Should You Buy a Home in Today’s Real Estate Market?

No doubt, everywhere you turn someone is talking about the housing market, and many people are asking the question: “Should I buy a
home right now?”

It’s true that the real estate market is shifting away from the intensity we’ve seen over the past two years, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good time to buy a home or that prices will go down. Take a look at estimated home price appreciation over the next five years. It’s from the Home Price Expectation Survey. Every quarter over one hundred housing market experts are surveyed on where they see prices going. They forecast just over nine percent appreciation for this year and healthy appreciation for the next four years after that.

So, if you’re looking to buy, you can confidently do so knowing that experts are projecting ongoing price appreciation. Once you buy a home, that appreciation will help you gain equity and build your wealth over time. And with more inventory coming to market, now may be the right moment for you to begin the home search you’ve been putting off.

Are we in a housing correction? What you need to know…

Wanna know if we’re in a housing market correction right now? The answer is no. And I can tell you why. Take a look at this.

While the market is undergoing a shift, it’s certainly not going through a correction. That’s because there’s a significant difference between a correction and what we’re seeing today. Forbes defines a correction as a decline of ten to twenty percent in the value of a market index or price of an asset. But home prices aren’t falling, they’re just rising at a slower pace. Experts are still projecting over eight percent home price appreciation this year. While that isn’t the same as the record-breaking home
price appreciation we saw last year, it’s certainly not a decline of ten percent or more. So don’t let the headlines fool you.

If you’ve got questions about the housing market or where we’re headed for the rest of the year, let’s connect. I can help answer
those with the data to back it up.

Thanks for joining me on The Roylin Report!

Why Rising Inflation Shouldn’t Stop You from Buying a Home This Year!

Inflation has hit a forty-year high. Now, if you’re thinking about buying a home, this news may make you wonder if you should wait. Here’s what you need to remember. In times like these, you wanna be invested in an asset that outperforms inflation. That’s where homeownership comes in.

This graph shows the average inflation by decade compared to home price growth going all the way back to the seventies. The blue bars are the average inflation rates in each decade. And the green bars are the average home price appreciation. What this really tells us is that in most decades, housing has outperformed inflation.

The big takeaway here is history helps prove homeownership is a great hedge against inflation.

So, if you wanna buy a home today, don’t let the latest news stop you. Let’s connect so you have a local expert on your side to give you the homebuying advice you need every step of the way.

Inventory is Increasing! That’s Good News for Buyers!

Welcome to The Roylin Report – your source for what’s happening in real estate right now! I’m your host, Roylin Downs. And don’t forget to subscribe, so that you don’t miss out on what’s happening in real estate!

One thing’s for sure, if you’ve been trying to buy a home over the past two years, you’ve probably faced your fair share of challenges. Two big ones stand out to me. The limited number of homes for sale, and the intensity of bidding wars. But, here’s the good news. Things are starting to shift. Take a look at this.

This graph shows housing inventory is increasing. And that means you have more options for your home search. That’s because more homeowners are listing their houses for sale right now, and rising mortgage rates are moderating the market. So, some of the frenzy is actually cooling off.

This is huge if you’ve been worried you won’t be able to find a home to buy, or if you’ve been outbid too many times to count. So, if you’ve put your home search on pause, it may be time to re-enter the market. It won’t be easy, since inventory is still low overall, but it definitely won’t feel as impossible as it has in recent years.

If you’re ready to get started, let’s work together to explore those options and find you the home of your dreams.

Thanks for joining me on The Roylin Report – your source for what’s happening in real estate right now! I’m Roylin Downs. Please feel free to reach out to me with all your real estate needs. I look forward to working with you!

Mortgage Interest Rates for Real Estate and what the Fed did

Welcome to The Roylin Report, your source for what’s happening in real estate now. I’m your host, Roylin Downs.

So I thought I’d offer a quick update on what’s happening with mortgages because I got an update this last week from Lynda Bernal, who’s our in-house lender. She’s with Prosperity Home Mortgage and she wanted to let us know what’s happening with the Fed because it has an effect on our interest rates now.

The Fed had a two day meeting this past week and they hyped the Fed Funds Rate by three quarters of a percent. It was than the half percent that they had been planning. So it kind of was an interesting shift and people want to know why that happened. This is important because large rate hikes are a strong signal that the Fed is getting serious about working on inflation and getting it back down to the stated target of 2.3% for 2023.

So what happened with that?

The stock market and bond markets both reacted favorably with mortgage bonds ending the day at a whopping 122 basis points up. We probably all saw that but we didn’t quite necessarily correlate what happens.

So what does it mean to us in the real estate market? Well, it means that mortgage rates should improve especially if the bond trend continues. So here’s the deal. We’re gonna keep our eye on it. You and I. I will keep updating you on
where interest rates are going. And if you have any questions about your particular situation, please don’t hesitate to
check out my information, and Lynda Bernal’s information that I’ll be putting in the box below.

I will look forward to reaching out and helping you with all your real estate needs. Thanks so much and I look
forward to working with you.

Is it a good time to sell your home?

So you’re thinking about selling your home and you’re asking yourself if this a good time to sell.

Really?

I don’t think I can think of a better time to list a property. But don’t take my word for it. There are three things that I look at when I make this decision. Mortgage rates, price appreciation, and inventory.

Let’s look at each of these.

So mortgage rates, I know, they’re rising, but they’re rising from historic lows compared to the last 50 years. Plus, we still have
access to amazing rates. So we are seeing that it is predicted that through 2022 rates will stay at or below 4%. So it would still seem it is a great time for our buyers to buy.

Let’s look at price appreciation. We ended 2021 in December, at 18.5% increases. January, 2022, brought
us up to 19.1% increase. CoreLogic, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac have all predicted that we’re gonna be at between three and 9% increases, with an average of about 6.1. We are still seeing prices staying steady or increases. This is another great sign
for listing your property.

Lastly, let’s look at inventory. The real estate community looks at inventory as a gauge for whether it’s a buyer’s
market or a seller’s market. Since 2011, you can see we had a high of 9 1/2 months of inventory, with an average of about 4 1/2 months. As of December, 2020, we dropped to less than two months of inventory, and as of January, 2022, we recorded our lowest inventory ever, less than a month and a half.

So you can see mortgage rates are still great. Price appreciation is high and inventory is at its lowest ever. It truly is a seller’s market.

Is it a good time to buy a home?

So, you’re interested in buying a home but you’re asking yourself, “Is it a good time to buy?” It’s a fair question because home ownership is the single most important purchase we make in our lifetime. I have been watching three things to answer this question: mortgage rates, equity, and rental rates. First let’s talk about mortgage rates. Mortgage rates are on the rise, I understand that, but they’re on the rise from historic lows compared to the mortgage rates over the past 50 years. We still have access to some of the lowest rates available. In the 70s, rates were at 8.86. In the 80s, rates were at 12.7. The 90s we were at 8.12, and it wasn’t until 2010 that we were at four percent. In addition to that, we are predicting that the rates will stay at or around four percent through 2022, so it would seem it’s still a good time to buy according to mortgage rates.

Next, let’s look at equity. In 2021, we ended the year at 18 and a half percent increases, for 2022, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Corelogic are all predicting between three percent and nine percent increases for the year for an average at six point one two percent. We are seeing home prices stay steady and still increasing which means that equity is still growing and that is another indicator that it is still a good time to get into the market and to buy.

Lastly let’s look at rental rates. If you have been in the rental market anytime in the last four years, you know there’s some scarcity and rental rates are increasing. They’re going up up up! So if you’re renting, it is a great idea that you look at your rental expense and see what you possibly could buy as you have seen equity is on the rise and you might as well get that equity for yourself and not pay for it for someone else, So if you take mortgage rates, if you take equity, and you take rental rates, it really does seem like it’s a great time to buy!