By NICOLE MURRAY
The holiday season can be a tricky time of year in the real estate industry. For many agents, business slows down because people generally don’t want to sell, buy, or move during peak celebrations.
But whether it be a new job or a life update, buying and selling during the holiday season happens more than one would think.
The Mortgage Note spoke with real estate industry professionals across the country to discuss the pros and cons of listing during the holiday season and what to know if you do.
To start, there is less inventory on the market and therefore less competition for those who decide to sell.
Shant Banosian, EVP of sales at Guaranteed Rate, said…
By NICOLE MURRAY
The joy and satisfaction of buying a home has been diminished because of remorse for many Americans. Experts say it doesn’t have to be this way.
Due to bidding wars, rising interest rates, and a scarcity of options, in recent years homebuyers put themselves under pressure to make quick decisions about the places they now call home. So it’s not surprising that a recent survey by Clever Real Estate showed that a high percentage of people had regrets about buying in 2022 and 2023.
First-time buyers were particularly affected. 51% said the seller of their home took advantage of them and 67% said they felt pressured to submit an offer.
More than half of all the buyers…
By NICOLE MURRAY
California continues to dominate the luxury homes market, but that could change as communities fight for the country’s wealthiest individuals.
In a recent Point2Homes.com study, analysts looked at which cities in the United States have the highest share of luxury homes worth at least $1 million for sale. Results were categorized by large, mid-sized, and small cities.
They found that listings above $1 million make up around 64% of the for-sale market in Los Angeles.
LA also led the ultra-luxury sector, with almost 12% of its homes priced above $5 million.
Glendale (66%), Huntington Beach (63%), and Oxnard (43%) in California were found to be the three most luxurious mid-sized markets with high percentages of the homes…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
With a lack of housing plaguing the country, it may be easy to jump to the conclusion that vacant offices could be the perfect fit for new apartments and condominiums, but industry leaders say there are a number of considerations to take into account with these projects.
Adam Ducker is the CEO of RCLCO Real Estate Consulting, which offers strategic and tactical advice about property investment, planning, and development. They have offices in Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, and Washington, DC.
Ducker said in a recent interview with The Mortgage Note that the concept of renovating office spaces into residential housing precedes the pandemic, even though it is a hot topic now.
He authored a…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS
As artificial intelligence continues to dominate news headlines, real estate leaders are speaking about what this wave of technology means for the future of their market.
Glenn Phillips, CEO of Lake Homes Realty, said AI is a “massive game changer” during the National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday morning.
“In real estate, there is going to be a massive transition of who’s going to get consumer’s attention,” Phillips said.
Phillips said AI is going to enhance how they look at consumer behavior and suggested that industry professionals form partnerships to bring themselves to scale.
Michael Gerrity, founder and CEO of Global Listings, said they’re already planning to flip the whole listings…
By CHUCK GREEN
Tradition dictates that April and May are the hottest months for the housing market but there are unique opportunities in parts of the country where that isn’t necessarily the case.
Rick Sharga, president & CEO of CJ Patrick Company in Trabuco Canyon, California, says that although there is truth to the idea that home sales increase as the weather improves, there are exceptions to the rule.
“Markets with a late spring – cold weather states in particular like Alaska or North Dakota – might have a later start to the traditional home selling season, while markets with more temperate clients like California and Hawaii may not be quite as dependent on changing seasons to encourage home buyers…
By CHUCK GREEN Next time you run into someone in the local Starbucks who happens to have their home on the market, be a sport and plop an extra scone into their bag, huh? A little butter and jam, too? After all, sellers probably aren’t riding the wave of a sugar high induced by whatever they will pocket in their real estate transactions as experts say the price of an average home in the United States is decreasing. The cities expected to be the most heavily hit include: San Francisco: -10.36% Seattle: -9.55% San Diego: -7.24% Los Angeles: -5.61% Denver: -5.60% Dallas: -4.34% Portland: -4.25% Las Vegas: -3.69% What is contributing to the drop in housing prices? B. George Ratiu,…
Multifamily saw a stunning reversal in the fourth quarter of 2022 as apartment supply finally surpassed demand, creating a “swift and unprecedented” downturn. A new report from Apartments.com found that multifamily fundamentals declined in Q4, driven largely by limited absorption and supply/demand imbalances. “We ended the year with absorption barely remaining positive and vacancy rates trending upwards. As 2022 progressed, economic uncertainty suppressed household formations which limited multifamily demand,” said Jay Lybik, National Director of Multifamily Analytics at CoStar Group, which owns Apartments.com. “With 2023’s national forecast predicting the highest new supply totals since the 1980s, expect vacancy to rise above 7% and rent growth to push much lower.” More than 95,000 new units were delivered last quarter but many…
By CHUCK GREEN During the pandemic homebuyers fled to southern states for warmer weather but now would-be purchasers are bailing out of deals at a faster clip than anywhere in the country. According to analysts at Redfin, 60,000 deals were called off nationally in September. That’s 17% of the homes that went under contract that month. In Florida, Jacksonville had 745 home-purchase agreements fall through, equal to 30.3% of homes that went under contract. That was the highest percentage among the metros Redfin analyzed. They were followed by San Antonio, TX (25.3%), Atlanta, GA (25%), Orlando, FL (24.6%), and Tampa, FL (24.5%). In August, about 800 home purchase agreements were tabled in Jacksonville. That’s 26.1% of homes that went under contract…
Bidding wars dropped to their lowest level since February 2021 as the housing market begins to cool, with only 57.8% of home offers facing competition in May, according to Redfin. Though more than half of prospective buyers are still facing competition when bidding on a home, that number is down from 60.9% the month prior and a pandemic peak of 68.8% a year earlier. A typical home received 5.3 offers in May, down from 6.8 in April and 7.4 in YOY. This is the fourth straight month of declines. The unadjusted bidding war rate was 60.8%, down from 67.8% month-over-month and 71.8% YOY. “Homes are now getting one to three offers, compared with five to 10 two months ago and…
