Chief Growth Officer | President of Existing Home Sales

From Green Bay to L.A (and everywhere between):  What a million-dollar home looks like in ALL 32 Pro Football Cities.

What a $1M Home Looks Like In All 32 Pro Football Cities

Chief Operations Officer | President of New Home Sales

The market is changing; if you are selling your home, these are the top current facts you need to know about the housing market.

What Home Sellers Need to Know About Real Estate Market Conditions This Year

6 Things Sellers Need to Know Today that Weren't True Last Year

Thinking about selling your home? Looking for your dream home? Here's what to do to prepare today!

Buying or Selling in the Next 12 Months: What You Need to Know Today

When can home sellers expect a drop in home prices? Read this post to find out.

When Will There Be a Drop in Home Prices?

When Will Home Prices Come Down?

💥Mortgage applications are down 11% from the same week last year.

💥Nationally, the pending home sales index of signed contracts on existing homes has fallen for the 5th week in a row. (This is a relational number of pending contracts on active properties. Pending listings have declined at a faster pace than active listings, basically meaning homes are taking longer to go from active to pending.)

💥New home sales numbers have fallen for the 3rd straight month even though new home starts is at an all time high.

💥Corporate earnings reports came in mixed and a negative GDP annual rate growth number was released.

💥Mortgage rates continue to climb to the tune of a 20% reduction in the buying power of a dollar, over the course of Q1.

💥What does all this mean??!! Maybe it’s a seasonal adjustment, but it’s likely the &nbsp;“coming back to sea level” of the market that many of us have been talking about. It’s not a crash…I repeat, it’s NOT a crash! 😂 It means that the market is complicated and unpredictable but still mostly stable.

💥It also means if you hadn’t already made a decision to sell, your highest gains may already be in the rear view mirror but it is still very much a seller’s market. &nbsp;Locally we are still seeing prices increase, but leading indicators such as showings and # of offers are starting to come down.

💥If you’re buying, the frenzy is starting to ease (still competing for homes but less competition than we saw earlier in the year) and home prices may start to level out or come down, but you missed out on low rates - it’s a wash for you more than likely.

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Current value stated in Hamilton County Letter

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This is one of our most asked questions! It is not always an easy answer. Take a look as Scott does a great job breaking it down!

What Is Going On In The Market?

Scott's Rapid Fire Market Update-May 2022

But no, we’re not headed for anything even close to 2008.....

I was sitting down to put my thoughts together on the real estate market and I came across this article from 

 that explains it better than I ever could.

"If you’ve tried to buy a home in the past two years, you have my most profound sympathies. Your experience has probably gone something like this: You found your dream home online; sent photos around to your family; visited the premises (or decided to buy, sight unseen); got your financial statements in order; smartly offered 10 percent over asking; and learned, several hours later, that no fewer than 831 other people had bid for the same house, which sold to a couple who paid 50 percent over asking, all cash, and cinched the deal with a contract amendment promising to name their firstborn child after the seller.

Yes, the American real-estate market really has been historically hellish, or historically hot, depending on whether you were trying to buy a home or sell one. Within the past year, just about every housing statistic you could imagine set some kind of berserk record. Home prices hit a record high, the share of homes that sold above asking hit a record high, and the number of available homes for sale hit a record low.

But the vibe is shifting. I count at least three signs that the national housing market is about to experience a significant slowdown.

First, as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to combat inflation, mortgage rates are soaring. In April, the 30-year fixed rate surpassed 5 percent for the first time in more than a decade. As borrowing becomes more expensive, so does buying.

If you take the long view, financing a house is still pretty cheap. The 30-year rate is lower today than it was for any month except one (June 2003) from the 1990s to the Great Recession. But on an annualized basis, rates are rising faster than at any time in 40 years. Buyers seem to have anticipated this moment. In the late winter, one index of housing prices hit its highest month-to-month increase ever, which might suggest that home buyers said “Ah, screw it!” and made ridiculous offers to lock in a cheaper mortgage rate, just before rates took off.

Second, the number of homes for sale—a.k.a. housing inventory—is finally perking up after plunging to all-time lows during the pandemic.

In the hottest markets, such as California and Colorado, the number of available homes is increasing significantly faster than the national average, according to Altos Research, while the share of new listings going into contract “immediately” (meaning within days, or even hours) is declining quickly.

Inventory doesn’t sound as sexy as home prices, but this might be the single most important statistic to watch. “My view has been that the market shift will show up first in inventory, [because] as inventory increases, house-price growth will slow,” says Bill McBride, a real-estate and economics writer.

In 2006, McBride famously called America’s housing bubble when he saw inventory skyrocketing to absurd highs. Today doesn’t look anything like 2006, he assured me. During the worst of the housing crash, inventory as a share of the market was about five times higher than it is today. Instead, McBride said that the next few years will likely resemble the period around 1980. To combat high inflation from the 1970s, the Fed Chair Paul Volcker hiked up interest rates, jolting the economy into a deep recession. The housing market basically stalled until 1982. That sort of stall-out, rather than some crazy plunge into the abyss, is probably our worst-case scenario.

Finally, we can already see these technical statistics—rates, percents, inventory—playing out in the real world. Google searches for homes for sale are falling in major cities, including Boston and Los Angeles. Redfin agents in California say that showings and offers are down double digits since last year. In Minneapolis, showings have fallen rapidly in just the past month.

May and June are historically the most popular months to buy a home. That means that the housing slowdown might be delayed for a few weeks, as the spring surge works its way through the system. But by this summer, sellers expecting dozens of offers in a matter of days could be in for a rude awakening. Before long, flush wannabe homeowners—those lucky enough to be somewhat insulated from rising mortgage rates—will be able to buy without sacrificing the naming rights of their firstborn. Things won’t feel great for everyone. But historically speaking, they just might feel normal."

And as always, if you have any questions on what is going on in your area, please reach out!

If you're thinking about selling your home, let's start by getting you an accurate picture of what your home may sell for today.

The U.S. Housing Market Has Peaked

You may have heard that changing market conditions have created a seller's market that's forcing buyers to spend a lot of money. People in many areas are experiencing housing shortages that make the seller's market strong. When you don't have enough supply to meet demand, you can expect to pay higher prices.

Changing market conditions can make it challenging to purchase real estate right now. They don't make it impossible, though. As the Fed looks to increase interest rates again, you need to work closely with a real estate agent and mortgage broker that can get you a fair deal. You won't believe how much money you save when you lower your interest rate by a small amount.

Of course, it helps to have a real estate professional searching for ways to lower your interest rate!

How Much Does Your Interest Rate Affect Home Prices?

The average home price in the United States is about $507,800. Obviously, real estate prices can differ significantly by location. For simplicity's sake, let's assume you want to buy a house that costs $500,000, and you have $100,000 for your down payment. At 20%, $100,000 should mean you don't need to pay private mortgage insurance (PMI).

You're borrowing $400,000 to purchase the home. How much will interest rates affect the full amount you pay before you own the house?

If you get a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a 7% interest rate, you can expect to spend $958,035.59 plus the $100,000 you used as a down payment. This amount does not include insurance, property tax, and other expenses.

That's right. Your $500,000 house now costs nearly a million dollars. How does that happen?

Over the years, you paid a total of $558,035.59 in interest. You spent more money on interest than the actual property!

In this scenario, everything stays the same, except you qualify for a 5% interest rate. You might not think that 2% seems like a lot. The numbers say otherwise.

With a 5% interest rate, you spend $373,023.14 on interest and a total of $773,023.14 buying the home. Lowering your interest rate by 2% saves you $185,012.45 over 30 years. Think about all of the things you can do with that much money!

In today's real estate lending market, you will struggle to find a mortgage that only charges a 3% interest rate. It isn't impossible, but it's becoming increasingly unlikely as the Fed raises its interest rates.

Still, let's assume that you can qualify for a 3% interest rate to see how much money you would save. At 3% over 30 years, you would pay $207,109.81 in interest. The total purchase, not including your down payment, comes to $607,109.81.

Compared to a 7% mortgage, you save nearly $351,000. You save almost $166,000 compared to the 5% mortgage.

You can control some factors easier than others when you buy a home. For example, you can probably get a lower interest rate by saving money for a larger down payment and working to improve your credit rating. In the end, your lender will choose the rate, though.

You also don't have much control over home prices. In a seller's market, you can expect to pay above the asking price.

However, you can control how much money you pay toward your mortgage each month. As long as your lender doesn't charge an early repayment penalty, you could save a lot of money by making a small additional payment each month.

By contributing an extra $100 per month toward your mortgage, you save:

You will also repay your loan a couple of years earlier than scheduled. It feels really good to get out of debt and own your home outright!

As interest rates increase, you’re probably wondering just how much you’ll end up paying for your home in the long run. In our latest blog post, we’ve detailed how interest rates affect your home price overall.


3% vs. 5% vs. 7% – Navigating the Real Estate Math in Today's Market

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Six Updates That Will Pay Off When You Sell Your Home

DORA Districts Around Greater Cincinnati

The real estate market is still on fire! This has a lot of potential sellers asking themselves if listing their home with a real estate agent is necessary or not, especially when homes are selling so fast.

Should You Hire a Real Estate Agent When Homes are Selling So Fast?

We're all spending more time inside these days, so let's take advantage of that by getting a head start on spring cleaning!

10-Day Declutter Challenge

10 Day Declutter Challenge

If you're considering selling your home you'll find thousands of blogs online from home improvements you can make to increase your home's value, to cleaning tips. These are 5 blogs you need to read before you list your home.

5 Blogs to Read Before You List Your Home

What to think about if you’re considering selling after owning it for a few years.

I’ve Owned My Home For A Few Years: Now What?

Learn everything you need to know about the Cincinnati, OH, and Northern Kentucky real estate market.

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