No matter what capacity you’re entering the Triangle area real estate market in—whether it’s buying, selling, or investing—it’s crucial to be prepared. By knowing all of the latest numbers on mortgage rates, median sales price, and average days on the market, you can gain a major advantage over your competition!
Since we want to ensure that each and every one of our clients is well-equipped to reach their goals, we wanted to give you a quick snapshot at all of the trends you need to know.
Here are the top 6 real estate graphs that you should study up on.
The Strength of the Current Market
Key takeaways:
Keeping an eye on the current status of the housing market is one of the best ways to make powerful and confident decisions when buying or selling a home.
Mortgage rates remaining near historic lows and houses selling in an average of only 29 days are just two key elements driving the strength of today’s market.
With the national data shown here, make sure to also determine what’s happening in your local market so you are fully informed when you’re ready to make your next move.
Navigate the Market with Linda Craft & Team REALTORS®
It’s safe to say that the housing market in Raleigh, and the rest of the country, has all but recovered from the last housing crash. Home values are on a steady increase, while the number of foreclosures and distressed property sales are at an all-time low.
Additionally, economists and market experts predict that the market will continue to stay strong for the remainder of 2019! This is great news for homeowners, especially those looking to sell.
Here’s the Breakdown
Right now, the real estate market is considered strong and healthy for both buyers and sellers. According to economists at the National Association of Realtors®, the only factor that might affect the market is a lack of inventory.
It’s common for buyer demand to increase during the summer, one of the most popular times to buy a home in North Carolina. However, our current inventory levels cannot keep up with buyer demand.
Many predict that this discrepancy will cause home prices to rise further.
Why Now is a Great Time to Sell
Fewer sellers are wanting to deal with the stress and time of selling a home in Raleigh. However, if you’ve long been considering selling your homenow is the time to act!
With demand so high in key cities like Raleigh, you stand to make an excellent return on your real estate investment. Chances are, if you list now, your home will sell quickly and for top dollar. In fact, it’s not uncommon to receive multiple offers on your property in a short amount of time!
With steadily rising home prices and strong buyer demand in Raleigh, now is a great time to sell your home. If you’ve long been considering selling your home, the hot market conditions may even have you thinking about foregoing a professional agent to try and sell it on your own.
However, choosing to sell your home by yourself (otherwise known as For Sale By Owner or FSBO) has a lot of hidden pitfalls. The truth is, when you sell your home on your own you’re likely going to make less money and be using up a TON of your time.
Here’s why.
Selling a Home is Tough
Even in a market as seller-focused as ours, the mechanics of selling a home are still challenging to anyone without a lot of experience. Even if you’ve sold a home in the past with an agent, you likely weren’t seeing 100% of the things they did to sell your home.
The biggest challenge to selling a home? Negotiating. In order to sell your home for the best possible listing price, you have to be a highly skilled negotiator.
After all, you won’t just be negotiating with the buyer. In fact, here’s a list of everyone you may need to negotiate with to sell your home.
The buyer’s agent
The home inspection companies based on their findings
The buyer’s lender
The appraiser (if the value of your home is questioned)
The title company
Why Working with a Professional Agent is Worth It
The right real estate agent will handle your home sale flawlessly—without letting you experience any of the stress or hard work typically associated with selling a home.
Additionally, your agent will be able to price your home competitively based on up-to-date market research, assist you in staging it and getting it ready to show, and handle all those home showings. Showing your home to potential buyers can be awkward when you’re the current occupant of the home. Plus, your real estate agent will have a lot of experience handling some of the tougher questions buyers typically pose during the home tour.
How Linda Craft & Team REALTORS® Makes All the Difference
Here at Linda Craft & Team REALTORS®, we have years of experience helping home sellers throughout the greater Raleigh area sell their properties for a tremendous profit.
We’ll take the burden of selling your home off of you completely. Depending on your plans, we can even provide you with an instant cash offer for your home.
Interested in learning more about our home-selling services? Please don’t hesitate to give us a call.
Millennials get a lot of flack, but they’re an important part of the real estate market. In fact, they make up the largest generational percentage of home buyers right now!
So, if you’re planning on selling your home soon, it’s important to keep the average millennial home buyer in mind. This generation is unlike any that’s come before it, and the way they buy everything (from laundry detergent to life insurance) is unique.
When it comes to catching the eye of the discerning millennial home buyer, here’s what you need to do:
Create a Strong Internet Presence
It goes without saying that millennials rely on the Internet for, well, everything. This isn’t unusual: the Internet makes every kind of shopping easier and more accessible.
As such, giving your home an effective online presence is key. It needs to be easy to find via the most popular home-buying networks, and it has to look great no matter the screen size. After all, more home buyers than ever before are using their smartphones to find their dream home.
Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Professional Listing Photos
Because millennials rely on the Internet to search homes for sale, your home’s photos have to stand out in a big way. After all, with the right photographer even the smallest home can look like a palace.
So, don’t skimp on this expense! Great photos could be the difference between a home selling within hours, and a home languishing on the market for months.
Show How Your Home Will Improve their Lifestyle
Millennials are looking for homes that will improve their lifestyles and be close to wherever they need to be during the week. As you market your home online, be sure you’re highlighting both its features and location in your listing description.
Tell an exciting story of how much better their life will be once they buy your home! Craft your listing description to carefully touch on all the best parts of your home and its surroundings, and let buyers know exactly why they need to buy it.
Know What Millennials are Looking for in a Home
So, what are millennials looking for anyway? Market research finds that millennial buyers are attracted to affordable homes with eco-friendly and smart features. If your home has any green features or environmentally friendly add-ons, you’ll definitely want to highlight them.
In addition, if you’ve outfitted your home to accommodate any smart features that use technology—like a Nest thermostat or other Smart Home appliances—be sure to mention that in your listing description and social media promotion.
Depending on which news outlet you go to, you may hear some pretty contrasting takes on the current real estate market. Some say the market is going up, others say we’re headed towards a crash similar to the one in 2008.
Instead of relying on over-sensationalized media reports, we prefer to look at the data. Numbers don’t lie, and they’re a reliable way to see exactly how the market is behaving. We took a look at some reports from three top Chief Economists and want to share our findings with you.
Here are three things you should know about today’s real estate market, based on the data.
Mortgage rates are at an all-time low, and they haven’t risen significantly over the past few years. These low rates have caused consumer confidence to skyrocket, which has resulted in increased home purchases throughout the United States.
Both sales demand and inventory have steadily risen, which signals that the market is only going to get hotter!
Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors, said this in response to rising home sales, “A powerful combination of lower mortgage rates, more inventory, rising income and higher consumer confidence is driving the sales rebound.”
In fact, since August of 2018, the average hourly wage has increased steadily—suggesting that the economy is in an upswing.
3. Home Price Appreciation Has Slowed
Many are worried over the real estate market because of one crucial trend: home value appreciation has begun to slow. This means that home values are not increasing as drastically as they have in years past. But believe us when we say: this is a good thing.
This signals that the real estate market is returning to normal. It is not heavily tilted towards either buyers or sellers, but exists somewhere in the middle.
This makes now a great time to buy and sell your home—especially in a community as robust as Raleigh and the NC Triangle.
Navigate the Real Estate Market Like a Pro
Interested in buying or selling a home in the greater Raleigh area? Here at Linda Craft & Team REALTORS®, we have the local resources and market expertise to help you make a successful transaction in Raleigh. Give us a call today to learn more.
Over the last several years, home prices have increased substantially throughout the country. Many homeowners are worried that this means we’re headed towards another housing crash.
Luckily, that’s not the case. We’ve written about it at length, but the real estate market is not heading towards a crash. While it’s true that home values are not increasing as dramatically as they have in the past five years, they’re by no means crashing or even declining.
Here’s What’s Going On
It’s not that the average price of homes in the market are decreasing. Rather, the appreciation of home values is slowing down.
This is because the market is shifting from an advantageous sellers market, to a more “normal” market where the intense demand of homes is matched by its inventory. That doesn’t mean we’re headed towards a crash!
The real estate market is stronger than it’s ever been.
This is Different than the 2008 Crash
The last real estate market crash was caused in large part to extremely lenient mortgage standards. This created an artificial demand for new homes.
When this demand faltered, a rush of homes hit the market. Many of these properties were in distress or suffering from foreclosure, so they were heavily discounted.
Plus, mortgage standards are much stricter today than they were in 2008. In addition, foreclosures today are lower than they have been since 1996.
Home Prices are Leveling Up
And that’s a good thing! It means the market is returning to “normal,” which is good for buyers and sellers.
Want to Learn More About the Greater Raleigh Real Estate Market?
Spring is here, and summer is closer than ever. That makes it a great time to get outside and spruce up your home’s exterior!
If you’re planning on selling your home soon, a little outdoor maintenance can go a long way. In fact, here are five outdoor projects you can do yourself that are sure to add resale value to your home.
Install a Fire Pit
Imagine spending a warm summer evening out back with your friends, sipping cool drinks and roasting marshmallows over an open fire. The truth is, installing a fire pit is easier than you might think!
A fire pit is made out of fireproof materials and should sit on a flat surface at least 15 feet away from your home and any trees. Here’s a how-to guide for building a backyard fire pit.
Remember, check your local building codes before beginning any type of construction!
Don’t have a yard for a fire pit? Turn your balcony into a cozy dining area instead!
Add Some Outdoor Lighting
Transform your backyard space for summer with lights that add both ambience and security. You can safely add low-voltage lighting to your front or backyard by yourself, even if you don’t have extensive electrical experience.
Whether you opt for motion-activated LED lights or hanging fairy lights, you have some great options to consider for your yard!
Have a nice back deck or balcony? Add some lights to make it a great place to gather any time, day or night.
Fix the Front Door
Your front door should be clean, bright, and welcoming! After all, it’s the first thing potential buyers will see when they enter your home.
There are a couple of different options to freshen up your front door. If it’s very old or damaged, you could replace it altogether. Other options for sprucing up your door include painting it a different color,touching up the paint job, or replacing the doorknob or knocker.
Live in a condo with an interior front door? You can still spruce up your entryway with a nice welcome mat and some potted flowers.
Power Wash the Exterior
Dirty siding on your home can make it look old and neglected, which can be a major turn-off for buyers! A simple solution to get your home’s exterior looking like new is to rent a power washer to take care of any dirt. We recommend renting a heavy-duty, gas-powered pressure washer, as these are the most efficient.
Depending on your home’s specific material (vinyl, stucco, brick, etc.), you will need to obtain a specific type of detergent to power wash your home. Be sure to opt for an environmentally friendly version!
Refresh Your Landscaping
Taking the time to properly maintain your landscaping—and adding a few new features here and there—can both increase your home’s resale value and attract more buyers. After all, real estate is all about the curb appeal!
Installing an attractive stone walkway, mulching your flowerbeds, planting new flowers or shrubbery, and planting trees are all great ways to improve your home’s landscaping.
Don’t have a yard? You can still spruce up your entryway and outdoor areas with potted flowers or hanging planters.
Selling a home is a complicated, and time-consuming process. When done correctly, however, it can transform your life for the better and help you build long-term wealth.
As such, we believe that it’s important to work with a certified expert to sell your home in the greater Raleigh area. That’s why we’d like to take a minute to show you the proven benefits to working with our team.
Our Experience Shines
When you tally up the experience of every single person on our team, you get more than 350 years of direct experience selling homes in the Triangle.
Compare that to 50% of Triangle area agents with less than 5 years of experience.
Plus, our experience includes:
Negotiating
This is a big part of selling real estate! You have to know how to negotiate with the buyer for the best possible outcome. Our team has negotiated and closed over 10,000 real estate transactions.
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, the average Realtor sells about 6 houses per year.
Pricing
Our Exclusive Listing Partners specialize in pricing homes all day, every day. We specialize in focused expertise, which is why each of our listing specialists is able to close 20 times more homes than the average agent.
We list and sell over 100 homes each year, and have correctly priced and closed over $2 billion in real estate.
Handling Contracts
It’s no secret that selling a home comes with a lot of paperwork. Luckily, at Linda Craft & Team REALTORS®, our 30+ years of experience handling more than 10,000 contracts in the Triangle gives us the expertise to help you with all the disclosures and paperwork necessary in today’s heavily regulated environment.
An In-Depth Understanding of Market Conditions
When it comes to any business decision, we firmly believe that knowledge is power. That’s why we aim to empower our clients with a pre-listing consultation in order to fully understand today’s market conditions and the best ways to succeed in the Raleigh real estate market. Over the past 30+ years, we have used our in-depth market expertise to help our clients win during the toughest times in history (think the Savings and Loan Crisis, the Dot Com Bust, and the devastating Mortgage Crisis of the 2000s).
When we talk about “affordability,” a lot of definitions may come to mind. For real estate specifically, affordability is something of a hot topic.
While it is true that buying a home is less affordable today than it was at any other time in the past decade, that has a lot to do with the real estate market crash of 2008.
If you’ve been in the real estate game for a while, you probably remember the flood of distressed properties that hit the market at this time. Due to the poor state of the economy, foreclosed and short sale homes were going for a huge discount. This rush of distressed homes actually damaged the value of other homes within a neighborhood.
Lucky for everyone involved in the real estate industry, things have since changed!
The Market Has Changed Since Then
Over the past decade or so, the market has recovered and prices have gone up right along with it. This isn’t a bad thing! A strong economy is good for everybody, especially those trying to sell their home for what it’s worth in the Triangle.
As such, both home prices and mortgage rates have increased. To make the best possible decision in the Raleigh real estate market, it’s important to have plenty of resources to rely on.
So Mortgage Rates Have Shifted
When most buyers think of a home’s “affordability” they’re picturing two things in particular: the listing price of the home and the mortgage rate they’ll have to pay.
According to a CoreLogic report written by Andrew Lepage in late January, the “typical mortgage payment is a good proxy for affordability because it shows the monthly amount that a borrower would have to qualify for to get a mortgage to buy the median-priced U.S. home…”
While mortgage rates are slowly increasing, they are nowhere near the gargantuan rates of the 2006 housing boom (think an average monthly payment of $1,275…)
By the end of 2019, experts have projected the typical monthly mortgage payment to be about $963.
What Does That Mean for Buyers and Sellers?
Whether you’re thinking of buying or selling a home in Raleigh, please know that this is one of the most advantageous times to invest in real estate!
Ask any homeowner what the most challenging part of selling a home is, and they’ll likely respond: decluttering.
Decluttering is a huge endeavor. It takes time, patience, good judgment, and stellar organizational skills. It also requires follow-through. Decluttering does you no good if your clutter sits in trash bags by the front door waiting to be donated.
Luckily, there’s a new and trendy way to declutter your home. It’s called the KonMari Method, and it’s changing lives!
Meet Marie Kondo
The woman behind the KonMari method is a Japanese consultant and writer named Marie Kondo. Author of the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up that inspired a new Netflix show, Marie has some amazing tips for, well, tidying up.
Her philosophy is simple: “Keep only those things that speak to the heart, and discard items that no longer spark joy.”
Both her Netflix show and book are full of amazing tips for decluttering your home. If you’re getting ready to sell your home in Raleigh, we highly recommend checking them out!
The KonMari Method
Sort your possessions into categories, and start from there. Instead of going room by room, eliminate your clutter by category. Start with your clothes.
Pick up an item of clothing and take a long hard look at it. Does it spark joy? Does it make you feel happy, or remind you of a wonderful memory?
For the less sentimental of us, here’s an alternative way to look at it: when’s the last time you wore this? Try it on now: does wearing it make you happy? I you answered “no” to any of the previous questions, it’s time to get rid of it!
Marie Kondo advises us to “thank the item for its service, then let it go.”
Tidy Up Your Home Sale
Marie Kondo’s method is time-consuming, but effective. Not only that, you’ll end the process feeling good about all of your belongings.
You’re increasing the amount of space in your home, decreasing your belongings, and making your upcoming home sale and relocation easier.
Now that’s something you should feel good about!
Sell Your Home for More in Raleigh
When you’re selling your home, first impressions are key! That’s why staging your home for the Raleigh market is essential. And, you can’t begin staging until your home is thoroughly decluttered.
By using the KonMari method, you’re ensuring that your new home will be filled only with items that spark joy.
