Hope Leitner, Realtor®, CRS

  More people are taking steps to buy a home. And, if you’ve been  waiting  for the right time to move, this may be the sign you’ve been looking for. For the past few years, a lot of would-be homebuyers hit pause on their plans. With rising mortgage rates and affordability challenges, buying just didn’t seem doable. But now, more of them are getting back out there. That’s because they’re getting used to the fact that this may be the new normal for the market – especially as  forecasts  show mortgage rates may be starting to stabilize.  According  to the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR):  "Home buyers seem to be getting over the shock of mortgage rates in the mid- to upper-6% range." And that’s good for you and your plans to sell. While there isn’t going to be a big rush of buyers flooding the market all at once, this does mean motivated buyers are re-starting their searches. And here’s the data to prove it. 3 Signs Buyers Are Rea...

  July 6, 2023 For Sellers Housing Market Updates Selling Myths One of the biggest challenges in the housing market right now is how  few homes  there are for sale compared to the number of people who want to buy them. To help emphasize just how limited housing inventory still is, let’s take a look at the latest information on active listings, or homes for sale in a given month, as it compares to more normal levels. According to a recent report from  Realtor.com :   “On average, active inventory in June was  50.6% below pre-pandemic 2017–2019 levels .” The  graph  below helps illustrate this point. It uses historical data to provide a more concrete look at how much the numbers are still lagging behind the level of inventory typical of a more normal market ( see graph below ): It’s worth noting that 2020-2022 are not included in this graph. That’s because they were truly  abnormal years  for the housing market. To make the comparison...