I don’t know about you, but for a while I’ve been wondering…”Where’s this light that’s supposed to be at the end of this tunnel? This tunnel is starting to look a lot like a cave…” Like many others, I was starting to question a strong recovery. Oh, the joys of being wrong sometimes. Here we are, a few years having passed from the dreaded “end of the world”, and it’s safe to say that we made it through the tunnel.
It’s hard to hold back the excitement, I know.
Homes are now selling faster and closer to their asking price. Throughout the country, homes sold at 98.3% of asking price this past December–up from the January, 2011 figure of 97.1%. Of course, this change is great for sellers, but this is fantastic for buyers as well. With less flexible prices and homes selling more quickly, buyers have a lower chance of losing money on their home purchase. In addition to the rise in home prices, lenders have also started loosening up. The number of conventional loans being written with down payments of 5%-10% increased 6% since this time last year, giving more buyers an additional option from FHA loans. And, now that unemployment is at its all time low of 7.5% since 2008, many more buyers will start entering the market as well.
So, keep jumping in the air like these wonderful people in the picture above. Higher sale prices, more low cost loans, and more jobs means more activity in the real estate market, a better economy, and just happier people in general.
To learn more about homeownership, if you or someone you know is looking to buy or sell a home, or if you just want to talk about the real estate market, please contact me, Lindsay Greene, on my cell at (561) 427-8016 or email me at lgreene@frankel-realty.com.
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