Tuesday, March 2, 2021 / by Lme Realty Group
In today’s housing market, it seems harder than ever to find a home to buy. Before the health crisis hit us a year ago, there was already a shortage of homes for sale. When many homeowners delayed their plans to sell at the same time that more buyers aimed to take advantage of record-low mortgage rates and purchase a home, housing inventory dropped even further. Experts consider this to be the biggest challenge facing an otherwise hot market while buyers continue to compete for homes. As Danielle Hale, Chief Economist at realtor.com, explains:
“With buyers active in the market and seller participation lagging, homes are selling quickly and the total number available for sale at any point in time continues to drop lower. In January as a whole, the number of for sale homes dropped below 600,000.”
Every month, realtor.com releases new data showing the year-over-year change in inventory of existing hom ...
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real estate market, 2021, for buyers, for sellers, housing forecast, housing inventory
Tuesday, February 23, 2021 / by Lme Realty Group
With mortgage interest rates hitting record lows so many times recently, some are wondering if we’ll see low rates continue throughout 2021, or if they’ll start to rise. Recently, Freddie Mac released their quarterly forecast, noting:
“The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hit a record low over a dozen times in 2020 and the low interest rate environment is projected to continue through this year. We expect interest rates to average below 3% through the end of 2021. While this is a modest rise from 2020 averages, the recent vote by the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates anchored near zero should keep rates low.”
As shown in the graph below, Freddie Mac is projecting low rates going forward with a modest rise that’s expected to continue through 2022.Freddie Mac isn’t the only authority forecasting low rates with a slight rise. Fannie Mae, The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), and t ...
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real estate market, 2021, housing forecast, for buyers, home buying, housing market updates, mortgage rates
Tuesday, February 16, 2021 / by Lme Realty Group
If you’re planning to buy a home, an appraisal is an important step in the process. It’s a professional evaluation of the market value of the home you’d like to buy. In most cases, an appraisal is ordered by the lender to confirm or verify the value of the home prior to lending a buyer money for the purchase. It’s also a different step in the process from a home inspection, which assesses the condition of the home before you finalize the transaction. Here’s the breakdown of each one and why they’re both important when buying a home.
Home Appraisal
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) explains:
“A home purchase is typically the largest investment someone will make. Protect yourself by getting your investment appraised! An appraiser will observe the property, analyze the data, and report their findings to their client. For the typical home purchase transaction, the lender usually orders the ...
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real estate market, for buyers, home appraisel, home inspections
Monday, February 8, 2021 / by Lme Realty Group
We are very excited to announce our new video series entitled The Lowdown with the Local Market Experts. At the Laura Miller Edwards Realty Group, we pride ourselves on being experts in our local market. We work hard to understand and stay abreast of the nuances of the northwest Atlanta real estate market. This new video series will share all of our knowledge directly with you! We'll have videos on real estate related topics such as the home buying or selling process, tips and tricks, as well as recent market statistics from our service area, primarily Cobb, Cherokee, and Paulding Counties. We'll also feature our listings, favorite local business, and much more!
Our first episode is out now - get The Lowdown on Title Fraud Protection with our friends at the real estate law firm Neel, Robinson & Stafford, LLC.
We hope you'll tune in for future episodes! You can find The Lowdown on our YouTube channel, Facebook and Instagram. We'd love to connect with you so please make sure. ...
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real estate market, local market
Tuesday, February 2, 2021 / by Lme Realty Group
The real estate market is expected to do very well in 2021, with mortgage rates that are hovering at historic lows and forecasted by experts to remain favorable throughout the year. One challenge to the housing industry, however, is the lack of homes available for sale today. Last week, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released their Existing Home Sales Report, which shows that the inventory of homes for sale is currently at an all-time low. The report explains:
“Total housing inventory at the end of December totaled 1.07 million units, down 16.4% from November and down 23% from one year ago (1.39 million). Unsold inventory sits at an all-time low 1.9-month supply at the current sales pace, down from 2.3 months in November and down from the 3.0-month figure recorded in December 2019. NAR first began tracking the single-family home supply in 1982.”(See graph below):
What Does This Mean for You?
If You’re a Buyer: ...
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real estate market, 2021, for buyers, housing forecast, for sellers, housing inventory, national association of realtors
