by rtdosen | Apr 20, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
3 Tips for Buying in a Seller’s Market By Ryan Dosen Homes remain in short supply and buyers are starting to get frustrated. Many areas are seeing legitimate seller’s market conditions, and unprepared buyers are finding themselves swinging and missing, or sometimes not even getting a chance to see homes as they pop on and off the market in a day or two. For many areas, gone are the days when buyers could arrogantly take their time circling over homes like vultures waiting for their prey to finally weaken and be victimized. Many have forgotten what it’s like to be in a seller’s market, but if you’re looking to buy a home this spring, you need to be prepared to act and to act quickly. Tip #1: Get Preapproved Before You Start Looking at Homes When it comes time to submit an offer, you’re going to need to show the seller that you’ve been preapproved for a mortgage sufficient to buy their home. Many buyers still think that they can casually browse the homes available and delay preapproval until they find the right home. This is a mistake. Sitting down with a mortgage professional for preapproval may only take 30 well-spent minutes. You’ll know what you can afford and you will leave the meeting with the paperwork you need to submit your offer. If you kick the can, it could take a day or two to get your meeting with the mortgage professional, and a day or two (or even hours) could be too long to wait in today’s market. Tip #2: Hire a Top Local Agent It is...
by rtdosen | Apr 8, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Fed No Longer Patiently Waiting to Hike Rates By Ryan Dosen The Federal Reserve is no longer assuring the public and markets that it will be “patient” in raising interest rates. Fed Chair Janet Yellen did not give us an exact time frame for the rate hikes, but she did open the door for rates moving upward as early as June of this year. Many experts do not foresee rate hikes coming in June, but they are coming. The question is: when? Neither Patient Nor Impatient Up until its most recent announcement regarding U.S. monetary policy, the Fed’s message was that it was going to be “patient” in raising the federal funds rate, which still sits in the current 0 to ¼ percent target range. The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which a depository institution/bank lends funds maintained at the Federal Reserve to another depository institution overnight. When the Fed raises the cost for banks to borrow money, the interest rates banks’ customers will pay will follow suit. In this week’s announcement, the Fed notably removed its pledge to be “patient” in raising rates. However, Yellen stated that “just because we removed the word ‘patient’ from the statement doesn’t mean that we are going to be impatient.” Yellen further stated that the Fed’s “modification of the forward guidance should not be read as indicating that the committee has decided on the timing of the initial increase in the target range for the federal funds rate.” She also said that “this change does not mean that an increase will necessarily occur in June. Although, we can’t rule...
by rtdosen | Mar 19, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Whispers of a Shifting Housing Market By Ryan Dosen It always starts small. “The reality, I believe, is that all change starts small. The big picture is just too unwieldy, too incomprehensible and seemingly immovable. But give us something individual, quantifiable and personalize-able and, suddenly, our perspective shifts to the one.” The words of Mick Ebeling, a well-known entrepreneur and TED speaker, probably centered on the founding principles of his Not Impossible Foundation—an organization that develops creative solutions to help overcome difficult or seemingly-impossible real world problems. Ebeling’s words were not directed at the real world problem of the well-deserved general fear of buying real estate in the wake of the Great Recession and market collapse of the 2000s. Indeed, after the collapse, most of us looked back with 20/20 hindsight, shaking our heads at the foolish practices of “no-doc” lending, borrowing with negative amortization schedules, and even camping out to buy homes sight unseen. Those days were like the Wild West. Boy, oh boy. Crazy times, I tell you. We’ll be telling our kids, and they’ll be telling their kids about those days for years to come. We’ll never see anything like that again in our lifetimes…. Right? Starting Again, With a Whisper News of it has barely risen to the level of a whisper, but just a few short years after the market collapse of the 2000s, we are already starting to see signs of the seemingly incomprehensible. The National Association of Realtors reported this week that home buyers are camping out again to buy new homes, particularly in Sun Belt areas like Phoenix and Las Vegas....
by rtdosen | Mar 13, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Home Remodeling Projects: Best Bets vs Foolish Flops By Ryan Dosen When it comes to home improvements, all projects are not created equally—especially when you consider your projected return-on-investment. Spring is the time of year when many of us will consider either moving or improving our existing home. To help guide us in the wise disposition of our precious dollars, Remodeling Magazine just released its “2015 Cost vs Value Report.” The Report “compares average cost for 36 popular remodeling projects with the value those projects retain at resale in 102 markets.” Some projects will return 80 percent or more of your initial investment; other projects may not even return half of your investment. To help clear the fog, let’s take a look at the best and worst return-on-investment home remodeling projects. Best Bet: Entry Door Replacement (Steel) Remodeling Magazine’s highest rated return-on-investment home improvement was the replacement of your entry door with a new 20-gauge steel unit, including clear dual-pan half-glass panel, jambs, and aluminum threshold with composite stop. This was the only project that actually was estimated to return more than the initial investment (cost recouped: 101.8 percent). The average job cost for this project was listed at $1,230. Foolish Flop: Sunroom Addition The lowest return-on-investment project analyzed by Remodeling Magazine was the addition of a sunroom. The addition of a sunroom, estimated to cost around $75,000, was priced out assuming the construction of a 200-square-foot build-out with 10 large aluminum-clad venting skylights and movable shades. Netting only a 48.5 percent return-on-investment, this renovation would only be expected to increase your home’s value by around $36,000. Best...
by rtdosen | Mar 4, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Where We Will Move By Ryan Dosen Location. It is usually the single most important thing that people consider when buying a home. The Demand Institute, a non-advocacy, non-profit organization and division of The Conference Board, says that three out of four people identify a location consideration as the driving force behind their move. The Institute recently surveyed over 10,000 households regarding their current living situation and what’s most important to them in a home and community. The results confirmed what many would suspect: that when it comes to real estate, location matters most. The Demand Institute The Demand Institute says that it was created to “help government and business leaders align investments with where consumer demand is headed across industries, countries and markets.” In order to achieve its purpose, the Institute regularly polls large volumes of people to gain insight as to their mindset and tendencies. This latest Institute survey was aimed at determining where America is moving. Where Wins “The location where I live is more important than the home itself.” When responding to this Institute question, almost half of respondents agreed, while only 20 percent disagreed. If forced to decide, only one in five Americans would choose house over lot. Another interesting survey stat revealed that more people are looking to move farther from a city than closer to a city. Only 30 percent of current homeowners live in urban areas, creating what the Institute dubs “a suburban nation.” Suburban life looks to become even more commonplace, as only 27 percent of current homeowners think that their next home will be in an urban area....
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