Hope Leitner, Realtor®, CRS

When homes near you come on the market and sell quickly, it’s tempting to wonder how the new buyers were able to purchase that home. Were they lucky? Did their parents lend them the down payment? Did the ball simply roll their way? Some people believe that fortune is subject to luck. Experience shows that it’s not. Only about 10% of our lives are completely out of our control. The rest is defined by the choices we make and the actions we take. Lucky people tend to be open to new things. Rather than approaching the unknown with an abundance of caution, they take risks, and feel relaxed enough to see the opportunities that exist. You may know someone, right now, who has the ability to buy an investment or a vacation property, or possibly their first home, but don’t yet know how lucky they are. Give me a call and together we’ll show them the real role that luck plays in home ownership.

Imagine the feeling of peering through the doorway of your next home, make-believe you are able to catch a glimpse of the size, shape and colors of the rooms visible from your perspective. Next, step inside and get a sense for the texture of the flooring beneath your feet. With your hands, trace the countertop surfaces. Feel the temperature of the room around you. Now ask yourself, is it time to change or modify my current home layout, design or feel? This is how I invite new home buyers to experience their next home before we find it together. Imagination differs for everybody. What is universal however, is the value of clarity combined with action. The trick is to align your values and expectations with what you want, then patiently moving towards your goal.  The fall and winter is a great time to take stock and update your current home or plan your next move. I am fortunate to work with the finest decorators, contractors and installers in real estate. If you know someone w...

From a purely economic perspective, this is one of the best times in American history to buy a home . Black Night Financial Services discusses this in their most recent  Monthly Mortgage Monitor . Here are two of the report’s revelations: The average U.S. home value increased by $13,500 from last year, but low interest rates have kept the monthly principal & interest payment needed to purchase a median-priced home almost equal to one year ago. Home affordability still remains favorable compared to long-term historic norms. The report explains: “Even though the value of the average home in the U.S. increased by about $13,500 over the last year, thanks to declining interest rates it actually costs almost exactly the same in principal and interest each month to purchase as it did this time last year. Even taking into account the fact that affordability can vary – sometimes significantly – across the country based upon the different rates of home price appreciati...

The  National Association of Realtors (NAR)  keeps historic data on many aspects of homeownership. One of the data points that has changed dramatically is the median tenure of a family in a home. As the graph below shows, for over twenty years (1985-2008), the median tenure averaged exactly six years. However, since 2008, that average is almost nine years – an increase of almost 50%. Why the dramatic increase? The reasons for this change are plentiful. The top two reasons are: The fall in home prices during the housing crisis left many homeowners in a negative equity situation  (where their home was worth less than the mortgage on the property). The uncertainty of the economy made some homeowners much more fiscally conservative about making a move. However, with home prices rising dramatically over the last several years, over 90% of homes with a mortgage are now in a positive equity situation with 70% of them having at least 20% equity. And, with the ...

Every year at this time, many homeowners decide to wait until after the holidays to put their homes on the market for the first time, while others who already have their homes on the market decide to take them off until after the holidays. Here are six great reasons not to wait: Relocation buyers are out there. Companies are not concerned with holiday time and if the buyers have kids, they want them to get into school after the holidays.   Purchasers that are looking for a home during the holidays are serious buyers and are ready to buy. You can restrict the showings on your home to the times you want it shown. You will remain in control. Homes show better when decorated for the holidays.   There is less competition for you as a seller right now. Let’s take a look at listing inventory as compared to the same time last year: The supply of listings increases substantially after the holidays. Also, in many parts of the country, new construction will conti...

According to the  Census Bureau , millennials have overtaken baby boomers as the largest generation in U.S. History. Millennials, or America's youth born between 1982-2000, now represent more than one quarter of the nation’s population, totaling 83.1 million. There has been a lot of talk about how, as a generation, millennials have  ‘failed to launch’  into adulthood and have delayed moving out of their family’s home. Some experts have even questioned whether or not millennials  want  to move out. The great news is that not only do millennials  want  to move out… they  are  moving out! The  National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently released their  2016 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers  in which they revealed that  61% of all first-time homebuyers were millennials in 2015!    The median age of all first-time buyers in 2015 was 31 years old.   Here is chart showing the breakdown by age: ...

Recently there has been a lot of talk about home prices and if they are accelerating too quickly. In some areas of the country, seller supply (homes for sale) cannot keep up with the number of buyers out looking for a home, which has caused prices to rise. The great news about rising prices, however, is that according to  CoreLogic’s  latest  US Economic Outlook ,  the average American household gained over $11,000 in equity over the course of the last year, largely due to home value increases. The map below was created from  CoreLogic’s  report and shows the average equity gain per mortgaged home from June 2015 to June 2016  (the latest data available) . For those that are worried that we are doomed to repeat 2006 all over again, it is important to note that homeowners are investing their new found equity in their homes and themselves, not in depreciating assets. The added equity is helping families put their children through colleg...

In this day and age of being able to shop for anything anywhere, it is really important to know what you’re looking for when you start your home search. If you’ve been thinking about buying a home of your own for some time now, you’ve probably come up with a list of things that you’d LOVE to have in your new home. Many new homebuyers fantasize about the amenities that they see on television or  Pinterest,  and start looking at the countless homes listed for sale with rose-colored glasses. Do you really need that farmhouse sink in the kitchen in order to be happy with your home choice? Would a two-car garage be a convenience or a necessity? Could the man cave of your dreams be a future renovation project instead of a make or break now? The first step in your home buying process should be to get  pre-approved for your mortgage . This allows you to know your budget before you fall in love with a home that is way outside of it. The next step is to list all the...

According to  Freddie Mac’s  latest  Primary Mortgage Market Survey , interest rates for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage are currently at 3.47%. Rates have remained at or below 3.5% each of the last 16 weeks, marking a historic low. The interest rate you secure when buying a home not only greatly impacts your monthly housing costs, but also impacts your purchasing power. Purchasing power, simply put, is the amount of home you can afford to buy for the budget you have available to spend. As rates increase, the price of the house you can afford will decrease if you plan to stay within a certain monthly housing budget. The chart below shows what impact rising interest rates would have if you planned to purchase a home within the national median price range, and planned to keep your principal and interest payments at or about $1,100 a month. With each quarter of a percent increase in interest rate, the value of the home you can afford decreases by 2.5%, (in thi...

There are many potential homebuyers, and even sellers, who believe that you need at least a 20% down payment in order to buy a home, or move on to their next home. Time after time, we have dispelled this myth by showing that there are many loan programs that allow you to put down as little as 3% (or 0% with a VA loan). If you have saved up your down payment and are ready to start your home search, one other piece of the puzzle is to make sure that you have saved enough for your closing costs. Freddie Mac   defines  closing costs as: “Closing costs, also called settlement fees, will need to be paid when you obtain a mortgage.  These are fees charged by people representing your purchase, including your lender, real estate agent, and other third parties involved in the transaction.  Closing costs are typically between 2 and 5% of your purchase price.” We’ve recently heard from many first-time homebuyers that they wished that someone had let them know tha...

There are many benefits to homeownership. One of the top ones is being able to protect yourself from rising rents and lock in your housing cost for the life of your mortgage. Don’t Become Trapped Jonathan Smoke,  Chief Economist at realtor.com,   reported  on what he calls a  “Rental Affordability Crisis.”  He warns that, “Low rental vacancies and a lack of new rental construction are pushing up rents, and we expect that they’ll outpace home price appreciation in the year ahead.” In the  Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University's 2015 Report on Rental Housing,  they reported that 49% of rental households are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing. These households struggle to save for a rainy day and pay other bills, such as food and healthcare. It’s Cheaper to Buy Than Rent In Smoke’s article, he went on to say, “Housing is central to the health and well-being of our country and our...

A father sat at a park watching his daughter play on the swings. A mother sat next to him, and they began chatting as her son climbed the jungle gym. Then the father called out to his daughter: "Mary! It's time to go!" "Five more minutes, Daddy!" the little girl pleaded. "Just five more minutes?"  He smiled.  "Okay. Five more minutes." The father waited much longer than five minutes, then called to his daughter again. Once again, the child asked for five minutes, and the father nodded.  "You're very patient," the mother commented.  The father nodded again. "Her older brother just went off to college. I often worked long hours and didn't spend enough time with him, and now I miss him. So while my daughter thinks she's getting five more minutes to play, I'm getting five more minutes to watch her."