Dallas Area Housing Trends Scott Neal

According to the statistics, 2017 should be another great year for the DFW area marketplace. Is it better to be a buyer or seller, though? Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report Happy New Year! I hope you had a great time with your family over the holidays. Now that 2017 is officially under way, I wanted help you get back into the swing of things with a few predictions on what to expect from the DFW marketplace this year based on what the numbers tell us. Before that, though, I just want to say thank you for your referrals and transactions. Our team had our best year ever last year. We sold tons of homes and handled more volume than ever, and it’s all thanks to you. Keep sending business our way, and we’ll keep taking care of you and yours. So, what’s been happening in the DFW marketplace lately? Ever since the spring of 2012, prices have been going up, and that trend is continuing. Currently, the average price for a residential home is about $275,000, which is up about 6.5% from this time last year. We’re not experiencing the same double-digit increases we did in the past few years, but we’re still seeing some very aggressive price appreciation. The number of properties that have sold over the past year is just under 110,000, which is up 4.3%. As you see, the number of sales are increasing along with the average home price. The average days on market is 42 days, but for our clients, that number is only 19. The stats don’t lie—now is a great time to buy or sell. Our list-to-sales price ratio currently stands at 97.2%. That means—on average—sellers are having to negotiate 2.8% off their original asking price. Even though you might be hearing that it’s an overwhelming seller’s market, buyers are still paying less than what sellers are initially asking. For our clients, the list-to-sales price ratio is 101%. Right now, we have about 2.6 months’ worth of inventory, which is down 10.3% over the last year. In light of these numbers, a lot of people have asked me lately if we’re in a real estate bubble. My answer is no, because there’s nothing on the horizon that we’re seeing that could spell doom and gloom for our marketplace. If you’re trying to maximize the gain out of your home sale and time the market, you need to pay attention to the level of inventory. The closer that number is to zero, the hotter the market is for you as a seller. As that number rises, though, the price appreciation we’ve been experiencing will slow down. My personal prediction is that we will continue to see growth in our marketplace in 2017. The stats don’t lie—now is still a great time to both buy and sell a home. For sellers, homes are worth more now than they’ve ever been, and there are more buyers in the market now than we’ve had over the last four years. For buyers, there are more properties on the market, yet inventory continues to stay low, and on top of everything else, interest rates are still very low. If you have any more questions about the DFW real estate market, give us a call, send us an email, or visit us online. Cheers to a very prosperous 2017, and we hope to hear from you soon!

It’s easy to let your home be sold for less than what it’s worth in a wholesale transaction, so today I want to talk about how you can avoid letting this happen to you. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report Today I want to talk about how to not let wholesalers sell your house for less than what it’s worth. In the real estate world, wholesaling is a very simple tactic that investors use. The way it works is the investor will approach the homeowner, offer them a certain price, put them under contract, and then immediately try and sell that property to another end user before they close on it. For example, let’s say an investor comes to you and says they’ll give you $200,000 for your property and you agree, even though it might not be what you wanted. The wholesaler then turns right around and markets that property for an increased price—maybe anywhere from $210,000 to $250,000, depending on what they think they can get. The way wholesalers make their money, you see, is through the difference in price between how much they offer you and how much they offer to sell it to somebody else. What’s the problem with this picture? First of all, these people do not represent you, and they typically aren’t licensed. If they are licensed, they have no fiduciary responsibility to you—the home seller—to get the most amount of money within the shortest amount of time with the least amount of hassle. Everything is designed to help them get the absolute best spread they can between the price they offer you and the price they get on the open market. Secondly, they typically don’t have the funds to actually close on the property if they can’t find another buyer. Oftentimes, they have zero intention of actually going through with the purchase if they can’t find another buyer. Third, they still have to find an end user, which isn’t guaranteed. These three drawbacks stand in stark contrast to what an actual real estate agent can do for you. How can you protect yourself from falling into one of these situations, then? There are four ways: In my experience, the typical homeowner doesn’t know the difference between someone who is going to actually buy their home and someone who is going to flip their contract like a wholesaler, so if you ever meet with someone like that, the first thing you want to do is ask, “Are you going to buy my home, or are you going to wholesale my home?” There are ways that you can verify this. If they say they are going to buy, then you want to see their name on the contract. If they’re a part of a company, you want to see that they have the ability to sign on behalf of that company. If you’re ever approached by one of these people, please call us. The second thing you can do is avoid signee contracts, which basically states in the buyer line that this person or company is going to purchase the contract...or whoever they assign it to. That’s a big red flag. The third thing you can do is verify their proof of funds or their ability to finance the property. If they say that they’re a cash buyer, you want to see a bank statement in their name or their company’s name with the amount of money that’s required to purchase that property. If they’re not getting funds from their bank, you’ll have to find out where they will get their money from. The fourth and last thing you can do to protect yourself is get a big earnest money deposit. To clarify, there’s nothing wrong with selling your house to an investor at a discounted wholesale price. There are plenty of people out there who buy properties and give the homeowners as much as they possibly can at wholesale prices. I happen to be one of them. There are also a lot of scammers out there, though, too, so you have to be careful. If you’re ever approached by one of these people and you want an opinion on what to do next, don’t hesitate give us a call. If you

Today I have John Hardimon on the line from the John Hardimon Team at Verity Mortgage to explain to us what the recent Fed rate increases mean for us. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report Today, I have a special guest on the line, John Hardimon of the John Hardimon Team at Verity Mortgage. They are our preferred mortgage lender and we refer them to our all of our clients. John is here to give his expert opinion on how the Fed’s recent rate increase affects you. He has a team of three licensed loan officers and has been in the business for 19 years. According to John, the Federal Reserve has decided to raise the bank funds rate. The bank funds rate is the amount banks have to pay to borrow funds and, in turn, loan money out to us. When their rates go up, so do ours. That rate went up a quarter of a point, which isn’t huge, but it is still a move. Something else that has taken place, John says, is that the market has changed in the way that mortgage-backed securities are not as desirable because the stock market is doing really well, which makes those securities more expensive. We have a strong market and now is a great time to take advantage of that. We had a quarter of a point move from the market, and a quarter of a point move from the Federal Reserve, which means there’s been nearly a half point move over the past six weeks. John believes the market has been positive in responding to the new President-elect. According to John, if you have a $400,000 loan that goes up half a point, that would make a difference of about $700 per year, so if you find a good house that makes sense for you today, it’s best to buy now. The recent jump isn’t a huge deal, but it is something to be aware of. John says the bottom line is that rates have been low over the last few years and the market has been good, so you should take advantage of it. The real estate market is so strong and is getting even better. John also brought up a great question. If you are looking to buy a house, why keep paying up to $30,000 a year in rent, when you could put that toward equity in your own home, paint, have a dog, have a BBQ cookout, and have all the other great things that homeownership brings? Now is a great time to take advantage of the market. If you have any other questions for John, you can reach him at 972-820-5730 or email him at john@johnhardimon.com. If you have any questions I can answer or you're thinking about buying or selling a home, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help!

The DFW real estate market is the hottest it’s ever been. All across the area, sales are up and inventory is down. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report What’s happening in the DFW area market right now? In short, everything still looks to be extremely positive. How long is it going to continue to be this good? We don’t know. We don’t own a crystal ball, and our market doesn’t move as fast as other markets. We have a three-to-six month lag before we really see how things are going to react in the market. Here are some key figures to know that paint a clear picture of where we’re at and how far we’ve come since this time last year: The median sales price has risen 9.7% to $220,000.  The average days on market has dropped 19.2% to 42 days. Closed sales have risen 4.9%. That’s 107,686 residential home sales and roughly 215,000 transactions in total.  The level of inventory has dropped 10% from 5.5 months to 2.7 months. The lower this number is, the hotter the market usually is. New listings are up 2.9%. In the entire MLS, there were 137,847 new listings. Since only about 108,000 properties sold, though, that means 22% of the properties that came on the market failed to sell. We’re in the hottest market the DFW area has ever seen. So, even though we’re in the hottest market the DFW area has ever seen, there’s no guarantee that your home will sell. You still need to prepare it right, market it correctly, and set the right price for it. If you want to geek out on some more numbers with us or you have any questions about buying or selling real estate in the DFW area, please get in touch with us in any way you can. We’d love to help you!

Real estate represents the biggest investment most people will make in their entire lifetime. With that much at stake, don’t take advice from non-experts. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report We talk to several different types of people in our business every single day. The one thing that unites them is that they all seem to be taking real estate advice from people who are non-experts. I want you to think for a second and imagine that you’re having a health issue. Say it’s something like chest pains. Who would you be taking advice from regarding those chest pains? Would it be a cardiologist with credentials and experience in dealing with chest pains, or your uncle who once had a heart attack? Obviously, you should take advice from the doctor. The same logic applies to real estate. Even though real estate isn’t a matter of life and death, it’s still a huge investment. In fact, it’s the biggest investment most people will make in their lifetime. Lots of people have not only their money tied up in it, but also their hopes and dreams. The last thing you want to do is get bad real estate advice from someone who has simply bought or sold a home before. Just because that person bought or sold a home once doesn’t mean they know what the best course of action is in your particular situation. Real estate is a huge investment, so you should only get advice from an expert. Who should you be getting your real estate advice from? You should get it from a trusted real estate agent in the area. That’s exactly who we are. We’ve handled hundreds of transactions over the years here in the DFW area, and we’ve seen every possible scenario you can think of. We know the marketplace and we have a working knowledge of many different lenders, title companies, and other agencies. It’s our duty to look out for your best interests, so talk to us first before you start shopping for homes or putting your own on the market. If you have any questions about the home buying or home selling process, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!.

There are a lot of moving parts involved in the home buying process. The most important step, however, is consulting with a buyer specialist. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report We live in the age of instant information. We recognize that when people want something, they want it immediately. However, buying a home is not as simple as going to the store, taking a product off of the shelf, and paying for it at the register. Real estate is complicated, and a purchase can take a long time. The process involves determining what kind of home you want, comparing prices on properties, figuring out how you’ll pay for the house, and finally, negotiating with a person on the other end of the transaction who has another agenda. Even though it’s a simple process, it’s not done easily. There are over 80 different variables that are involved in a home purchase transaction. Each one of those variables needs to be proactively managed in order to get you the best deal possible. What I’ve noticed over the course of my years in real estate, having taken part in hundreds of transactions, is that buyers want three things: a good deal, a selection of inventory, and the least amount of hassle possible. A buyer specialist’s goal is to serve the buyer and accommodate every one of those needs. This will allow you to get the right home at the right price and potentially save you tens of thousands of dollars in the process. How does the buyer specialist do this? There are over 80 different variables involved in a home purchase transaction. On our team, we take you through a system with a specific list of steps to follow. Before we take you through this system, however, we need to first have a consultation with you. We can’t serve you well if we don’t sit down with you and have a conversation about the largest investment that you’re probably ever going to buy in your life. There are a lot of people involved in this transaction and there is a lot of money changing hands, so we want to make sure that you are protected. For this reason, you’ll have to do a few things before you begin looking at houses. First, be sure to consult with a buyer specialist. This will help you determine whether the team you’re meeting with is made up of the right agents to help you find the right house at the right price with the least amount of hassle. Next, you’ll want to get pre-qualified for your mortgage. Most buyers will need to get a mortgage in order to purchase their next home, and it’s very important to get pre-approved and pre-qualified for that mortgage before you begin looking at houses. You don't want to get your heart set on a home before knowing what you can afford. There are a lot of moving parts involved in the home buying process, so if you have any questions about what a buyer consultation entails or would like to arrange one yourself, please don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We’d be happy to help you!