Happy month of July!  We are now officially in the second half of 2021.  We hope you have fared well during the first half of this year.  We can look forward to more normality ahead regarding school, work, and our social lives.  Our real estate market continues to be red hot, especially during the seasonally peak summer months right now.  Some predict that more homes will come on the market in the coming months.  If that happens, hopefully it will help ease the current supply/demand imbalance.

From our team’s perspective, it seems that last year the Pandemic caught everyone by surprise and many people had to put their plans on hold.  As things got sorted out this year, home sellers are finally getting ready to reenter the market.  Some home buyers talk about a potential wave of foreclosure inventory once the foreclosure/eviction moratorium ends.  We don’t think this will play out anything resembling the last housing market crash.  In 2007-2008, many homeowners were highly leveraged with 100% financing and 0% down payment loans.  As soon as the home prices went down, many were “under  water” and owed more than what their homes were worth.  This is what resulted in the wave of foreclosures back then.  This time around, with tighter lending requirements, most homeowners have significant equity, especially with the home price appreciation over the last 12+ months.  If now they can no longer afford the mortgage payments, they can simply sell their home and pay off the mortgage balance, possibly with profit leftover!  So, even as we expect more inventory to come on the market in the future, we do not see anything calamitous.

Many experts predict the mortgage interest rate may also go back up.  So again, opposing forces will act on our housing market.  If you are thinking about buying or selling in the near future, give us a call to get ahead of the market.

If you have been thinking about selling your home, this may be the time.  It’s more important than ever to develop an overall plan first.  Current unusual market conditions change some of the traditional selling strategies.  Our full service approach starts with your personal need analysis.  Do you need to buy another home after selling the current one? We will make sure you do not become “houseless”.  We have even provided a  rental home to our sellers until they were able to buy their next home.  Stories abound that buyers are paying above-market prices now.  But how high a price can actually be reasonably achieved?  Hint, there is a limit.  How much improvement do you need to do before your home is market-ready? Maybe less than you think!  No two home sales are exactly the same.  What worked for someone else may not work for you.  Let us help you develop a customized plan that will result in an optimum outcome for you!