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Boston Home Ownership Trends 2019

Boston Home Ownership Trends 2019
April 8, 2019 in Selling A Home, Buying A Home, Market Updates, Real Estate

Home Ownership Trends For Boston 2019   If your plans for 2019 are to buy a home in Boston, then the time has arrived. Keeping an eye on the changing tides of the housing market can help to choose the best time to enter the market. No one can fully predict the housing trends, however, one could get a sense of the forces that will push thing a certain direction.   More Homes For Sale   In particular, there will be more houses for sale in South Boston in 2019. The homes hitting the market are not enough to keep up with the demand of those wanting home ownership and wanting to buy real estate.   This year the inventory of available homes will rise and recover. The growth will continue, but it will not be blockbuster sales. Buyers love this news, whereas sellers come to a different type of reality. If you try to sell a home, then there will be more competition. Adjusting expectations in the selling market will be a requirement.   Luxury homes usually have a stronger economy, with higher paying jobs. Luxury home growth will be modest. An increase in high-end inventory is expected in Seattle, Boston, Savannah GA, and New Orleans. This may include neighboring towns. These areas could see themselves in the double-digit gains in inventory.   Affording A Home May Still Be A Challenge   The tides may be changing and in favor of the buyer. Home buyers will find it to be easier with more options. At the same time, it will also be a challenge because of the increase in mortgage rates. Mortgage rates could go up to 5.5%, which means a monthly mortgage payment could rise to about 8% higher next year. Meanwhile, personal incomes are not growing at such a rate. Homeowners will feel the pinch. This realization is tougher on first time home buyers. First time home buyers tend to borrow the most and are starting out with no equity to draw from.   When Will The Housing Market Slow Down? Millennials Continue To Dominate Millennials used to be the new kids in buying homes. Now their numbers have grown and they are a big group of home buyers. Millennials account for 45% of mortgages today. With 17% belonging to baby boomers and 37% to Generation X’ers.   Still, the first time home buyer will find it a challenge to jump into the game of buying a home. Those who have home equity will gain more benefits. boston real estate market 2019 Millennials will also carry with them the debt of student loans and typically want to spend money on travel and experiences. Those experiences take away from their down payment which could aid in a lower mortgage payment. Millennials may compromise instead and buy less space, but still own a home, for example.   Tax Law Questionable   The proposed revision of the tax code was battling its way through Congress. Now, we still don’t know, and…

Tips For Buying a Waterfront Home

March 19, 2018 in Buying A Home

Buying a Waterfront Home? Here are Some Top Tips to Guide You You have always dreamed of owning a waterfront home, and you are thinking about making the plunge. Do not assume that because you bought your current home successfully you can buy a waterfront home using the same methods. Waterfront homes are different as they more expensive and deal with unique issues such as bulkheads and more expensive insurance.  Its important that you buy the right property.  If you are not careful you may end up owning a property that becomes more of a headache than a long-term financial investment.  Needless to say, living on the water can be a luxurious feature of your new home, but it pays to know some of the pitfalls of living on the water. Before you buy take into account the following: •    Make sure that the property is inspected for damage from the elements. Beachfront homes are susceptible to the elements because they are so close to the water. Oftentimes they could suffer structural damage. With many waterfront homes built on stilts and highly elevated, they don’t have the same type of foundation as a traditional slab property.   If you don’t have a thorough inspection done you may buy a property that will cost you a lot of money. In addition to a traditional home inspection, you may want to look into a structural inspection done by a structural engineer. •    Don’t just look at the structure. Pay close attention to the water aspects of the property too. Is the water navigable?  Are there any water rights given to others such as littoral rights or riparian rights?  Do you own the proper water rights for the water that your home is on?  Needless to say, if you are purchasing a beachfront condo – you wont own the ocean, but if you are on a lake or river – there are very specific real estate water rights that may be applicable. •    Pay close attention to Flood Insurance.  Many homes across the country have to pay for flood insurance in addition to standard homeowners insurance, but if you are living adjacent to the water – you may have a more expensive policy than expected.  If you are on the beach – you may be in one of the new flood zones called “flood zone V”.  Flood Zone V – is a Velocity flood zone.  These types of flood policies take into consideration that your home could be damaged by the velocity of a hurricane and have very expensive premiums. •    Take into consideration the popularity.  For instance, if you are buying a waterfront home in Madisonville LA on the Tchefuncte River – you will want to make sure that you are OK with boating traffic on the river on a constant basis.  If you are purchasing a condominium in Panama City Beach, you will want to make sure that the huge influx of college students for Spring Break doesn’t drive you mad. •  …

Choosing the Best Real Estate Broker

Real Estate Technology
June 13, 2017 in Selling A Home

Why You Should Use the Best Real Estate Brokers to Sell Your Home One of the challenges that homeowners face when it is time to sell is which real estate broker to use. There are real estate agents everywhere you look and it can be challenging to decide which one is best. Difference Between Agent and Broker Its important to first understand, all real estate agents work under a broker.  There are different levels of real estate schooling that is required to become a broker.  In some instances, an agent CAN be a broker — but not THE broker.  There is always a responsible broker that is above the agent, even if the agent IS a broker.  I know that sounds confusing, but one is the difference between how much real estate schooling the agent has taken as well as passing the broker exam. Passing the Real Estate Exam Choosing the Right Broker This is a decision that you should consider carefully if you want to sell your home fast and for a healthy profit.  The more expensive the home, the more you have to loose.  If you are dealing with a luxury home in New Orleans , in excess of $750,000, the difference between a good broker and a great one makes a huge difference. While you may feel that it is best to use a real estate broker who works in your neighborhood, you should know that the best real estate brokers are the ones that have the best closing rate. What is Closing Rate? Closing rate refers to how fast they are able to sell a home and whether they are able to help their clients realize a profit.  While the little guy may be effective in his own way, you want to sell fast and for as high a price as possible. Because more established real estate brokers have usually fined tuned their process for marketing homes for sale, when they list your home, its put on a proven path. You will close your sale in a shorter time than if you choose a broker because he/she is your cousins, brothers long time friend. The other reason why these real estate companies are so effective is that they have the latest technology for real estate. They are, for example, able to show virtual tours of your home to interested clients so that they can make up their minds whether it is what they are looking for.  Many will also take professional photos to make sure that your home is shown in the best light.  They also have technology that allows you to show the home without you necessarily being present – prospective buyers are given ways to access fobs into your home. These are things that your local real estate agent may not have. Visibility of Hour Home For Sale The last important aspect of choosing the right real estate broker is assessing what type of viability they have on the internet.  There are thousands of real estate websites out there,…

Real Estate Tech Byte

Real Estate Technology
March 2, 2017 in Real Estate

A Website Is A Must So many people go to the internet to answer their questions and solve their problems these days. Real Estate is no different.  Home Buyer’s and Home Seller’s will go to their internet 97% of the time when searching for homes per the National Association of Realtors (NAR). If you are going to be an active, producing Real Estate Agent in today’s market, you must harness the world of technology.  Having a website used to be an option, now it is the norm.  After you have your professional website designed, up and running, it is time to put it to work for you. Utilize Social Media As a Real Estate Agent you will spend a lot of time on Social Media.  Interacting with other professionals in your industry, posting your listings for the world to see and even advertising your open houses.  You want to be sure that your website has the links to your Social Media pages.  There is a wide selection of Social Media Icons to choose from, and they include Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and others.  Any place you can be on Social Media, you can find the icon and need to link it from your website. This will help get you to your goal of optimizing the results (the clicks) on your website. SEO Every day people are searching for a house to rent, how to sell their home fast, a home to buy, commercial property to invest in, and lots more.  The way to get these answers in front of them is through your website, through SEO.  A website, & utilizing Social Media, are the beginning of things that go together to build up your SEO. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.  To get people to your website, you need capitalize on the use of SEO. The use of SEO will get your page ranked higher on the results of a Google search, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines.  SEO is doing everything to let Google know that YOUR page can answer the questions that are typed into the search box. Here are 5 Tips For SEO Beginners Have a good, updated website. If you do not feel comfortable building a website, then absolutely hire a professional.  SEO will not matter one bit, without the website to optimize. Write so that the average person can read it and use the information. Use keywords, words that people would use in the search box. Ie: “How to Stage My Home To Sell”, “Should I Hire A Real Estate Agent?”, maybe the homes for sale in the geographical area that your work in. Share your content on Social Media (as mentioned above)  Link Inside  On each the pages on your website, try to  link to other pages on your website. Hire an SEO Professional. SEO is constantly changing and evolving.  It’s not overly expensive to utilize a good SEO expert and that could mean your site reaching the top, or not.  An SEO Professional knows the…

Staging a Home

staging a home for sale
February 9, 2017 in Selling A Home

Staging a Home “Staging” is the term used to describe the changes made in your home to prepare it for sale.  Staging a home can be as simple as removing extra furniture and cleaning up or as complex as renting furniture and hiring a professional stager. Getting Your Home Sold With the competition in New Orleans real estate, many home sellers  go the extra mile to make their home stand out.  In addition, when staging a New Orleans home for sale, the photos that get disseminated all over the internet look substantially better.  With most home buyers starting their real estate search online, those photos of the home make a great first impression. We all “live” in our homes just as many of us lounge in our pajamas when we’re home.  However, you would not apply for a job or pay increase in your pajamas!  Likewise, your house won’t recruit a new buyer or the best price in its pajamas!  Dressing your house in its best can sometimes be as simple as re-arranging furniture or cleaning windows. There are some areas that have been ahead of the curve when it comes to staging such as Savannah GA.  Some of the top agents in Savannah have been on the cutting edge of staging homes for a quick sale. Contact us today, if you’d like additional info on staging your home for sale.  

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