Buying Real Estate in the New Year? Interest Rates in 2011.

As 2010 comes to a close, all of us at the Marti Hampton team want to wish you a happy and prosperous new year. We also want to thank you for allowing us to help with your Raleigh real estate needs.

Everyone is wondering what is going to happen in regards to the real estate market. Are we going to see some improvement?

The home sales data for our area was not improved in November as reported by the Triangle Multiple Listing Service. In fact, November closings for all home types (condos, townhomes, and detached – both re-sales and new construction) in Wake County were down 42% from November 2009. The good news was that home sales prices were up – 6.48% for re-sales and 1.89% for new construction.

According to Stacey Anfindsen, the market analyst for the TMLS, the lower sales figures are a result of the government intervention into the marketplace with the $8,000 tax credit. Its first expiration was October 31, 2009 and there were increased sales at that time where home buyers wanted to get the credit.

According to Mr. Anfindsen, there were some other positive indicators in November. The number of pending home sales was up over October 2009 and showing were up as well. Not by a large amount, but it might be enough to indicate that a turnaround may be beginning.

One factor that may affect next year’s Raleigh home sales is interest rates. The Federal Housing Finance Agency today reported on Tuesday of this week that the National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders, used as an index in some ARM contracts, was 4.42 percent based on loans closed in November. This is a decrease of 0.07 percent from the previous month. Here is a chart showing what happened before November.

What has happened in the last several weeks has been a rise in interest rates. They have risen almost one half a percent. It appears that rates are not going to fall again and they are expected to rise through 2011.

If you are thinking of purchasing a Raleigh home in 2011, it would benefit you to make your move before interest rates rise even more. Contact the Marti Hampton team and we’ll help you get pre-approved for a home loan.

Should I sell my home in January 2011?

Where are we in the current real estate business cycle? Everyone knows that the real estate market has been in a downward trend for the last several years, but have we reached the bottom yet? When will we know? The answer is that even the experts only know after the fact by looking back at the numbers of closed home sales.

What we do know is that we are still in a strong buyers market. What does this mean? A buyer's market occurs when there is over 7 months of real estate listing inventory available. A balance market or transitional market occurs when there is 5-7 months of listing inventory available. Finally, a seller's market occurs when there is less than 5 months of listing inventory available.

So, how many months of inventory are there in the Raleigh real estate market currently and what classification of real estate market are we in?

As of today in the Triangle Multiple Listing Service (TMLS) there are 7,733 homes listed for sale in Wake County that are currently in the active status. These are homes of all types including single family detached, town homes, and condos; new homes and re-sales - everything in the TMLS. Sales numbers are typically down at this time of year so, we will examine how many home sales there were in the last six months and then divide by 6 to give us the average sales per month rate. 5,011 homes of every category sold in Wake County since June 22. Therefore, 5,011 homes / 6 months = 835 homes per month. If we take the number of homes on the market and divide by this sales rate, (7,733 homes / 835 homes per month) we get 9.26 months of inventory. Thus, Wake County is still a strong buyer's market.

It is important to understand local market conditions when making the decision to sell. In a strong seller’s market, just about every home sells. In a strong buyer's market, only the homes in the best condition that are priced right sell.

So, if you do not have to sell your home, you might want to consider not putting it on the market at this time.

But as a Raleigh area homeowner, you may need to sell despite the market. Perhaps you are being relocated and you need to sell to be able to purchase at your new location. Or maybe you are interested in selling so you can purchase a larger or more conveniently located home. Whatever your home selling needs, why not contact the Marti Hampton team to give you expert professional advice? We’re always happy to help!

VOW system complete home search with Team Marti!

Home Buyers – are you searching for homes for sale in Raleigh, NC? Try out our VOW system that has the most complete home information available.

We actually have two ways to search for real estate in Raleigh, NC on the Team Marti website.

First of all, we are excited to share about the new Raleigh home search tool that is available on the Team Marti website. It allows the home buyer to search for homes with a scalable map that also can show results in a map view, satellite view or a combination of the two. In addition, the map search can be narrowed by home price, number of bedrooms, number of baths and home size in square footage.

The VOW system also allows those interested in Raleigh real estate to search by Condo/Town Home, Single Family, vacant land, New Construction homes or Foreclosures.

The following picture presents an example of using our VOW system to search for a Town Home in Raleigh, NC priced between $140 – 180,000, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and 1,400 sq. ft.


As you can see, the search shows the town homes that meet the search criteria by the use of colored balloons to distinguish just listed, single property, new construction and previously viewed. In this case, by putting your mouse over a balloon you will be shown additional information about the listings.

It is even available to find out sales history in any area of Raleigh, by clicking on the Sold History tab.

Try it out – TriangleMapHomes.com

The Team Marti website also has the traditional method to search for homes search that has been available on many real estate websites for a number of years. We like to think that even our traditional home search is the best:).

By clicking on the Search for Homes tab in the upper left corner of our homepage, you will get a drop down that gives a number of choices in your home search. These include searching for Marti Hampton’s listings, searching all homes in the Triangle, searching only new construction homes in the Raleigh area, searching only foreclosures and short sales or searching for open houses to visit.

These two Raleigh real estate search features are just two more reasons to choose Team Marti to be your Raleigh North Carolina Realtor.

Is Now A Good Time to Sell Real Estate in North Carolina?

Is now a good time to sell real estate in Raleigh, NC? Should you put your home up for sale in January?

When considering when to sell real estate it is important to understand that all markets are cyclical. It doesn’t matter what market you consider; stocks, bonds, crude oil, pork bellies or real estate, cyclical means that markets go up and they go down. They can also be flat or experience a lull. The following chart shows a simple example.

Currently the Raleigh real estate is experiencing a slowdown in home sales due to the economy and a number of other factors. Yet homes are still selling. There are still people buying homes, even in the higher price ranges. It is a great time to be a home buyer in the Raleigh, NC area. There are lots of homes for sale in our area in all price ranges and interest rates are still very low.

But should I sell my home now? The answer is that it depends upon your individual goals.

Real estate is not a liquid asset meaning it takes time to sell and it should be regarded as a long term investment. Like most of the real estate markets around the country, if you purchased a home within the last 2 or 3 years in our area, you probably can not expect to see a large amount of appreciation in your homes value, except in certain neighborhoods or unless you have upgraded and or remodeled. The good news is that in our area median home prices are up when compared to last year, but the rate of increase has declined somewhat recently.

The truth is that homes sell all year long. Even in the upper price ranges. As an example, you may have heard that “nothing is selling” in the upper price range. This is simply not true. In Wake County there were 75 single family homes that sold (closed) in the last month (since November 17, 2010) for over $500,000 as recorded in the Triangle Multiple Listing Service (TMLS). Also in the last month, eight million dollar homes closed between $1,025,000 and $1,710,000.

Why not contact me, Marti Hampton my team to learn how we can help you achieve your home selling goals? Contact Marti Hampton & Team