Time to get serious

With summer coming to an end and no more weekend Jersey shore trips,  people start to get serious about moving again. They tend to be more enthusiastic about making a change and luckily for them, it's still a great time! 
In Philadelphia region;
Inventories are still low, enabling sellers to get their homes sold quickly and for a good price. 
Interest rates are still low, enabling buyers to obtain a home within their desired price point. 

According to NAR's recently released 2013 National Housing Pulse Survey, a strong majority (78%) of renters say that homeownership is a priority for them in the future, with 51% calling it one of their highest priorities. 

The American Dream to own property is stronger than ever. Whether you're looking to sell your home to purchase something more desirable or if you're buying your first home, now is an ideal time to start the process.  
Don't know where to start? Here are 3 quick tips:
First- reach out to a Realtor to discuss your wish list and your local real estate market
Secondly- actually simultaneously, contact 2-3 banks to determine how much of a loan you qualify for. I suggest contacting more than 1 to shop rates and fees. Keep in mind, no bank can lock you into a rate they quote until you have a contract on a home
Thirdly- start going to open houses and scheduling appointments with your Realtor to see properties. You can't find your dream home without getting out there! 

A lot of people browse online about 3-6 months before getting serious about buying. That's great! But online information is not always accurate. You can always contact me, or any Realtor to get up to date information on a property you like. 

Good luck!

Newlyweds love having their own home

I have definitely been slacking on my blog posts the past few weeks. But I believe I have a somewhat of an OK excuse- I'm getting married tomorrow!!!! I'm very excited and ready to start my new life with my soulmate :)

Throughout my real estate career, I've seen that getting married and starting a family spurs the dream to have a nest-egg together. Now it's personally happening to me!

I'm not really sure what the psychological reason is, but I have found it's a natural progression. Maybe it has to do with a new stability and having something together....?

If you previously bought a home on your own, you made all the decisions. Now buying as a couple, you'll need to practice your compromising skills. Here are a few tips when starting the process of buying your first home together:

1. Each person write down your "Must Have" list
Particularly think about things that aren't easy to change
Location
Style of home
Size of the home (bedrooms, baths as well as square footage)
Yard size

If you don't agree on the color of cabinets, that's not a huge deal. But if someone wants to live in downtown Philadelphia and the other wants to be in Malvern, well that's a problem.

2. Compare your lists to determine your "Must Have" and your "Nice to Have" items. This may require intense conversations and potentially some compromising.

I can't tell you how many times I have taken a husband and wife out and they have complete different tastes on styles and layouts of a home. Often times the skeptical party becomes a little more open minded if we physically tour a home and/or see how excited their partner is about a specific home. So don't necessarily rule out a home if one person doesn't love it, both partners need to keep an open mind.

3. When one partner really likes a home, each of you write down the pros and cons and either keep it on your list or take it off. It's helpful to keep your favorites to 2 or 3, much more than that becomes difficult to keep track.

It's a great time to be starting your house hunt. Interest rates are still in the mid 4% and it's unknown how long they will stay so low! Contact me for questions or additional information.
GOOD LUCK :)

Monday Morning Market Update

Locally, June was a good month for real estate closings and new sales. Inventory is still fairly low in our area, resulting in less days on market and higher prices. For buyers, this means if you like a home,  make an offer or it may not be there tomorrow!
Below is my Keller Williams office sales statistics for June:

- Our agents had 287 written units which is a record!

- We had a record written volume of $71,893,064! 

- Our agents had 254 closed units processed, which is another record!! (prior to June, the highest closed units in a month were 209 units)

- We had a record closed volume of $65,028,514! (prior to June, the highest closed volume was in June of 2010)

Personally, June was one of my best months to date!

National Existing Home Sales by Price:

• Median prices in May were in the $100,000 to $250,000 price category in the Midwest and South but fell into the higher $250,000 to $500,000 category in the Northeast and West.  Looking at all homes in the country, the median falls into the $100,000 to $250,000 price range.
• The median price is the point at which the middle-priced home sold.  By definition, half of homes in an area sold at a higher price and half of homes sold at a lower price than the median.
• By price tier, sales were up from a year ago in all price categories in all regions except in the lowest price tier, although the Midwest was an exception to this categorization; sales were up slightly in the under $100,000 category in that region.
• Sales in the lowest price tier began to show less growth and even decline in some areas in 2012.  Unsurprisingly, this was the same period when we saw the biggest tapering off in reports of distressed sales in our survey of practitioners.  Still, even after the decline in sales in this category and growth in higher price tiers, one out of every six homes sold nationally is priced less than $100,000.
• In April, sales growth was highest in the higher price tiers but the highest growth tier varied by region.  In May, the highest-growth price tier for all regions was the $750,000 to under $1 million category.  In fact, in the Midwest and West, sales in that price tier were up more than 50 percent from a year ago.

Full Information here:

Existing Home Sales by Price Category