Laurie Rummel Realtor

07/27/2022

Mortgages
Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages don’t move in tandem with the Fed’s benchmark rate, but instead track the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds, which are influenced by a variety of factors, including expectations around inflation, the Fed’s actions and how investors react to all of it.

Mortgage rates have jumped by more than two percentage points since the start of 2022, though they’re down from their highs, as fears of recession have led traders to temper their expectations for Fed rate increases in the future, despite stubbornly high inflation, pushing bond yields lower in recent weeks.

Rates on 30-year fixed rate mortgages averaged 5.54 percent as of July 21, according to Freddie Mac’s primary mortgage survey, down from 5.81 percent a month ago but up sharply from 2.78 percent a year ago.

Other home loans are more closely tethered to the Fed’s move. Home equity lines of credit and adjustable-rate mortgages — which each carry variable interest rates — generally rise within two billing cycles after a change in the Fed’s rates.

02/22/2022

02/14/2022

If I'm keepin' it real...

03/17/2021

This is our market- unprecedented lack of supply.
From Michael Orr of The Cromford report:
"The housing market is experiencing moderately strong demand, but this is not the important matter. Variations in demand are almost insignificant. This is because the supply of re-sale homes is so poor it crashes below all time record lows almost every week…The supply situation is the worst we have ever recorded, lower than the first quarter of 2005, which used to hold the record….
Not only is the supply extraordinarily low, it has dropped by a large percentage since the beginning of the year. In a normal year we would expect to have more available supply in mid-February than we had at the start of the year. For example in 2015 active listings rose from 22,879 in week one to 24,041 by week 8… This is a 5% increase. In 2021 we started the year at 6,113 and by week 8 we have dropped to 4,731, a decline of 23%. This is unprecedented."

How freakin' true is this?!

(Illustrator unknown)

03/09/2021

Three often-overlooked financial benefits of homeownership and how preparing for them now can steer you in the direction of greater financial security and savings.

In today’s housing market, there are clear financial benefits to owning a home: increasing equity, the chance to build your net worth, and appreciating home values, just to name a few.

03/08/2021

The outlook for land and housing in 2021 for Phoenix:

While many industry sectors have taken devastating hits during the pandemic, the land and housing markets have shown incredible resiliency.

03/04/2021

If you’re in the market for your first home, you might want to read these AskReddit stories as cautionary tales.
https://didyouknowfacts.com/first-time-homeowners-share-what-they-wish-theyd-known-before-they-bought-a-house/

03/03/2021

There is a concern that we may be in another housing bubble like the one we experienced a little over a decade ago. Here are three reasons why this market is totally different.

Home values appreciated by about ten percent in 2020, and they’re forecast to appreciate by about five percent this year.

03/02/2021

The following are some of the strategies you can start to use to find the best properties to flip:

If you want to invest in real estate, flipping can be one of the most viable ways to do it. There is risk inherent in flipping houses. For example, if you don’t sell the house quickly, you have to maintain it. There are also almost always bumps along the way when you remodel a house to flip it, an...

03/01/2021

Real estate agents and homeowners weigh in on the blessings and the curses of homeowners’ associations (HOAs):

Home, sweet home...sort of. Are HOAs worth it? Here, real estate agents and homeowners weigh in on the blessings and curses of homeowners’ associations.