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5 Reasons Why Millennials Buy a Home [INFOGRAPHIC]

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5 Reasons Why Millennials Buy a Home [INFOGRAPHIC] | Simplifying The Market

5 Reasons Why Millennials Buy a Home [INFOGRAPHIC] | Simplifying The Market

Some Highlights:

  • “The majority of millennials said they consider owning a home more sensible than renting for both financial and lifestyle reasons — including control of living space, flexibility in future decisions, privacy and security, and living in a nice home.”
  • The top reason millennials choose to buy is to have control over their living space, at 93%.
  • Many millennials who rent a home or apartment prior to buying their own homes dream of the day when they will be able to paint the walls whatever color they’d like or renovate an outdated part of their living space.

Your Million Dollar Year Day 31 Resiliency

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84% of Americans Believe Buying a Home is a Good Financial Decision

Your Million Dollar Year Day 31 Resiliency is a chief component of any successful life. It is not a matter of if something bad, or unfavorable will happen, it is a matter of when. When that moment hits you have several choices as you do every moment of your live.  You can grow or die. You can learn or wallow. You can complain or strategize. You can win in this loss or you won’t. My hot water heater broke, my car died and I lost out on a sizable commission I truly need and want and worked for, and this was just yesterday.  This is a lot of body blows in one day.  I have to say I feel horrible about myself and my predicament.

One thing I learned a long time ago is to pay attention to the questions you ask. For instance, What can I do right now to learn and grow from this is? This is so much stronger a question that many ask, Why Me?  Hey, why not you? Even that is a better question.  The thing is your brain is hard wired to think about what you ask.When you ask a better question you get a better result. Ask better questions.

It is horrible to feel badly about yourself, it is also human. When you deny your emotions, swallow them or compartmentalize them they will be there lurking to take you by surprise again and again.  Better to just take care of it in the moment just like you do time and again for a client who needs your immediate attention and action. Don’t hesitate, use Mel Robbins, 5 Second Rule if you need help getting started. Drink water, go for a walk, do something both physical and mental not related at all to the recent event. That allows you to re-arrive at your disaster with a fresher outlook.  It often ain’t pretty, but it is life. Enjoy Your Million Dollar Year Day 31 Resiliency

Buyer Demand Surging as Spring Market Begins

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Last fall, some predicted that the 2019 residential real estate market would be a disaster. There was even belief we might experience a housing crash like the one that occurred during the last decade.

However, according to two separate reports*, buyer demand dramatically increased over the last three months, leading into this spring buyers’ market (the March data is not yet available).

Both the ShowingTime Showing Index and the National Association of REALTORS Buyer Traffic Index show that buyer demand has increased in each of the last three months.

Buyer Demand Surging as Spring Market Begins | Simplifying The Market

Why the increase in demand? Increased buying power.

According to the National Association of Realtors’ Economists’ Outlook Blog, purchasing a home has become more affordable, which has led to increased demand.

“Due to the combination of falling home prices and mortgage rates, the income needed to make an affordable mortgage payment (mortgage no more than 25% of income) on a median-priced home with 10% down payment and 30-year fixed rate mortgage decreased from $60,425 in June 2018 to $53,783 as of February 2019, and the difference of $6,642 represents a gain in buying power because one can afford a home purchase at a lower level of income.”

Bottom Line

It appears the spring buyers’ market is going to be much stronger than many had projected. Whether you are selling or buying, this is important news.

 

*The methodology behind the indices:

The ShowingTime Showing Index

“The ShowingTime Showing Index® tracks the average number of buyer showings on active residential properties on a monthly basis, a highly reliable leading indicator of current and future demand trends.”

The National Association of REALTORS® Buyer Traffic Index

“In a monthly survey of REALTORS®, NAR asks respondents ‘Compared to the same month last year, how would you rate the past month’s traffic in neighborhood(s) or area(s) where you make most of your sales?’ NAR compiles the responses into an index, where an index above 50 indicates that more respondents reported “stronger” traffic than “weaker” traffic.”

Are Low Interest Rates Here to Stay?

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Are Low Interest Rates Here to Stay? | Simplifying The Market

Interest rates for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage have been on the decline since November, now reaching lows last seen in January 2018. According to Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, rates came in at 4.12% last week!

This is great news for anyone who is planning on buying a home this spring! Freddie Mac had this to say,

“Mortgage interest rates have been steadily declining since the start of 2019. These lower mortgage interest rates combined with a strong labor market should attract prospective homebuyers this spring and could help the housing sector regain its momentum later in the year.”

To put the low rates in perspective, the average for 2018 was 4.6%! The chart below shows the recent drop, and also shows where the experts at Freddie Mac believe rates will be by the end of 2019.

Are Low Interest Rates Here to Stay? | Simplifying The Market

Bottom Line

If you plan on buying a home this year, let’s get together to start your home search to ensure you can lock in these historically low rates today!

Your Million Dollar Year Day 30 Features 2

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Your Million Dollar Year Day 30 Features 2.

With more than 316,437 members, ActiveRain is the largest and most active professional social network in the real estate industry. We are a community of real estate agents, brokers, home stagers, inspectors, lenders, and other industry professionals who are committed to learning how do to our jobs better, building connections, and having some fun along the way!

ActiveRain is the world’s largest storehouse of real estate knowledge with over 4 million blog posts on all things real estate. Our members come to ActiveRain to share their best practices, learn from others success, and get free high caliber training through ActiveRain University.

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Your Million Dollar Year Day 30 Features 2

Homeowners: Now Is A Good Time To Sell Your House

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Homeowners: Now Is A Good Time To Sell Your House | Simplifying The Market

Every month, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) releases their Seller Traffic Index as a part of their Realtors Confidence Index. In the latest release, NAR reported that homeowners have been reluctant to sell their houses. This is reflected when broken down by state. Only 11 states have a stable level of seller traffic compared to the remainder of the country, which came in with a weak rating.

As we can see in the following table, the number of people who moved last year is half of what the rate was in the 1980s.

Homeowners: Now Is A Good Time To Sell Your House | Simplifying The Market

This does not come as a surprise, as tenure length (the number of years someone owns a home before moving again) among existing homeowners has increased. It has risen from an average of 6 years from 1985 to 2008, up to 9.5 years over the last few years. This is shown in the graph below:

Homeowners: Now Is A Good Time To Sell Your House | Simplifying The Market

As we can see, there is a pent-up seller demand!

What led to this change in behavior? Falling prices during the housing crisis led to many homeowners having negative equity in their home, meaning they owed more on their mortgage than the home was worth. Others were able to secure a low interest rate on their mortgage and have not been quick to obtain a new mortgage with a higher rate.

Will this trend continue?

Recently NAR reported that “69% of people believe now is a good time to sell a home.”

With a strong economy, low interest rates, and wages continuing to rise, some homeowners will be ready to put their house on the market and move up to the home of their dreams!

Bottom Line

There is a great opportunity for sellers to take advantage of the current real estate market before new inventory comes to market. If you are considering selling your house or would like to know your options, let’s get together today to help you understand the possibilities available to you!