Mortgage News Roundup - Waiting to Buy Will Cost You

Hello and welcome to Thursday, again. A fun factoid is that the average age of a home in the United States is 40.

Waiting to Buy Will Cost You

If you’ve been thinking about delaying buying a home until next year, you’ll want to pay attention to this: The house you can afford today may be out of reach a year from now due to rising interest rates and home price appreciation.

More often than not, buyers do not understand the profound effect of rising interest rates on affordability,” said Erin Lantz, vice president of mortgages at Zillow. “Many buyers associate a 1 percentage point interest rate change with a 1 percent change on a piece of clothing or the price of a car, when in fact they are very different.”

As a rule of thumb, Lantz said, a 1 percentage point increase in mortgage rates reduces affordability by 10 percent.

3 Keys to Selling a Home in 2014

If you plan to sell your home in 2014, be aware that buyers have changed since the economic downturn. They’re savvier than ever, and they’re not desperate. Many of today’s buyers are Millennials (also known as Generation Y) who’ve come of age with access to endless information via the Internet. It’s in their DNA to search, and they love photographs and sharing.

So to help your real estate agent sell your home for the best price:

1. Take your photo shoot seriously. People are looking online. Ensure there’s no clutter and that the house is sparkling.Too often, listings go online with photos of a dark room, lights off or blinds closed. And make sure photos are taken. Nothing is worse then a listing without them.
2. Have your home inspected before you list. You don’t want any surprises. If there are any issues, you can choose to repair or not, and price your home accordingly.
3. Throw buyers a bone and be in the good graces of the buyer before, during and after escrow. An example is giving them a shorter close if they like. These little offerings will go a long way toward a speedy and hassle-free escrow.

The bottom line is put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. Actually you may know better since you may be looking to buy another home. So treat them the way you would want to be treated.