Industry Insights

Homes Are Selling Quickly [INFOGRAPHIC]

Some Highlights:

• The National Association of REALTORS® surveyed its members for the release of their Confidence Index.
• The REALTORS® Confidence Index is a key indicator of housing market strength based on a monthly survey sent to over 50,000 real estate practitioners. Practitioners are asked about their expectations for home sales, prices, and market conditions.
• Homes across the country are selling quickly, in an average of just 31 days.
• 49% of homes sold in less than a month.

Additional Seller Information Resources

• Thinking About Selling? Time to Plan Ahead
• Seller Tips From a Proven DFW Listing Agent
• The Real Cost of a "Home Buy-Out Offer" is Your Home Equity
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Every year, Gallup surveys Americans to determine their choice for the best long-term investment. Respondents are given a choice between real estate, stocks, gold, and savings accounts.

For the sixth year in a row, real estate has come out on top as the best long-term investment! That has not always been the case. Gallup explains:

“Between 2008 and 2010, covering most of the Great Recession period that saw plummeting home and stock values, Americans were as likely to name savings accounts or CDs as the best long-term investment as they were to name stocks or real estate.”

This year’s results showed that 35% of Americans chose real estate, followed by stocks at 27%. The full results are shown in the chart below.

Bottom Line

Here's some positive housing news! Today's homebuyers can now find mortgage interest rates below 4% on 30-year money, and near 3.25% for 15-year money. Rates are the lowest they have been in over a year. Additionally, market forces are biased towards lower future interest rates. That makes now a great time to find your next home or to start a new construction "build-job" with a close date in 2020.

If you're looking to find a deal on a new home, I can help you connect to value, offer a Free New Home Move-up where you save half or even ALL of the traditional 6% listing commission, or a cool cash rebate that will put thousands of dollars back in your pocket.

WHY SEARCH FOR YOUR NEXT HOME ON THIS WEBSITE?

Unlike big National Real Estate

We all want to pay our fair share of taxes, but tax appraisal districts are increasingly forcing a sizeable percentage of Dallas Fort Worth area homeowners to pay inflated tax bills based upon an assessed "tax value price" that exceeds real market values, which as it turns out is a violation of the tax statute. Yeah, ouch!

Today, the nuisance of overvalued Texas tax assessments has become an endemic problem. It is not unusual for Metroplex homeowners to see an assessed tax value in their 2019 Tax Notices, that are $50K or more over actual real market values. Many homeowners may not realize they were paying more taxes than they owed until they sell their home for less than their tax assessed value.

How can this problem be fixed? Well, outside of

It is common knowledge that a great number of homes sell during the spring buying season. For that reason, many homeowners hold off putting their homes on the market until then. The question is whether or not that is a good strategy this year.

The other listings that come out in the spring will represent increased competition to any seller. Do a greater number of homes actually come to the market during this season in comparison to the rest of the year? The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently revealed the months during which most people listed their homes for sale in 2018. This graphic shows the results:

Thinking of Selling Your House? This is a Perfect Time! | MyKCM The three months in the second quarter of the year

Whether he knows it or not, by the time Governor Abbott leaves office, he will most likely have presided over the largest property tax increase in Texas history, unless sweeping assessment adjustments soon occur, especially in and around Texas' largest metropolitan areas. 

While Abbott generally offers support for President Trump's Federal tax reduction efforts, home ownership has become increasingly less affordable in part due to the widespread practices of Texas Central Appraisal Districts over inflating real property values, causing property tax bills to soar. And if that weren't bad enough, Federal property tax deductions under the new Federal Tax Laws are now capped at $10,000, adding insult to injury. 

As we head towards yet another

Some Highlights:

With interest rates still around 4.5%, now is a great time to look back at where rates have been over the last 40 years. Rates are projected to climb to 5.0% by this time next year according to Freddie Mac. The impact your interest rate makes on your monthly mortgage cost is significant! 

Our preferred lender, Core Team USA Mortgage, is now offering the most competitive rates to be found. The Core Team is a full-service, large mortgage lending operation located in McKinney Texas. They offer some of the fastest loan services available in the DFW Metroplex because they staff in-office underwriters and loan processors.  Learn more about how the Core Team can help you.

ACCESS THE MOST ONLINE PUBLIC MLS LISTING INFORMATION -

Even before this year's hurricane season started, Americans were already feeling the effects of diminishing home affordability. Last year's devastating hurricanes, Harvey, Irma, and Maria added an estimated 282 billion dollars of added material and labor demands to an already stretched thin housing sector. With Hurricane Florence, and perhaps other storms yet to run their course this hurricane season, the U.S housing market will once again become burdened with additional supply and labor demands resulting from disasters, all working against affordable housing. Housing and Hurricane Florence.

The questions to ask is, has affordable housing, compounded by rising taxes, interest rates, and expensive natural disasters become increasingly part of

To all wanting a lower mortgage rate, you're running out of time. The Federal Reserve is expected to raise rates this Wednesday, and will signal future rate increase probabilities for later this year.