It’s close to the end of the line for Delray Beach’s daylight savings time. Come Sunday, when our digital clocks are poised to click over to 2 am, they should automatically duck back to 1, returning the 60 minutes we donated last spring. (Well, all the smarter clocks will do that—our Delray Beach neighbors will have to make the adjustment manually on duller-witted timepieces).
The daylight savings time adjustment has its boosters and detractors; but, speaking for Delray Beach’s real estate community, we’re definitely in favor of saving as much light as possible! The reasons are many, both aesthetic and scientific.
First, there’s the effect of light on potential home buyers. ScienceDaily offers one study that explains “its powerful effects on the brain.” These include non-visual functions having to do with synchronizing our biological clocks. Light conveys a powerful stimulating signal for human alertness. Research is underway to see if those effects can be maximized.
Experienced Delray Beach real estate professionals don’t have to be told about the importance of light when it comes to showing properties and conducting open houses. Just about every checklist ever published lists the importance of throwing open the draperies, switching on the lamps and overhead fixtures to brighten as many rooms as possible. Such common-sense preparations are based on something Realtors® agree upon bright surroundings produce positive, cheerful atmospheres. Not all prospective...
Long before you’ve decided to put your own Boca Raton house up for sale, there is at least one step you can take that might make the whole project more financially rewarding. It’s a step that might seem to be counterintuitive—but when you consider the bigger financial picture, it makes perfect sense.
The action in question has to do with your own credit—which may not seem to be relevant when it comes to selling your Boca Raton house. After all, it’s the credit status of the prospective buyers that seem to be what matters—not your own credit, right?
That’s only true as far as it goes. The fact is that for the majority of homeowners selling your house is only Step One. Step Two comes with the purchase of your next residence. Especially if your own financial profile is perfectly acceptable (and bound to become even more solid once you’ve banked the gains from the sale of your current property), it’s a simple truth that an even higher credit score will earn offers of a lower mortgage interest rate on that next house. Even a small percentage point increment can result in a big difference in “cash out” over the long haul.
So, what advance steps can you take to improve your own credit? Aside from those that everyone knows, like paying credit cards on time and, of course, doing likewise for your current mortgage, one counterintuitive step might be to take out a personal loan—even if you don’t really need it!
I don’t offer financial advice, so this would be something you would run by your own CPA or other trusted...
When it comes to Boynton Beach home loans, Ellie Mae has the inside scoop.
“Ellie” is a tech company that provides automation software to a large chunk of the mortgage finance industry, including Boynton Beach lenders. Since more than a third of all U.S. home loans flow through its systems, Ellie Mae gets a first-hand look at what’s going on in residential home sales and financing. Up there from its perch on the electronic balcony, it gets a very accurate picture of the action in real time.
Ellie issued a news release last Wednesday that contained some interesting tidbits that might benefit Boynton Beach homeowners or about-to-be homeowners. These releases are timely glimpses of the tides of U.S. home loan trends and specifics of what’s being required and what costs are being charged. If you’re going to be applying soon, those are attention-getters.
I’ve mined a few of the latest nuggets describing this year’s late summer/early fall activity:
- For the first time this year, September’s 30-year interest rate “for all loans” decreased (by a tad) to 4.91%.
- Refinancings remain a low percentage of the loans closed—29%—which is down from 38% a year ago.
- Adjustables (ARMs) increased as a percentage of loans made, at 7.2% of the market. That’s about half of a percentage point higher than in August (not surprising, since home prices are up).
- FICO score averages inched up to 727....
“Millennials are buying homes!”
This was what The Dallas Morning News reported last week—but Boca Raton homeowners didn’t need any Dallas real estate to be interested in the statement. It was based on data from all across the country.
Millennials (anyone born between 1981 and 1997) made up 34% of homebuyers last year—"more than any other age group” according to the National Association of Realtors®. Boca Raton homeowners probably found that surprising, given all the contrary news that’s been long reported about the group. The stereotype had it that the whole pack of “plastic straw-hating snowflakes” were going to be doomed to a future of nothing much more exciting than avocado toast feasting in their permanent quarters (i.e., their parents’ basements).
Particularly for Boca Raton homeowners whose properties fall into the starter home category, those assumptions about the entire millennial generation—that they might never even aspire to a home of their own—have been disconcerting. If legions of younger folk drop out of line in the traditional progression of residential ownership, that would constitute a monkey wrench in the whole economics of home ownership. And there had been some evidence that this was in fact taking place…
The latest reports brighten those gloomy suspicions. The non-profit Urban Land Institute finds that millennials have very different plans. Perhaps partially due...
From the home sales analysts at Pulsenomics comes the latest findings on how home sellers are likely to fare if they decide to list their properties this autumn. Our Delray Beach market is only one data point in national surveys like this one—but Pulsenomics has a history of accurately zeroing in on the direction of real estate activity. For Delray Beach homeowners who are exploring selling their house anytime within the next few years, that’s worth checking out.
The major points covered in their most recent release:
- Home value appreciation has improved in 2018 over 2017, with a predicted growth by year’s end of just shy of 6%. Since that’s the bottom line demonstration of the continuing investment value of owning your own home, it keeps home sellers in the power position in negotiations.
- The speed of that same appreciation has begun to slow in more than half of the nation’s metropolitan markets—suggesting that the days when sellers hold the upper hand may be numbered.
- Appreciation in home values remains above the historical average.
- Inventories at the most affordable price points continue to lag—another factor which encourages selling.
The report is a compilation of the opinions of more than 100 real estate economists and experts whose overall prediction is that sellers’ market conditions will likely continue in most places through 2019; then possibly tilting toward buyers at some point in 2020.
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The descriptive language that goes into every Boca Raton listing is aimed at framing the way prospective buyers relate to the property being offered. Between the headline photo and the actual number-laden listing detail (square footage, numbers of bedrooms and baths, etc.) comes a paragraph or two of descriptive text.
There’s little debate that a listing’s language can be decisive in motivating prospects to take the next step: calling the Realtor® for a showing appointment. As you’d guess, that means a lot of study has gone into what works and what doesn’t work in that descriptor. One result is many lists of “effective selling words” for use in real estate listings—but those can’t really address the whole picture of what motivates house hunters.
One of many creative approaches to crafting effective listing language is to take the salesman’s “objection” strategy—to view each sentence as an opportunity to put to rest a potential concern. Here are examples of that approach—the concerns, and some phraseology that addresses them:
Size. “Spacious” and “open” or “open floor plan” work well—as do “airy” and “sweeping.” “Huge” or “enormous” also work—but are only useful when they really do apply. “Walk-in closet” and “master suite” are other ways to project an image of roominess.
Location. “Desirable” is stronger than “convenient,”—but where it’s appropriate, “prestigious” is better still. Specific details like “fabulous view” and “close to everything”...
When it comes to selling your Boynton Beach home, kitchens get the Grand Prize for being the room that gets the most attention. But it’s increasingly possible for bathrooms to give them a run for the money.
Kitchens take first place because so much of a typical Boynton Beach family’s “together” time is spent there. Preparing and serving meals is, for most of us, a positive part of the day we look forward to. As a result, the quality and practical layout of a kitchen get a lot thorough going-over during showings and open houses. It’s amazing how frequently prospective buyers stop to chat with the showing agent right there in the kitchen. People just like kitchens—so having one that’s especially appealing is an indisputable plus for selling any Boynton Beach home.
On the other hand, Boynton Beach bathrooms might or might not get more than a perfunctory walk-through, depending on which of two categories it falls into:
TYPE A: This is an ordinary Boynton Beach bathroom. It is run-of-the-mill; functionally adequate; perfectly okay. It should be (actually, as a practical selling-your-home matter, must be) sparkly clean, fluffy-towel laden, altogether presentable—and unmemorable. It is what prospective buyers expect and demand—and if they don’t remember anything about it, that’s perfectly okay. It won’t present a barrier to selling your home.
TYPE Z: A memorable bathroom, on the other hand, can be an unexpected difference-maker. Grand, marble-emblazoned master bathrooms...
By last Friday, anyone planning Boca Raton real estate dealings would have been following the week’s developments on the mortgage interest rate front. Since Boca Raton’s mortgage interest rates are the most volatile factor influencing affordability, changes can have large consequences.
The key information source in that arena is the Mortgage News Daily, a must-read for industry insiders. As soon as Wednesday’s big news broke—the Federal Reserve’s decision to hike its benchmark interest rate—it made for interesting reading.
If the Fed’s morning announcement had most everyone expecting a quick move to higher Boca Raton mortgage rates, by noon MND readers would have been less certain. By Wednesday afternoon its lead headline was “Mortgage Rates Improve After Fed Announcement.” That seemingly illogical reaction was attributed not to the Fed’s decision, but to Fed Chair Powell’s follow-up press conference. Inflation drives up rates, and Powell expects inflation to remain within predicted limits.
By Thursday, analyst Matthew Graham’s column headlined “Mortgage Rates Lowest in More Than a Week.” He poo-pooed others’ doom-and-gloom headlines “floating around the web.” Why was his analysis believable when it ran counter to the majority view? “Easy!” he wrote; “I’m right and they’re wrong.” The reason had to do with “boring” technical details about when rates are sampled.
By week’s end, Graham looked to be correct—even if only for the moment. “RECAP: Month-End No Help...
Experiencing a damaging credit event such as a foreclosure, short sale or bankruptcy, does not mean you are out of the mortgage market forever. Depending on the circumstances, there are wait times before a lender can approve you for a new mortgage. If you are experiencing extenuating circumstances, the wait time may be shorter. Extenuating circumstances are temporary events that are beyond a person's control, such as a job loss or death of a wage earner. These events must be verified and documented and are subject to review by an underwriter.
Below are some general guidelines on how long you must wait before a lender can approve you for a loan. When in doubt, check with an expert. I can certainly guide you to the right individual.
FANNIE MAE
- Chapter 7 Bankruptcy | 4 years from discharge or dismissal date
- Chapter 13 Bankruptcy | 2 years from discharge date, 4 years from dismissal date
- Foreclosure | 7 years from completion date
- Short Sale (Deed-In-Lieu) | 4 years
FREDDIE MAC
- Chapter 7 Bankruptcy | 4 years from discharge or dismissal date
- Chapter 13 Bankruptcy | 2 years from discharge date, 4 years from dismissal date
- ...
A couple of years ago, the National Association of Realtors® sent out a compilation of answers to the most-often posed questions home buyers have for their agents. Delray Beach home buyers do sometimes come up with these. Here’s the NAR list, its answers—and a few brief observations:
- “How much can I afford?” The answer depends on your personal financial details, which are easy to determine—just search for “house affordability calculator.” Avoid the “ad” entries at the top of the screen; most of them make you surrender your personal info before they will display the answer.
- “Can I buy a home and sell mine simultaneously?” Yes, there are several ways to do this via offer contingencies. Alternatively, some sellers decide to rent while finding and securing a new home.
- “What do you think the seller will accept?” The NAR’s suggestion is “knocking 5% off the list price.” Since every situation is different, I think a more precise recommendation would be to take the seller’s profile and recent market comps into account (and don’t forget your agent’s input)!
- “Should I demand a home inspection?” Simply, ‘yes.’ When a property seems for all the world to have been perfectly maintained, it can be tempting to just speed past that inspection “technicality.” But don’t do it: the report your seasoned Delray Beach inspector produces will be well worth the cost and time invested. You might find yourself reviewing its details for years to come....
