Home Buyer Optimism is Way Up

Home buyer optimism is way up! In a sign of an improving housing market, California home buyers are more optimistic about the housing market now than they were three years ago, according to the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

More home buyers this year believe that home prices will rise, with 25 percent saying prices will rise in one year; 41 percent saying they will rise in five years; and nearly three-fourths of buyers (73 percent) believing home prices will rise in 10 years. This compares to only eight percent, 35 percent, and 60 percent, respectively, in 2009, when the question was first asked.

The survey also found that the mortgage interest deduction is extremely important to home buyers across all income levels and age groups, with 79 percent of all home buyers saying that the mortgage interest and property tax deductions are “extremely important” in their decision to purchase a home. When broken out by income levels, the findings were similar across all income levels, with 80 percent of those earning less than $100,000 annually; 78 percent earning between $100,000-$199,999, and 81 percent earning more than $200,000 annually saying the deductions were “extremely important” in their buying decision, respectively.

When broken out by age group, the deductions were equally important to Generation Y, Generation X, and baby boomers, with 76 percent, 82 percent, and 80 percent indicating that mortgage interest and property tax deductions were “extremely important,” respectively, when deciding to buy a home.

“It’s clear that home buyers at all income levels and ages value the tax deductions associated with purchasing a home,” said C.A.R. President Don Faught. “The mortgage interest deduction plays an important role in buyers’ monthly budgeting. Without this tax advantage, housing affordability would be negatively impacted and potentially price out many would-be buyers.”

Who do you know looking to buy in San Diego? Contact:

David Demangos

David@AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com

www.AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com

Our Team goes to Extremes to Fulfill your Real Estate Dreams!

10 Star Service in a 5 Star World...

Keep on gardening during Fall?
 
Although summer blooms have faded, there’s no reason not to have color throughout the fall. If you’re looking to plant something now, there are several options from pansies and mums to kale and ornamental grasses. Check with your local garden center or nursery to see which varieties are best for your region. If you have cool-season grass, an application of slow-release organic fertilizer will provide your lawn with the strength it needs to make it through winter. Yes, the weather has cooled and your grass is no longer suffering in the same way it did over the summer, but it still needs a good drink weekly to keep it moist. Keep mowing as well but lower the mowing height a bit (to about 2 inches) so you are cutting the grass a little shorter than usual. Do this until you notice growth has stopped, and the lawn has reached dormancy.

If you need a great gardener in San Diego, reach out and I will refer one your way.

David Demangos

David@AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com

www.AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com

Our Team goes to Extremes to Fulfill your Real Estate Dreams!

October Fire Safety Month

October is "Fire Safety Month", so this is the perfect time to make sure your home and family are safe. New homes are now required to be constructed with an interconnected alarm system but with Kidde’s radio-connected alarm, owners of homes built before 1993 can enjoy the same safety benefits. And, smoke detectors are essential. Regardless of whether they are hardwired, interconnected or battery-powered, you should have smoke detectors on every level of your home, particularly in the kitchen, hallways near bedrooms and basement. 

Purchasing a fire extinguisher is one of the best investments a homeowner can make. Should you ever need to use it, just remember the acronym PASS: Pull the pin to release the handle, aim the extinguisher at the base of the fire, squeeze the trigger, and sweep the discharge stream at the base of the fire. 

David Demangos

David@AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com

www.AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com

Our Team goes to Extremes to Fulfill your Real Estate Dreams!

Housing Recovery Picks Up Steam Despite Persistent Headwinds

October 3, 2013 - With home prices and household formations rising and household balance sheets healing, the ongoing housing recovery is expected to gain momentum next year even as several challenges remain, according to economists who participated in yesterday’s National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Fall 2013 Construction Forecast Webinar.

“The cards are in play for a decent and fairly strong recovery in 2014 and particularly in 2015,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “From the standpoint of GDP growth, housing has been a plus, growing at two, three and four times the rate of the rest of the economy in recent quarters.”
Helping to spur the housing rebound was a double-digit increase in home prices over the past year, driven in part by tight inventories of new and existing homes for sale and gradual gains in employment.

“We expect to see price increases moderate in the next few years as we see additional inventory on the market and investors back away as the bargains disappear,” said Crowe.

ASKING HOME PRICES SLOW DOWN IN HOTTEST HOUSING MARKETS

TRULIA REPORTS ASKING HOME PRICES SLOW DOWN IN HOTTEST HOUSING MARKETS

Despite Jumping 11.5 Percent Year-over-Year Nationally, Asking Prices Are Slowing in 68 of the 100 Major U.S. Metros Including Oakland, Sacramento, Orange County, and Los Angeles

SAN FRANCISCO, October 3, 2013 – Trulia, Inc. (NYSE: TRLA), a leading online marketplace for home buyers, sellers, renters, and real estate professionals, today released the latest findings from the Trulia Price Monitor and the Trulia Rent Monitor. These indices are the earliest leading indicators available of trends in home prices and rents. Based on for-sale homes and rentals listed on Trulia, the monitors take into account changes in the mix of listed homes and reflect trends in prices and rents for similar homes in similar neighborhoods through September 30, 2013. For the full report and methodology, see here.
Asking Home Prices Slowing down Despite Rising in September
Nationally, asking home prices rose 3.0 percent quarter-over-quarter (Q-o-Q) in September – the smallest Q-o-Q change since February. However, the downward trend is harder to spot in the more volatile monthly changes and smoothed out yearly changes. Asking prices rose 2.0 percent month-over-month (M-o-M) and 11.5 percent year-over-year (Y-o-Y), but year-over-year changes should start to shrink in the coming months. At the metro level, 89 of the 100 largest metros had Q-o-Q price increases in September, down from 97 in June. 

Gary Keller’s Mid-Year Market Update

Home prices are on the Upswing. The annual pace of home sales in July was 17.2 percent higher than it was last year, putting the industry on pace for the best year in home sales since 2006.

The monthly median home price in July was $213,500 up 25.1 percent from January to July 2013. For 2013, the average median price YTD for 2013 was $198K. Though home prices have been increasing year-over-year for 17 consecutive months, that number still sits below the long-term 4 percent trend line.

Translation? There is still time to recover. Distressed properties are also impacting the uptick in home prices, namely the absence of them.

David Demangos
 858.232.8410 
www.DemangosHomes.com
San Diego Real Estate Expert
Our Team goes to Extremes to Fulfill your Real Estate Dream

 

4 Ways to Minimize Buyer Surprise

When people say they dislike surprises, it’s a little bit like when someone says they don’t like change. Most people actually appreciate change and surprises – so long as the changes are pleasant or they perceive the surprises to be in their favor. It’s really only unpleasant surprises that agitate, irritate and frustrate the average person.

I've found there is actually a pretty short list of unpleasant surprises which threaten to sour your home buying experience. If you can take a core set of actions to minimize the likelihood of this short list occuring, you’ll protect yourself against 90% of the unpleasant surprises and set your home buying experience up for success. Here are a few of those key surprise-prevention tactics that can take your fear of the unknown.

1. Read everything. It sounds basic to advise a home buyer to read their paperwork. It sounds basic, that is, until you’re in the midst of the process and are presented with literally hundreds of pages of documents to sign, sometimes over and over, and sometimes with a high sense of urgency. For example, if you are in a hot market, you might have to make offers on 5 or more homes before you get one that works for you. After the first few, it’s tempting to just start clicking away to sign the offer documents you’ve seen so many times before, without really reading the critical fine print before you send it back to your agent.

While it is socially uncomfortable to feel like people are sitting across the table waiting for you to read things before you sign them, your agent, mortgage broker and escrow officer really and truly do not mind. (And if they do mind, that’s really not your concern – read away anyway.)

Most smart buyers these days know they need a home warranty policy. But without reading what is and isn’t covered, you do yourself a disservice. Many policies offer optional extra coverage for a small fee of items like appliances, pools and air conditioners – which would normally be excluded under a standard policy.