Aug. 21, 2017 – This article, the first of a three-part series, suggests steps to take when an owner wants to sell an investment home that’s tenant occupied. What should you know and what should you do differently?

Part two will focus on contract language and how information about the tenancy should be exchanged between a buyer and a seller. Part three will cover the closing process when the property is subject to a lease. Read More

SEATTLE – June 9, 2017 – James and Carrie Finan have been house hunting in the Seattle area for four months in a seemingly futile race against time: They’re living in a room in James’ mother’s house and their first child is due in September.

They’ve seen about 40 starter houses that match their criteria – $350,000 or less, three bedrooms, about 1,200 square feet – and made four offers ranging from $32,000 to $82,000 above asking price. They’ve lost out each time. Read More

WASHINGTON – May 12, 2017 – In the 10 years since the housing crash, builders have waited to start construction until they had a signed contract in hand. But spec homes – pre-constructed property that they can sell immediately – may be coming back, particularly in the entry-level market.

«There’s very strong demand for specs, but it’s not because people want a spec-finished home,» says Alan Ratner, director of home building research at Zelman and Associates. «It’s because they want an entry-level home.»

Entry-level buyers are gradually venturing into the market. First-time buyers comprised 35 percent of home buyers in 2016, a 10 percent jump over the previous year, according to the National Association of Realtors^® (NAR). Seventy-two percent of buyers under the age of 36 years old purchased homes below $300,000; 67 percent of buyers aged 52 to 61 purchased at that amount; and 69 percent of those aged 62 to 70 did so, according to NAR’s 2017 Generational Trends report.

LGI Homes, for example, started offering quick-delivery homes in 2016. The builder targets the entry-level market with an average home price of $208,000. LGI Homes posted a 22 percent spike in home closings last year, and a record high of 467 closings in December. CEO Eric Lipar said in a fourth-quarter LGI earnings call that the appetite for spec homes is high.

D.R. Horton, the nation’s largest builder in closings, is finding greater business too in its entry-level Express Homes line. That segment features homes priced between $120,000 to $150,000. COO Michael Murray estimates 70 percent to 80 percent of the company’s sales are supported by spec homes now.

«If you look at the number of homes sold, 85 percent of them are resales, used homes, and another very important part of our sales equation is Realtors,» says CEO David Auld. «Outside Realtors are a huge part of our sales efforts, and our spec program keeps those relationships engaged and mutually benefiting.»

While built-to-order homes tend to have higher margins, builders believe there’s a spot for spec homes again in the market as well. One benefit to spec homes for builders is they tend to offer a faster conversion cycle.

«Entry-level homes have lower margins because the buyers are adding fewer, if any, upgrades,» says Alan Ratner, director of home building research at Zelman and Associates. «The way you hit your return threshold is a much stronger absorption sales pace, and the way you do that is you churn and burn through it by building spec and selling them as quickly as possible.»

Selling homes later in the process can also help homebuilders better manage their costs too. They can increase the price later if materials or labor costs take up more of their budget, Ratner says. As long as the spec home sells before the construction is completed, the strategy is beneficial from a cash-flow perspective to builders, says Alan Laing, executive vice president of operations at Taylor Morrison.

Further, building on spec can help builders get ahead of the market or offer a more affordable project. However, they can run into problems if they end up having too many homes under construction or ready to sell.

Ratner notes that home building is cyclical and, in the past, an increase in completed spec homes usually coincided with an eventual pullback in the overall market. On the cusp of the Great Recession, for example, completed spec homes accounted for 51 percent of new-home sales in 2008.

Source: «The Return of Spec Building,» BUILDER (May 10, 2017)

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STUART, Fla. – April 17, 2017 – The city of Stuart wants residents at 105 S.E. Seminole St. to move out of the drug and recovery center and for no one else to live there until there’s proof the building meets the state residential building code.

This is the latest development in the ongoing issues that have pitted the city against the building’s owners and the tenant. Some of the disputes have played out in federal court over the past four years and more recently in state court. Read More

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – March 23, 2017 – Realtor.com®, a leading online real estate destination operated by News Corp subsidiary Move, Inc., has announced its top cities for millennials. At the top of the list: Salt Lake City, followed by Miami and Orlando, Fla., as No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.

Rounding out the rest of the top 10, in rank order are Seattle, Houston, Los Angeles, Buffalo, Albany, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif.

«High job growth in markets such as Orlando, Seattle and Miami, and the power of affordability in places like Albany and Buffalo are making these markets magnets for millennials.» said Javier Vivas, manager of economic research for realtor.com. «But what really stands out is that all these markets already have large numbers of millennials, which translates into strong populations of millennial homebuyers.»   Read More

NEW YORK – Feb. 24, 2017 – You’ve found the perfect new home for your family, but your current house hasn’t sold yet. You can’t afford to carry two mortgages, or maybe you were counting on money from your sale to help with the downpayment and closing costs.

Before you let that dream home slip away, consider these strategies to help bridge the transition:

Make an offer that’s contingent on the sale of your house Read More

Fla.’s housing market: Median prices rise in Dec. 2016

NAR: Existing-home sales slide in December, but 2016 hits 10-year high.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Jan. 24, 2017 – Florida’s housing market had higher median prices and fewer all-cash sales in December, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®. Sales of single-family homes statewide totaled 22,332 last month, up 0.8 percent from December 2015.

«The trend of tight housing supply continued to have an impact on Florida’s housing market in December,» says 2017 Florida Realtors President Maria Wells, broker-owner with Lifestyle Realty Group in Stuart. «Last month, statewide median sales prices for both single-family homes and townhouse-condo properties rose year-over-year for 61 months in row. While that’s good news for sellers, it’s continuing to put pressure on inventory for first-time homebuyers and those who may be looking for their next ‘move-up’ home. Read More

Average 30-year mortgage rate falls to 4.09%

WASHINGTON (AP) – Jan. 19, 2017 – Long-term U.S. mortgage rates marked their third week of declines this week, after snapping a nine-week run of increases.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the rate on 30-year fixed-rate loans fell to an average 4.09 percent from 4.12 percent last week. That was still sharply higher than a 30-year rate that averaged 3.65 percent for all of 2016, the lowest level recorded from records going back to 1971. A year ago, the benchmark rate stood at 3.81 percent.

The average for a 15-year mortgage declined to 3.34 percent from 3.37 percent last week. Read More

The risk Fla. home values will decline? Only 3%

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Jan. 11, 2017 – The likelihood of home price declines across the United States over the next two years remains unchanged at only 4 percent, according to the latest Arch MI Risk Index. And in Florida it’s even lower – only 3 percent.

The risk of price declines continues to drop, according to the Winter 2017 edition of The Housing and Mortgage Market Review (HaMMR) published by Arch MI. One year ago, it was 6 percent across the U.S.; two years ago, it was 8 percent. Read More

IRVINE, Calif. – Jan. 10, 2017 – Among the 50 largest U.S. markets, the top five (in order) were Orlando, Palm Beach County, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Dallas, according to Ten-X, an online marketplace. Each metro area had «a vigorous combination of consistently strong demand, home price appreciation, and economic and demographic growth.» Read More