Hope Leitner, Realtor®, CRS

  Since the supply of   homes for sale   is growing and   mortgage rates   are coming down, you may be thinking it’s finally   your moment   to jump into the market. To make sure you’re ready, you need to get pre-approved for a mortgage. That’s when a lender looks at your finances, including things like your W-2, tax returns,  credit score , and bank statements, to figure out what they’re willing to loan you. After that process, you’ll get a pre-approval letter to show what you can borrow. Here are two reasons why this is essential in today’s market. Pre-Approval Helps You Know Your Numbers While  home affordability  is finally starting to show signs of improving, it’s still tight. So, it’s a good idea to talk to a lender about your loan options and how today’s changing  mortgage rates  will impact your monthly payment. The pre-approval process is the perfect time for that. In addition to determining the maximum amount you can ...

  Here I have this month's Market Report for San Diego County. And, below is last month's report. The decrease in the number of houses on the market is a normal seasonal change. Families tend to move in the summers when kids are out of school. But the decrease is also contributing to the already tight market. There just aren't enough houses on the market.    Whether you're considering buying or selling, give me a call so we can talk about your realistic options in our unique housing market.    If you know anyone who might be interested in receiving this market update every month, please have them sign up at this  link.   September - Ponder this,  “All the months are crude experiments, out of which the perfect September is made.” — Virginia Woolf. This quote is quite magical - I love September, summer isn't really gone yet, but new beginnings are all around, the harvest, and back-to-school are full of possibilities and promise.    I am al...

Sellers, who last year, were not willing to make any concessions, are much more likely to do so this year due to the softening of the market because of inflation and higher mortgage rates affecting affordability for buyers. Concessions can take place in different forms.   A seller could offer to pay the buyer's closing costs or pay points for the buyer to get an FHA or VA loan.   Another option would be to pay for a 2/1 buydown that would lower the buyer's payments in the first two years of the mortgage. Buydowns can be temporary or permanent and are achieved by pre-paying the interest at the time of closing.   Typically, the seller will do this as an inducement to the buyer.   While individual lenders set the price for permanent buydowns, a common rule-of-thumb would be two points, or two percent of the mortgage amount, to buydown the rate 0.5% for the life of the mortgage. A more common type of buydown is a 2/1 where the payment is calculated at 2% lo...

If you are a prospective homebuyer, things have changed in the past year.   Most notably, mortgage rates have more than doubled which has created an affordability gap that has taken approximately 15 million buyers out of the market. Inventories are growing but it isn't because more people are deciding to sell their homes; it is because it is taking longer to sell properties because less people are qualified.   Current housing inventory is a little more than a quarter of what it was in 2008. Buyers are wondering when the market will return to normal, as if mortgage rates at three and four percent should be commonplace.   The average mortgage rate between April 1971 and November 2022 is 7.76%. Predictions for mortgage rates in the third quarter 2023 range from 4.5% for Fannie Mae, 5.0% for Mortgage Bankers Association, and 5.2% for Freddie Mac. Traditionally, over the past 35 years, there is a 175-200 basis point difference between the 10-year Treasury and th...