Yet another survey and report. I know this market is filled with statistic and numbers which is driving us crazy already. But this one might be interesting because it’s true fact that housing decisions are made taking kids future into consideration. There is also lot of reports which attest to the fact that kids go to good school tend to do good in their adulthood.
The majority of parents of school-aged children make their home-buying decisions with their kids in mind. Livability.com released its 2014 list of the top 10 best cities for children and Boise, Idaho came out on top. Boise’s plentiful outdoor activities, good schools, low cost of living, and low crime rate were among the reasons the city topped the list. Don’t look for Sugar Land, Houston or Austin. It’s not their in the list. Only Plano made to the list from Texas which is little bit consoling.
Here are all 10 of Livability.com’s best places for kids to live:
1. Boise, Idaho
Population: 212,983
Median Age: 35
Median Household Income: $51,160
Median Home Price: $158,437
Average Work Commute: 16 minutes
2. Downers Grove, Ill.
Population: 48,293
Median Age: 42
Median Household Income: $81,274
Median Home Price: $259,500
Average Work Commute: 24 minutes
3. Overland Park, Kan.
Population: 178,222
Median Age: 37
Median Median Household Income: $74,051
Median Home Price: $225,625
Average Work Commute: 18 minutes
4. Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Population: 129,073
Median Age: 35
Median Household Income: $50,714
Median Home Price: $118,998
Average Work Commute: 14 minutes
5. Plano, Texas
Population: 278,814
Median Age: 37
Median Household Income: $82,061
Median Home Price: $209,593
Average Work Commute: 24 minutes
6. Carmel, Ind.
Population: 83,889
Median Age: 39
Median Household Income: $103,607
Median Home Price: $277,339
Average Work Commute: 21 minutes
7. Brentwood, Tenn.
Population: 39,193
Median Age: 42
Median Household Income: $129,155
Median Home Price: $452,931
Average Work Commute: 21 minutes
8. Palo Alto, Calif.
Population: 66,436
Median Age: 41
Median Household Income: $124,256
Median Home Price: $1,495,000
Average Work Commute: 19 minutes
9. Royal Oak, Mich.
Population: 57,285
Median Age: 37
Median Household Income: $61,308
Median Home Price: $129,918
Average Work Commute: 21 minutes
10. Newton, Mass.
Population: 86,811
Median Age: 40
Median Household Income: $110,712
Median Home Price: $667,500
Average Work Commute: 24 minutes
Livability.com identified cities with high concentrations of school-age children, and from that list, researchers analyzed crime rate, school ranking, cost of living, health factors – such as childhood mortality rates and health insurance coverage – and even looked at the number of local restaurants with kids’ menus.
Riverstone
A Fort Bend area master-planned community where luxurious homes, water features and resort-style amenities define the landscape, Riverstone is one of Fort Bend County’s most desirable addresses. Riverstone residents enjoy an enviable lifestyle with a superb selection of new homes with Sugar Land and Missouri City addresses. Plus, with varied highway access and an array […]
Sienna
Sienna is a comprehensive 7,000-acre master-planned community. Sienna is more than houses inside one of the top Fort Bend County subdivisions. Neatly tucked between the acclaimed cities of Missouri City and the City of Sugar Land, it is a community in the truest sense of the word. Every effort is made to maintain a sense […]
Bridgeland
Imagine a place with vast open spaces and spectacular sunsets. An 11,400 acre master-planned community in northwest Houston where flocks of waterfowl glide across natural lakes. A refuge from the chaos of your workday. A place where you can find true balance. The new home community of Bridgeland is such a place. Bridgeland attracts and […]
Towne Lake – Master Planned Community, Cypress
Towne Lake reflects its Texas-sized appeal in a 300-acre lake, with beautiful views. Lake coves allow neighbors easy access to the water and to the many amenities and destinations throughout, bonding the community together. Towne Lake Charm is all these things and more, reflected in a community steeped in Texas pride. Caldwell Companies has perfected […]
Cypress Creek Lakes
Cypress Creek Lakes is a beautiful master-planned new home community nestled in the charming Northwest Houston suburb of Cypress, Texas. Mischer Development has carefully designed the 1,600-acre community to respect the natural beauty of the land while developing approximately 2,000 new home sites. Its convenient location on Fry Rd. just off of Highway 290 also […]
Top 10 Kids Friendly Cities…
FICO Changes – Will it help you?
Credit score and reports are key part of home buying process. Without a good credit score, it’s hard to find a lender to finance your mortgage. With tight lender requirements, one is required to have good credit history and decent score to grab to stellar low interest rate. In order to get to that point, one has to work hard to maintain their financial habits and stay out of trouble. With recent FICO scoring changes, it might help some to boost their score as a bonus and stay on track to buying their dream home.
FICO, the nation’s most popular credit-scoring system, announced it is tweaking some of the criteria used in coming up with consumers’ scores, which could help consumers save more money in qualifying for mortgages and other types of loans.
The changes include reducing the toll that overdue medical bills can take on credit scores, as well as removing other past penalties from consumers who have paid off debts that had been assigned to collection agencies. A consumer whose only major delinquency comes from an unpaid medical bill could see their credit score rise by 25 points due to the changes.
The changes come after a recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau study, which found that both paid and unpaid medical debts were unfairly penalizing consumers’ credit ratings. An estimated 64 million Americans have a medical collection item on their credit reports, according to Nick Clements of Magnify Money, a personal finance site.
The FICO changes will go into effect this fall, but borrowers may have to wait a year or more until they see the impact of the changes in their scores, lenders say.
The changes may help consumers with blemished past credit histories or high medical debts qualify for mortgages more easily. Consumers with higher scores also might qualify for a lower rate, housing experts say.
Borrowers with higher FICO scores can usually expect to pay less in interest on a loan. A borrower with a FICO score of 675 may nab a 4.75 percent interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, which would be about $2,086 a month in payments on a $400,000 loan, according to Informa Research Services. In comparison, a borrower with a 700 FICO score may qualify for a rate of 4.212 percent, which could drop the monthly payment to $1,959 and bring a $127 savings.
The credit scoring changes will not remove any unpaid debts from a credit report, so some lenders may still be able to factor that information into their lending decision.
In other news, two of the big national credit bureaus Experian and TransUnion recently reported they’ve added verified rental payment data into credit files, which will be used to compute a consumers’ score when applying for a mortgage. A recent TransUnion study showed that the inclusion of rental data could raise some consumers’ scores. For example, nearly 20 percent of renters’ scores rose by 10 points or more after just one month.
This is good news for many who are struggling to qualify or get good rate because of their low score. Hope this change helps them and bring more buyers to the market
Houston Market – Bidding wars on rise…
If you are a buyer looking to buy a preowned house in and around Houston area and you been working with an agent already, you know what I am talking about. It’s totally insane and you might have already lost few deals in the war. In recent month or so, I have lost almost 5 deals trying to compete and get a decent deal for my clients. There is too much competition and favoritism going on that only high offer flies.
Here is an interesting report from Redfin released recently,
63.4% of Redfin Offers Faced Competition in March, Compared with 73.4% Last Year.
Other data highlights:
In March, 63.4 percent of offers written by Redfin agents across 19 markets faced competition from other buyers, up from 58.7 percent in February. The spring’s escalation in competition hasn’t kept pace with 2013, when the bidding war rate peaked at 73.4 percent in March, but the housing market is still tough for buyers in many markets. In fact, some markets, including Seattle, Portland and Denver, are likely to see fiercer competition than last year, and a new Redfin analysis shows that more than half of all existing home inventory is unlikely to be listed for sale any time soon.
According to Redfin agent Minni MacFarlane in Orange County, Calif., “Competition can still get intense, but because prices have risen so much, my clients and I try to be more discerning about how far we should go to win a home. The past two years we’d compete against people camping out in their cars or entering lotteries to win new homes. This year, a bidding war is more likely to drive the price of a home higher than it’s worth competing for, and I think it will be easier for us to walk away from a situation like that.”Multiple Offers:
In the most competitive market, San Jose, Calif., 89.8% of homes had multiple offers, up from 86.7% last month, but short of last year’s 92.8%.
Baltimore (50.9%) and Boston (75.9%) had the largest year-over-year increases in bidding wars, up from 42.9% and 72.4%, respectively.
In San Diego, 66% of homes saw multiple offers, a significant drop-off from last year’s 89.2%.
Price Escalations:
Across 19 markets, 37.9% of homes sold above the asking price, up from 22% at the start of the year, but down from 44.8% last year.
While the average home in these markets sold at or slightly below asking price, homes in San Jose, Calif., sold for a whopping 13.8% above list price, up from 5.5% above last year.
In San Diego, the average home sold 4% below asking price, significantly lower than a year ago when the average home was selling for about asking price.
Competitive Strategies:
Compared with last year, more buyers were paying all cash (7.2% vs. 3.9%).
More buyers waived financing (9.4% vs. 6.6%).
More buyers waived pre-inspection (6.1% vs. 4.4%).
Washington, D.C., Redfin agent Tom Lewis told us, “Buyers are getting frustrated by the competition. I try to help my clients stay calm and keep things in perspective when they get into a bidding war, because once you’ve already made an offer, it can be tempting to become overly aggressive. But in my experience, patience pays off. The right home is always out there, and it doesn’t need to come with regrets.”
Here is my suggestion, if you really like the house and community then you really want to think high over the list price and better be ready to fight to win. But if you are looking for deal, you better practice to be patient and wait for the market to cool down. In Houston, I am not sure how long it will be because of the demand and supply conditions.
Source courtesy: Redfin
Is it sellers market or buyers market?
I am sure many of you know that Houston has turned around and it’s truly seller’s market now. Areas like Katy, Sugar land, Woodlands pricing wars goes on for any good property at good neighborhood. Sellers are pricing high and try to catch big fish and not willing to reduce price instead willing to wait on it. That’s shows sellers have gotten greedy and big appetite but at the same time market is feeding due to high demand. Here is the snapshot of Redfin from nation perspective.
Home buyers and sellers are “not on the same page” when it comes to the state of the housing market, according to a new Redfin survey of 707 of its agents and partner agents across 35 U.S. markets. Buyers and sellers are taking a more aggressive stance in the market, with some sellers overpricing their homes and more buyers refusing to get in bidding wars, the survey found.
“In May, 40 percent of sellers surveyed by Redfin said that they planned to list their homes above market value, even though home sales had dropped by 9 percent since the year before,” says Nela Richardson, Redfin’s chief economist. “Typically, it takes sellers six to nine months to adjust to a price change, but this latest shift is longer. Prices have moved down and then up so much over the past five years that it’s even more difficult for sellers to have a realistic baseline for what their homes are worth in the current market.”
Fifty-eight percent of Redfin agents say that sellers are holding unrealistic expectations about the value of their homes, up from 49 percent in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, buyers are showing less willingness to chase after a home, as they face affordability and financing hurdles, the survey found.
“Buyers who have been searching for a long time may still try to win deals with aggressive offers,” Richardson says. “However, new buyers in the market are much less willing to chase an escalating sale price to compete with multiple bids. The demand side of real estate is moving from ‘please take my offer’ to ‘take it or leave it as you please.’ Home buyers’ willingness to walk away from a deal that’s a bad fit is good for them and is ultimately healthier for the housing market.”
So is it a seller’s market or a buyer’s market? It depends on who you ask. Twenty-four percent of Redfin agents surveyed say that “sellers have all the power,” a drop from 35 percent three months ago.
Rising inventories have been beneficial for buyers who are less willing to participate in a bidding war, but they are facing other challenges, such as access to credit and affordability, the survey finds. The top challenges Redfin agents identified as growing problems for buyers are: lack of affordability; qualifying for a mortgage; saving enough for a down payment; and worries about the economy.
In summary, even though its seller’s market buyer still shouldn’t give away what they asking and should stick to their budget and don’t go beyond it. That will screw up the financials and get in trouble.
Why home prices are skyrocketing this last few years?
We all know especially in and around Houston home prices has been going up every month for the last few years. There are many things driving this price increase including high influx of people moving to Texas, less inventory, high demand for homes and less supply of labor. Out of all, labor shortages seems to have major impact. A June 2014 survey from the National Association of Home Builders shows that the industry is facing shortages of labor and subcontractors that have become “substantially more widespread since 2013.” Shortages are particularly notable for basic skills like carpentry and framing, the NAHB notes.The real estate industry has called for home builders to ramp up construction to meet inventory shortages. Home builders increasingly are facing significant labor shortages that is making it more difficult to complete projects, a new study shows.
Forty-six percent of builders reported a shortage of labor in 2014, the highest shortage reported since 2000 and slightly higher than at the peak of the housing boom in 2004 and 2005, when the United States was averaging about 2 million housing starts a year, the NAHB notes in its report. As of July 9th, annual housing starts remain mostly under 1 million. New-home construction has only partially recovered from its 2008 downturn and labor shortages are persisting despite relative slowdown in activity compared to previous years, the NAHB notes. Builders say a shortage of subcontractors is raising their costs. On average, builders said their direct labor costs on the same house rose by 2.9 percent, while subcontractor costs grew by 3.8 percent.
Three out of five builders say the labor shortages have caused them to pay higher wages or subcontractor bids (65%); raise home prices (62%); and created difficulty in completing projects on time (60%). Thirty-six percent of builders said the labor shortages were making some projects unprofitable, and 18 percent of builders reported having to even turn down some projects.Click here to read the full report.
If you are comparing the new home prices from last year to this year, in Woodlands, Sugar land and Katy area they have gone almost 5-10%. You might decide to stay away from the market which you did it in the first place and now the prices have gone up so much. No one can predict where it’s going to stop so it’s tough to time the market. You just have to decide whether you can afford a good quality house in good neighborhood and go for it since the rates are so low. Don’t keep waiting and lose the boat again!!!
