by rtdosen | Feb 24, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Home Design Trends for 2015 By Ryan Dosen Winter’s a great time to consider your options for home improvement. The weather has us stuck inside our homes more than we’d like, but this really gives us a chance to look more closely at our homes and the areas that are in most need of updating. If you are smart about the areas you improve, and savvy enough to be with or ahead of the trends, you will be able to enjoy an updated home and also be able to recover most or all of your improvement costs when it comes time to sell. It should be noted that home improvement projects rarely result in the homeowner recovering all of their investment dollars. If you are looking to improve your house simply in order to improve your chances of selling or your net after settlement, it is generally recommended that you stick to mostly cosmetic fix-ups, such as adding a fresh coat of paint, repairing damaged flooring, or improving your landscaping. If you’re looking to update your home for your personal enjoyment, to stay with the times, and to position yourself well to sell your home in the near future, consider some of these popular design trends for 2015, as well as some of the recent design trends that are on their way out. In: Quartz (or Quartzite) Countertops Real Estate website Redfin.com says that granite countertops are starting to give way to quartz countertops, which are not as porous, require less maintenance, are less prone to staining, and are better able to withstand homeowner abuse. Quartzite is also...
by rtdosen | Feb 18, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Home Buyers’ Undiscovered Treasure Trove By Ryan Dosen Much has been made of late regarding the federal government’s efforts to prop up the housing market with special new programs designed to encourage home ownership. The programs have been both lauded for their potential positive impact on the economy and real estate market, and harshly criticized as overreaching and irresponsible measures similar to those that led to the real estate collapse of the late 2000s. For better or for worse, the programs are here, and the result will be more people qualifying to buy homes and more people buying homes. But government assistance to the housing market does not stop at the federal level. Many do not know that there is a treasure trove waiting out there with state and even county funds to help individuals purchase homes by providing down payment assistance. Down Payment Resource Earlier this month, RealtyTrac released the findings of their recent study on down payment programs in America. To help them conduct their study, RealtyTrac enlisted the help of Down Payment Resource, or DPR, an organization that “helps potential homebuyers become qualified buyers by connecting them to down payment assistance funds they may not have otherwise known existed.” RealtyTrac examined 2,290 down payment programs from DPR’s Homeownership Program Index and found that 87 percent of the single family homes in the 1,792 counties surveyed would qualify for a down payment program. Down Payment Assistance in Pennsylvania To help figure out what programs are available to Pennsylvanians and Chester County residents, I sat down with local mortgage expert Karen Jackson of Waterstone Mortgage in West Chester....
by rtdosen | Feb 12, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Dominoes Fall and Home Buyer Momentum Surges By Ryan Dosen The wise guys crunching the numbers for the real estate industry have noticed some important developments in the lower tier real estate market that are expected to support across-the-board home buyer momentum in 2015. Clear Capital, a solutions provider for real estate asset valuation and collateral risk assessment for large financial services companies in the mortgage and lending industries, just released a market report this week entitled, “Traditional Homebuyers, Make Your Move.” The report, backed with hard numbers from today’s improving market, forecasts a bright near-term future for real estate. A Transitional Year for Real Estate Clear Capital’s report states that “2015 has the promise of a transitional year where full buyer momentum in the low and mid tiers reinforce a strong housing recovery.” The report cites “sustained national price growth in the low tier segment, once driven by investor activity,” as being good news for first-time homebuyers. Clear Capital notes that fewer and fewer people are underwater on their mortgages, and that “with more equity to play with, the mid tier homeowners could move-up, creating more opportunity and driving healthy demand in the low and mid tiers of the market.” In addition to there being fewer homeowners underwater on their mortgages, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and RealtyTrac report that the number of “equity rich” homeowners has taken a big step forward in the past year. RealtyTrac’s U.S. Equity & Underwater Report for the fourth quarter of 2014 reported that about 20 percent of all mortgaged properties (around 11.3 million) are now considered “equity rich,” with...
by rtdosen | Feb 6, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Lower Gas Prices and the Impact on Housing By Ryan Dosen Oil is under $50 per barrel, the AAA Fuel Gauge Report says that the national average gas price is almost down to $2 per gallon, and almost everyone is feeling better for it. According to AAA’s data, gas prices have been shaved by over one third in the past year, leaving more change in consumers’ pockets, and giving them more reason to be confident about the economy and their own futures. And as we’ve said time and time again, confident people buy stuff, including houses. Household Savings The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) delivers a monthly short-term energy outlook that reports current energy prices and trends, and also forecasts future prices. The EIA’s most recent report from January 13, 2015 (when national gas prices at $2.14 per gallon), estimated that gas prices would average $2.16 per gallon for the first quarter, and $2.33 per gallon for all of 2015. Prices have fallen below the EIA’s forecast, but it is early and there is little certainty regarding the longer-term direction of gas prices. Nevertheless, the EIA projects the average household to “spend about $750 less for gasoline in 2015 compared with last year because of lower prices.” The EIA forecasts that U.S. household gasoline expenditures in 2015 could be the lowest in 11 years. Confident Consumers Riding the wave of lower gas prices, the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index increased in December to 92.6. This number is close to the seven-year high hit a few months ago. Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board,...
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