likely find in a Tuscan-inspired McMansion. But as Parker points out, there is a world of other granite varieties and finishes out there to explore—ones that sellers could easily put on their home’s résumé without feeling like they’ve sold out. Here are a few slabs we’d happily have in any current (or future!) home.

Read more at Domino.com

Related Links

• Gen Z’s Homeownership Rate Stagnated in 2023, But Millennials and Gen Xers Saw Gains

• Signs Point to More Inventory this Spring

• How To Choose a Bathtub To Complete Your Bathroom Remodel

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

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Signs Point to More Inventory this Spring

The U.S. real estate housing market signals have been gradually building for a couple of months.

Home sellers are starting to ease back into the market, new listings are finally exceeding the levels of a year ago. As a result, we’re starting to see slightly more available supply of homes on the market. This is an expansion of the market from incredibly restricted levels last year. It’s a positive development. 

The longer we stay with mortgage rates higher, the more inventory will build closer to where it used to be. Each year we’ll have 5 million more people who don’t have crazy low rates that they want to hold onto forever. Mortgage rates are higher than they were a year ago. Higher than they were a month ago. Higher mortgage rates means more inventory. 

If mortgage rates fall into the 5s this spring, you should expect the available inventory to decline as demand picks up rapidly. But as of now, rates are holding in the upper 6s and inventory is building slowly. 

It is important to keep in mind that home sales are climbing with inventory. As supply comes to the market, that’s lifting one of the restrictions that kept the home sales so low last year. The number of homes for sale and the number that are being sold are both climbing into 2024 over last year.

Inventory ticked up

There are just over 505,000 single family homes on the market across the U.S. That’s a 1.2% increase over last week and nearly 7% more than last year at this time. Inventory ticked up this week. This week the supply of active inventory gained over 6000 homes. That would have been a big week any time last year.

These are the signals that point to growing inventory of homes on the market all spring. Even if inventory ticks down next week, it looks like that will be a smaller move down than last year, so the year-over-year percentage gain will continue to widen. 

Slightly more sellers

Inventory is building now because we have slightly more sellers each week. The market had about 49,000 new listings this week. 9,000 of those are already in contract. Leaving 40,000 New listings to add to the market which is about a 5% increase versus last year. 

It sure looks now like we’ll have more sellers each week all year long than we did in 2023.

The other side of the equation to keep watch is the purchase side. I’ve called this a supply constrained market. So as the inventory shortage eases just a bit, we should also see more transactions happening. And sure enough, that’s what we’re seeing. There continues to be more new contracts each week than last year at this same time. The pace of home sales is growing. It’s not a boom. but the market is growing.

Price cuts stable

Let’s move on to the price signals. Remember that in 2023, even though we had very few home sales, home prices inched up a bit nationwide. We’re looking at similar dynamics for 2024.

Price reductions continue to decline with the new inventory after the first of the year. Some 32.2% of the homes on the market have had a price reduction. That’s right in the middle of the normal range. This implies slight home price strength in general for the next few months. If rates fall from here into the 5s, watch demand pick up and we’ll immediately see fewer sellers need to cut their prices. 

Median price just under $420,000

The median price of single-family homes is just a hair under $420,000. Home prices ticked up almost half a percent this week. And the median price of single-family homes right now is 3% higher than last year at this time. In this market where supply and demand is pretty balanced, home prices are not going to skyrocket of course and there is no sign of prices dropping either. As inventory grows, and sales rates grow, home prices are reliably ticking up each week as well. That trend hasn’t changed. 

The median price of the newly listed homes is $389,900. That corrected back down from last week’s big jump.

We should be grateful that the market is expanding with more supply and more sales for more people than in 2023. 

Read more at HousingWire.com

Related Links

• Gen Z’s Homeownership Rate Stagnated in 2023, But Millennials and Gen Xers Saw Gains

• How a ‘Dry January’ Mindset Can Get You Closer to Buying a Home in 2024

• How To Choose a Bathtub To Complete Your Bathroom Remodel

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

Search Homes in Colorado

Search Homes in North Carolina

Search Homes in Oklahoma

Search Homes in Oregon

Search homes in Minnesota

Carteret County Real Estate Market Report from December 2023

Carteret County Real Estate Market Report for December 2023

Last year, the Carteret County real estate market was challenging. We dealt with a lack of inventory and interest rates that seemed to go up daily. Despite these issues, buyers and sellers found a way to come together in a stabilizing market. Sellers said goodbye to multiple offers received in a weekend, and buyers were finally able to negotiate. As mortgage rates continue to decline, we all want to know what the Carteret County real estate market has in store this year.

If rates continue to decline, we expect to see more buyers enter the marketplace. There has been significant pent-up demand from both buyers and sellers over the last two years who have been interest rate adverse. If demand increases, this will ultimately provide some pressure on home prices. While we do not think we will see the same upward pressure on prices that we saw a few years ago, prices will continue to rise. If demand spikes, inventory will grow throughout the year as sellers find comfort in making a move with more reasonable financing options. Additionally, we expect the selling season to start earlier this year than last. With pent-up demand, more favorable lending terms and warmer temperatures, there is nothing stopping buyers from getting out there.

Month-over-month the median close price dropped to $421,450, while closed sales increased. Most notably, the median days in MLS jumped  from 16 to 31 days.
However, the outlook is more positive if we compare the numbers to this time a year ago with the same seasonal factors. Year-over-year new listings increased by 38 homes from last year. The median sale price jumped $2,700 and median days in MLS increased only slightly from 22 days last year to 31 days.

National predictions indicate a slight increase in inventory with prices staying relatively stable. Ultimately the trajectory of the year is dependent upon interest rates and consumer confidence.

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. I’m here to help.