Keeping It REAL - by Bettsy Tyler

Some things come back in style after a while, like fashion or home décor, but the same doesn’t hold true for real estate advice. And yet, retro advice is exactly what most people get when they (understandably) go to family and friends for tips about home buying and selling.  The real estate market is not unlike the stock market – it is ever changing – and if you are looking to buy or sell, you’d better be on top of the market trends and activity, and have a good real estate agent by your side. We are currently in a fast-paced housing market, it’s important to know what tips will stand the test of time and which advice is so outdated that it’ll set you up for failure. Here are five pieces of retro real estate advice that could cost you the sale or home of your dreams.  Retro tip #1: A great open house will seal the deal. The open house has long been known as the main driver of house sales. However, a hybrid of marketing efforts is what sells a house today. Serious buyers prefer...

It’s the old supply-and-demand predicament: Home sales in the U.S. continue at a torrid pace, but the availability of listings remains limited. Buoyed by historically low mortgage rates, buyers keep shopping for homes, reducing the available inventory and sparking a rise in home prices across the country.   News website  The Atlantic  summarized the sizzling home market this way:   “Pick a housing statistic at random, and it’s probably setting an all-time record. Home prices: record high. Inventory: record low. Percentage of homes selling above asking price: record high. Average time on market: record low.”¹   Meanwhile, homebuilders are contending with an increase in material costs and a shortage of labor. These issues come amid an ongoing shortage of housing. A study commissioned by the National Association of Realtors found the U.S. is coping with a deficit of about 2 million single-family homes and about 3.5 million other housing units.²   So what can w...

  15 years can make for quite a change in real estate. Who would have thought prices would be where they are today? A steady climb over the last 10 years is quite remarkable!  

  If you’re searching for drama, don’t limit yourself to Netflix. Instead, tune in to the real estate market, where the competition among buyers has never been fiercer. And with homes selling for record highs, 1  the appraisal process—historically a standard part of a home purchase—is receiving more attention than ever.    That’s because some sellers are finding out the hard way that a strong offer can fizzle quickly when an appraisal comes in below the contract price. Traditionally, the sale of a home is contingent on a satisfactory valuation. But in a rapidly appreciating market, it can be difficult for appraisals to keep pace with rising prices.   Thus, many sellers in today’s market favor buyers who are willing to guarantee their full offer price—even if the property appraises for less. For the buyer, that could require a financial leap of faith that the home is a solid investment. It also means they may need to come up with additional cash at closing to cov...

  Could Rising Home Prices Impact Your Net Worth?   Learn how to determine your current net worth and how an investment in real estate can help improve your bottom line. Among its many impacts, COVID-19 has had a pronounced effect on the housing market. Low home inventory and high buyer demand have driven home prices to an all-time high. 1 This has given an unexpected financial boost to many homeowners during a challenging time. However, for some renters, rising home prices are making dreams of homeownership feel further out of reach. If you’re a homeowner, it’s important for you to understand how your home’s value contributes to your overall net worth. If you’re a renter, now is the time for you to figure out how homeownership fits into your short-term goals and your long-term financial future. An investment in real estate can help you grow your net worth, build wealth over time, and gain a foothold in the housing market to keep pace with rising prices. What i...