Real Estate Pros Say These Design Trends Don’t Work

Real estate professionals know how to look at houses from a buyer’s perspective and can spot decor trends that are likely to turn their clients off. “I am selling space, and I need to be sure that the spaces are not distracting and that the buyer does not have to work too hard to take in the overall size, proportion, and scale of a room,” Robin Kencel of Compass told Apartment Therapy.

Some of today’s most popular design trends could prove to be less than ideal for your buyers. Real estate pros tell Apartment Therapy which interior design trends they believe won’t impress potential buyers—and may even make them want to pass on a home, including:

Colorful kitchens. The trend toward bold colors in the kitchen, rather than just white or neutral colors, is catching on. But real estate pros don’t believe that most buyers will warm up to this hot trend. Bright kitchen cabinets and appliances—in hues of reds, greens, or blues—can be polarizing, they say. “When that owner goes to sell his/her [home] years down the road, the next owner will likely reject that customization and will have to rip out and install a new kitchen, even if the cabinets and appliances are in great condition,” June Gottlieb, an agent with Warburg Realty, told Apartment Therapy. Gottlieb believes neutral appliances and cabinetry still are the true favorite of home buyers.

Taxidermy. The art of stuffing and mounting animals on the wall may offend some buyers. “While it might be natural for a decorator to include taxidermy into the room decor, I always recommend removing any once-living animals from a room before the house gets listed,” Kencel says. “I have seen buyers physically recoil and refuse to enter a room that has taxidermy in it.” The same thing applies to fur accessories and animal skin rugs; some buyers may be sensitive to their use as well.

Bold contrasts. The black-and-white trend in home decor is catching on, but real estate pros told Apartment Therapy they don’t believe it works when showing off a home for sale. “While some might like this bold look, it is really not for everyone,” says Kathryn Landow of Warburg Realty. Black-and-white marbled entries, accessories, and color blocking in cabinetry can prove to be a little much. Any use of the black-and-white trend is best kept to decorative accents, real estate pros say. Those are much cheaper to swap out than tile or marble flooring or kitchen cabinetry.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

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Uber Drivers Being Used as Scouts for Home Flippers

Real estate firms are hiring ride-sharing drivers from Uber and Lyft to serve as their personal searchers for their next big house flip project. The drivers are being hired to keep a watchful eye along their routes for that next diamond in the rough that can be transformed and flipped for a profit at resale.

For example, one firm called CORI hires drivers to identify homes on their routes that the real estate firm can buy to flip. Drivers are trained to spot strong house-flipping candidates, looking for issues such as warning notices on the doors, overgrown yards, abandoned cars in the backyard, and piled-up mail.

“It’s a great way to be able to reach areas that I can’t drive around town all day,” Scott Sekulow, who runs a HomeVestors franchise in Atlanta, told The Wall Street Journal. “You don’t need a lot to know the house needs repairs.”

Drivers earn a fee for their help, either a sales commission or a fee for each productive lead they submit. The compensation method varies by firm. Some drivers get paid for pictures they submit of possible property candidates.

“You kind of have to make it worth their while because it can be a long time between when that deal comes in and when you actually close,” Krystal Polite, co-founder of Polite Properties in Adamance County, N.C., told WSJ. Polite Properties hires drivers to find potential flip houses in 20 states.

Eric Richner, the co-founder of CORI, also told WSJ he has about 100 drivers working for him, but he hopes to have 1,000 by the end of the year. Investors hope the added help in scouts will cut down on time wasted in search for their next flip.

House flipping has become big business among real estate firms; 40% of flips are now made by companies rather than individuals, according to CoreLogic, a real estate data firm.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

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HGTV-Inspired Flippers Get Harsh Dose of Reality

Inspired by reality TV shows on HGTV and other outlets, a new generation of home flippers has been in the market in recent years. These investors hope to make over properties and then make a tidy profit off the sale. But for many, flipping hasn't exactly been made-for-TV.

This is one segment of the market where real estate agents should counsel extra caution.

“Many newbie investors are encountering their first slowdown and facing losses from houses that take too long to sell,” Bloomberg reports. “Meanwhile, they face steep payments on a kind of high-interest debt—known as ‘hard money’ loans—that helped power the boom.”

In the fourth quarter of 2018, about 6.5% of U.S. sales were from flips, or homes sold within a year from a prior transaction. CoreLogic, a real estate data firm, says that marks the highest share in seasonally adjusted data, dating back to 2002. That means even higher than the housing boom days.

Western markets, like Northern California and Seattle, are seeing some of the highest number of flips because prices there have been climbing by double-digit percentages annually. But home prices are flattening or cooling in some areas. Fourth-quarter losses for flippers who sold within a year are at the highest averages since 2009, CoreLogic’s data shows. For example, in San Jose, Calif., 45% of flips lost money in the fourth quarter.

Many home flippers today are using hard-money loans—which often come with high interest rates and low down payments—to fix up the properties before they resell them. The loans tend to be larger since renovation costs are being folded into them.

“Lenders are easing capital requirements and lengthening loan terms because it’s taking longer to flip homes,” Todd Teta, chief product officer at ATTOM Data Solutions, told Bloomberg.

Other lenders are getting more stringent in responding to the slowdown. Glen Weinberg, operating officer of Denver-based Fairview Commercial Lending, told Bloomberg that the company is tightening its lending standards for real estate investors in response. He's now requiring flippers to put 40% down on a house.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

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5 Markets With Six-Figure Seller Gains

Homeowners continue to reap profits off their home sales. U.S. homeowners who sold in the first quarter of this year realized an average home price gain since purchase of $57,500. That is up slightly from an average of $56,733 a year ago, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ Q1 2019 Home Sales Report. The gains represented an average 31.5 percent return as a percentage of the original purchase price.

Markets along the West coast saw some of the greatest dollar gains. For example, in San Jose, Calif., home sellers saw nearly a half-million-dollar gain when they sold their home. The following are the markets with the top seller gains in the first quarter, according to ATTOM Data Solutions:

1. 1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.: $479,500 (first quarter 2019 gain)
2. 2. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif.: $336,000
3. 3. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif.: $217,000
4. 4. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif.: $178,000
5. 5. Honolulu: $171,563
   

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

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Drop in Mortgage Rates Could Put Market in 2005 Territory

The recent plunge in mortgage rates may help the market for home loans surge to a 14-year high, according to recent housing forecasts. In the past month, mortgage rates have posted their biggest drop in a decade, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 4.08 percent last week, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage market survey.

The rate decline has enticed more home buyers to enter the market, prompting mortgage demand to reach its highest level since the fall of 2016. Mortgage applications jumped 18.6 percent last week as borrowers rushed to lock in lower financing costs. Mark Watson, director of forecasting for mortgage advisory firm iEmergent, predicts $1.2 trillion in home lending this year, which would be the best year since 2005. “We think the lower mortgage rates will create a huge push, partly from millennial buyers,” Watson told HousingWire. “That is going to support strong growth in home sales over the next several years.”

iEmergent projects a 3.9 percent increase in total home loan volume this year. That’s more optimistic than other forecasters, such as Freddie Mac, which is predicting a 1.5 percent increase in total mortgage lending for 2019, and the Mortgage Bankers Association, which predicts a 1 percent gain.

But the threat of higher mortgage rates is diminishing. The Federal Reserve announced at its January meeting that due to a slowing economy, it does not plan to raise its short-term key interest rates again this year. Therefore, mortgage rates will likely stay low for a while, which will bode well for the housing market, Watson says. “The benefits of the decline in mortgage rates that we’ve seen this year will continue to unfold over the next few months due to the lag from changes in mortgage rates to market sentiment and ultimately home sales,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

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HUD Sues Facebook Over Housing Discrimination Allegations

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is suing Facebook over allegations that it violated the Fair Housing Act by allegedly restricting certain protected classes from viewing housing-related ads online. HUD alleges in the lawsuit that housing-related ads and services were “severely biased” by limiting views of housing-related ads to tens of thousands of users based on gender, ethnicity, religion, and other factors.

“Facebook is discriminating against people based upon who they are and where they live,” says HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “Using a computer to limit a person’s housing choices can be just as discriminatory as slamming a door in someone’s face.”

On March 19, Facebook announced several changes to remove features on its ad targeting features that had been under fire for claims over apparent discrimination. In that announcement, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said, “Advertisers offering housing, employment, and credit opportunities will have a much smaller set of targeting categories to use in their campaigns overall. Multicultural affinity targeting will continue to be unavailable for these ads. Additionally, any detailed targeting options describing or appearing to relate to protected classes will also be unavailable.” (Read more: Facebook Disables Targeting Options for Housing Ads)

Since its move, Facebook has required advertisers in the areas of housing, employment, and credit to use a separate portal to serve up their ads. The portal does not include gender, age, race, ethnicity, or religion as ad targeting options.

But HUD moved forward in its lawsuit against Facebook this week. In the lawsuit, HUD alleges Facebook allowed advertisers to exclude certain classes from seeing some housing-related Facebook ads, such as by allowing ads to classify groups as parents; non-American born; non-Christian; interested in Hispanic culture; or other protected groups under the Fair Housing Act. HUD also says Facebook permitted advertisers to exclude certain groups of people by drawing a red line around neighborhoods on a map.

Facebook uses prediction analytics that also causes it to exclude protected classes from seeing certain ads, HUD alleges in the lawsuit. Facebook combines data it collects on user attributes and behavior with data about user behavior on other websites to target its ads to certain groups, the lawsuit states.

“Even as we confront new technologies, the fair housing laws enacted over half a century ago remain clear—discrimination in housing-related advertising is against the law,” says HUD General Counsel Paul Compton. “Just because a process to deliver advertising is opaque and complex doesn’t mean that it exempts Facebook and others from our scrutiny and the law of the land. Fashioning appropriate remedies and the rules of the road for today’s technology as it impacts housing are a priority for HUD.” 

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

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Water Damage From Faulty Pipes a Rising Threat to U.S. Homes

Homes are increasingly flooding, not from weather-related events but from old pipes and valves, worn-out hoses on second-story washing machines, and faulty connections from appliances that use water, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The uptick has sparked an increase in extensive water damage to homes that has been reported to insurers. One in 50 homeowners filed a water damage claim each year between 2013 and 2017, according to Verisk Analytics’ ISO insurance analytics unit. Insurers have faced a $13 billion water damage bill from insuring homes.

Claims for water damage average about $10,000, according to the report.

“Wildfires, hurricanes, and tornadoes catch headlines, but the reality is that the number one kind of risk that the everyday consumer has is a water claim,” Jon-Michael Kowall, an executive at USAA in the property insurance business, told WSJ. “It is lurking in the house.”

Contributing to the rising risk, more homeowners are putting their laundry room upstairs. Leaks and water damage from these upper units can cause extensive damage as they move from the upper floors to the lower ones. Also, the rising number of aging homes with old pipes is causing damage to many homes.

Luxury homes aren’t immune to water damage from old or faulty pipes. An oceanfront property in Southern California had a 12-foot seawall around it to protect it from outside flooding, but a second-story toilet tank crack caused more than $1 million in water damages. The repairs—to the home’s oak floors, walls, artwork, home theater, and more—also took more than eight months to complete.

In a pilot program, USAA is having 6,000 policyholders test water-detecting sensors, which are devices to help spot potential water damage before it becomes more extensive. Also, AIG and some other insurers are offering premium credits for policyholders who use technology that can help detect water leaks.

Homeowners must realize that not every water damage bill will necessarily be covered by insurance. For example, standard homeowner policies exclude storm surges and river flooding from coverage. Also, most homeowners’ policies will cover “sudden and accidental” damage but not routine maintenance. As such, homeowners who have ignored a slow leak for months may find insurance denies their claim.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

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‘Bank of Mom and Dad’ Could Rank High as Mortgage Lender

Parents are increasingly helping their adult children buy their first home. In fact, a new study suggests that if families were considered a financial institution, the “Bank of Mom and Dad” would be the seventh largest mortgage lender in the country.

Parents and grandparents supported the nationwide purchase of $317 billion worth of property—1.2 million homes—last year, according to a newly released study from the Legal & General Group, a multinational financial services institution.

One in five of buyers received gifts or interest-free loans from family members, the study shows. The average amount buyers received from them was $39,000. The Pacific region saw the greatest share of young adults receiving financial help in buying; the Rocky Mountain region saw the lowest.

More than half—51 percent—of prospective home buyers under the age of 35 say they expect to have help from their family or friends when buying a home. And young adults who already have purchased a home say that without the gift from the “Bank of Mom and Dad,” they would have had to delay their home purchase for at least three years.

“For many, perhaps most,young adults, buying a house without help is an increasingly unattainable goal,” says Nigel Wilson, chief executive at Legal & General Group. But Wilson calls it a worrisome trend that so many young adults are relying on help from family and friends to buy a home.

For example, family and friends who provide financial assistance may be putting their own finances in jeopardy to do so. For example, they reported taking out a loan (15 percent), raiding their 401(k) savings (8 percent), downsizing their own home (6 percent), or coming out of retirement (3 percent), the study showed. The study authors warn that too many of the younger generation may be dependent on their parents and grandparents to buy a home, even if it comes at a financial strain to the gift giver.

The Bank of Mom and Dad “reflects, first and foremost, a housing market where significant problems remain in matching the supply and demand of different types of housing, most notably starter homes and affordable housing of all kinds,” Wilson says. “As the population changes and the millennial generation strives to join the homeowning democracy, new thinking is due on meeting the needs and aspirations of Americans.”

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

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Deals Done in the Dark Persist in Spite of Disclosure Rules

Anonymous home deals continue among cash buyers in some luxury corridors, despite disclosure laws that have tried to end such transactions.

Three years ago, the federal government issued disclosure rules to crack down on anonymous cash buyers in luxury markets like Miami and New York City in an effort to sniff out money laundering using real estate. Title insurance companies were required to report the identity of the buyer in any residential transaction of $300,000 or more that involved a “shell company,” with a corporate name and without a mortgage. The U.S. Treasury Department has since extended that rule to 12 more metro areas, including Dallas, Chicago, and San Francisco.

However, a Wall Street Journal analysis of New York City shows the new law has had no real impact on luxury purchases. Eighty-four percent of condos costing $10 million or more were purchased using a corporate name, an increase from the 78.5 percent in the year the rules had gone into effect.

Initially, the new disclosure rules may have alarmed some buyers. But once the buyers understood their names and identifying information could still be kept confidential, they were no longer as worried, brokers say. Information on the buyer is turned over to the U.S. Treasury Department to be matched against a government database of suspicious financial activity. But it is not made public.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

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Could That Home Be Contaminated With Meth?

It could be a home buyer’s worst nightmare: They purchase a new property only to discover later it is contaminated with methamphetamine, which is linked to health problems and can be very costly to eliminate.

In more than half of states, home sellers are required to disclose whether to the best of their knowledge a property has ever been used as a meth lab. But many laws stop short of letting buyers know if meth was ever smoked inside the property, which can also cause problems.

When produced or smoked inside a home, meth can seep into the walls, carpets, and heating and cooling systems. Even slight traces of the drug can cause headaches, nausea, and childhood developmental issues.

Home buyers shouldn’t assume meth-contaminated homes are just foreclosures, either. Police have found drug labs in luxury single-family properties and luxury high-rise buildings as well.

It’s not easy to clean up a home after it has been contaminated with meth. “Think about [meth] as going into a house with heavy smokers,” Kirk Flippin, owner of Texas Decon in Seguin, Texas, which cleans up former meth homes, told realtor.com®. “Nicotine will adhere to the walls. That’s what methamphetamine does.”

How can a buyer detect meth? The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration offers a drug lab registry of meth contamination properties, where law enforcement agencies have reported they found chemicals at these locales. But obviously not all properties where meth has ever been present will be on that list.

Signs that a property has seen meth use tend to be subtle. Experts say buyers should look for burns in the carpet or patches of dead grass outside. That could indicate where chemicals may have been dumped.

"[In] 95 percent of the places I've walked into, you'd never know," says Flippin. "I usually don't smell anything, I don't see anything."

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

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Chinese Buyers Expand Their Reach In The US Housing Market

Chinese buyers have been the top foreign buyers in both units and dollar volume of residential housing for six years straight, according to the National Association of Realtors, and now they expanding to new, lower price tiers.

More middle-class Chinese buyers are searching for lower-priced homes and they are using mortgages much more often.

While California is still the favorite among Chinese buyers, they are moving into markets in Texas, Georgia and Florida.

Chinese consumers may have soured on some American products, like iPhones, but they have only sweetened on U.S. residential real estate.

They have been the top foreign buyers in both units and dollar volume of residential housing for six years straight, according to the National Association of Realtors, and now they expanding to new, lower price tiers.

Chinese consumers appear to be less interested in trade wars and more interested in bidding wars, according to San Francisco-based real estate agent Michi Olson, who just returned from an international real estate property show in Shanghai.

"The Chinese are basically politically agnostic," Olson said. "What I mean by that is even though there is a great tension between [the] U.S. government and Chinese, the Chinese citizen seems to be able to separate the political turmoil with the sound real estate investment."

Olson said the biggest difference this year is price point. Initially, it was wealthy Chinese buyers purchasing million-dollar properties, all in cash. Now more middle-class Chinese buyers are searching for lower-priced homes and they are using mortgages much more often.

"The Chinese people still see the United States as a safe harbor where they can take their assets and park their money not only for their money but also for the future of their children," Olson said.

Several lenders in the San Francisco area now specifically cater to Chinese buyers. The median price of a home sold to a Chinese buyer dropped from just under $530,000 in 2017 to $439,000 in 2018, according to the Realtors. And while California is still the favorite among Chinese buyers, they are now moving into markets in Texas, Georgia and Florida.

Laura Barnett sells real estate in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and sees healthy Chinese demand there. She said while most foreign buyers there still use cash, she is also seeing the shift to mortgages.

"It is difficult to get loan approval on foreign buyers unless they put 50 percent or more down on a home, but several lenders specialize in this market now, so it is getting easier," said Barnett of RE/MAX DFW Associates.

As technology jobs spread across the U.S., it seems more Chinese workers in the sector are starting to buy properties in new locations.

Olson has several Chinese clients whose children are already working at tech companies in California. Once they are settled, a parent will fly in from China with a down payment for a condo. That is happening now in other places.

For instance, Chinese buyers flocked to an open house in Long Island City in Queens, New York, just a week after Amazon announced it would open a new headquarters there.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

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How Long Does It Take to Pay Off a Net-Zero Home?

Net-zero homes—those that make as much energy as they put out—may cost more up front to build, but they can save homeowners money on their energy bills. Eventually, that savings adds up and the home can pay for itself, no matter where you live, a new study shows.

Net-zero energy homes usually are outfitted with rooftop solar panels, energy-efficient insulation, triple-pane windows, energy-savvy appliances, LED lighting, and smart thermostats. Builders will take the home’s design and natural lighting into account too, such as the position of windows and overhangs that could supply additional solar heating in the winter or shade in the summer months.

The Rocky Mountain Institute, a research nonprofit focusing on clean energy, looked at how long it takes for the savings on a net-zero home to cover the initial costs of a 2,200-square-foot home in the 30 largest U.S. cities. Here are the top cities where you can pay off a net-zero home in the fastest amount of time:

1. 1. San Francisco: 7.8 years 
2. 2. Detroit: 9.1 years
3. 3. Baltimore: 9.2 years
4. 4. Columbus, Ohio: 9.7 years
5. 5. New York: 10.1 years
6. 6. Phoenix: 10.7 years
7. 7. Jacksonville, Fla.: 10.9 years
8. 8. Los Angeles: 11 years
9. 9. Washington, D.C.: 11 years
10. 10. Chicago: 11.4 years
11. 11. Sacramento, Calif.: 11.7 years
12. 12. Indianapolis: 12.3 years
13. 13.  Portland, Ore.: 12.3 years
14. 14. Seattle: 12.4 years
15. 15. Dallas: 12.5 years
16. 16. Oakland, Calif.: 12.5 years
17. 17. Wichita, Kan.: 12.5 years

The costs of building net-zero homes can vary widely geographically. The biggest savings tend to be in locales with high electricity rates and older building codes, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute.

“Zero-energy homes are actually affordable,” Jacob Corvidae, principal at the Rocky Mountain Institute, told InsideClimate News. Corvidae stresses this it is important to note because consumers, builders, and policymakers may be reluctant to encourage net-zero building over perceptions that it isn’t affordable.

But even in places like Detroit—not known for its year-round sunshine that would make solar as attractive—net-zero homes can be paid off in less than a decade, one of the fastest regions in the country. A 2,200-square-foot net-zero energy home in Detroit would cost $19,753 more to build than the same house without any solar or standard efficiency. But that home's energy bill savings would be $2,508 in the first year. The solar and efficiency costs would pay for themselves in about 9 years, according to the Rocky Mountain Institute study.

Some of the nation’s largest home builders, like PulteGroup and Meritage Homes, are offering more net-zero energy options to consumers. Pearl Homes in Cortez, Fla., is building a zero-energy community that uses energy storage and electric vehicle chargers.

“We’re starting to see the tip of that iceberg, and when it really hits, it’s going to be huge,” says Ann Edminster, a consultant and architect who works with the Net-Zero Energy Coalition.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

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Airbnb to Begin Designing, Building New Homes

Airbnb is moving beyond helping people rent out space in their homes. Now it wants to start providing the actual houses, too. The company has announced plans for a new venture that will design and build homes, called “Backyard.” Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia describes it as “an endeavor to design and prototype new ways of building and sharing homes.”

Airbnb officials say they want to combine the use of smart-home tech and sophisticated manufacturing techniques—including those from prefabricated dwellings and green building materials—with their experience in the vacation rental industry to “reimagine the design of homes.” Gebbia told Fast Company he feels a moral imperative to ensure that new homes are designed well, and respond to changing owner and occupant needs.

Airbnb says it has created a team of industrial designers, architects, roboticists, mechanical and hardware engineers, policy experts and other professionals to move forward with the Backyard concept.

This is “an initiative to rethink the home,” Gebbia told Fast Company. “Homes are complex, and we’re taking a broad approach—not just designing one thing, but a system that can do many things.”

Airbnb has been vague about what exactly they’ll be building, but the spaces will be designed to be sharable, Gebbia says. The homes also will feature spaces that can be reconfigured to the occupants’ changing needs, Fast Company reports. The spaces also may support co-living arrangements.

The first Backyard test units are expected to become available as soon as the fall of 2019.

The new initiative will diversify Airbnb’s business. Airbnb, valued at an estimated $38 billion, has created a global network of more than 5 million homes for rent. “We’re interested in thoughtfully … doing something transformative, similar to what Airbnb did when it started,” Gebbia says.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

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More Homeowners Add ADUs, Other Improvements

Homeowners appear to be spending more on property improvements while waiting for the right time to sell. In October, expenditures on existing homes, including renovations, additions, and alterations, rose 2.9 percent year over year, according to a new report from BuildFax, a firm that provides property condition and history data.

Home prices are outpacing wage growth significantly, and along with rising mortgage rates, more homeowners are feeling stuck in place. “As a result, homeowners, unable to re-enter the housing market, are reinvesting in their existing properties,” says BuildFax CEO Holly Tachovsky. “Homeowners may feel unprepared to enter the housing market, but they are making larger investments in the health of their existing property.”

Home maintenance activity may signal the most active housing markets, according to BuildFax. Minnesota has seen some of the most significant maintenance activity over the past year, leading the nation in per capita maintenance volume since 2013. New listings in Minnesota have also fallen the past three years. But the average sales price of properties has risen more than 5 percent annually in that time, the report notes.

Some homeowners are adding accessory dwelling units, also known as granny flats—which are small living spaces designed to house a family member or renter. California has seen the most growth in ADU construction and maintenance. ADUs in the state have grown by nearly 54 percent so far in 2018 compared to a year ago. Oregon and Washington are also seeing a large uptick of ADUs.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

Any questions or comments, feel free to contact James Y. Kuang at (626) 371-5662 or by email: james.kuang@coldwellbanker.com    

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Single Women Prop Up First-Time Buyer Segment

Lower affordability and continued inventory crunches aren’t sidelining single women home buyers, who, for the second consecutive year, account for 18 percent of all buyers, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ 2018 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Single women are the second most common buyer type behind married couples (63 percent), according to NAR’s report. Single men are the third most common buyer type, accounting for half the number of their female counterparts at 9 percent. However, single men tend to purchase pricier homes than single women—a median of $215,000 compared to $189,000, respectively.

Single women buyers, many of whom are first-timers, are proving a powerful force in the housing market. However, first-time buyers, who once dominated the buying pool, are a shrinking segment. The share of first-time buyers fell to a three-year low this year, according to NAR’s report. First-time buyers comprised 33 percent of the housing market this year, down from 34 percent last year. The number of first-time buyers has not gone above 40 percent since the first-time home buyer tax credit ended in 2010, NAR notes.

“With the lower end of the housing market—smaller, moderately priced homes—seeing the worst of the inventory shortage, first-time home buyers who want to enter the market are having difficulty finding a home they can afford,” says NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Low inventory, rising interest rates, and student loan debt are all factors contributing to the suppression of first-time home buyers.”

However, Yun notes that existing-home sales data has shown in recent months that inventory is rising slowly on a year-over-year basis. That may “encourage more would-be buyers who were previously convinced they could not find a home to enter the market,” Yun says.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

Any questions or comments, feel free to contact James Y. Kuang at (626) 371-5662 or by email: james.kuang@coldwellbanker.com    

$10,000 Cash Savings Guarantee! - VIP Buyer Program: www.VIPBuyingToday.com

Limited Time VIP Buyer Bonuses:

BONUS#1: One year home warranty policy ($497 value)

BONUS#2: Lifetime notary service (in office)

BONUS#3: Financial Impact Analysis

www.EasyHomeResource.com

www.facebook.com/JamesYKuang