When Will Mortgage Rates Come Down? Here’s When 9 Experts Say It Will Happen.

•          High mortgage rates make it difficult for prospective homebuyers to enter the market.
•          Mortgage rates could decline if the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates next year.
•          Here are nine projections from experts on when the Fed's first-rate cut will come.

High mortgage rates have effectively frozen the US housing market. And while lower rates could be on the horizon, Americans might have to wait awhile.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is over 7.4%, up from roughly 3% at the beginning of 2022. This has deterred prospective first-time homebuyers from taking the plunge and made existing homeowners reluctant to sell their homes and buy another — they'd rather stick with the super low rates they…

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Cruel Summer Of Increasing Home Prices & Mortgage Rates Comes To a Close—Why Fall Should Bring Buyers Hope

By Margaret Heidenry

Mortgage rates just jumped to their highest level in 20 years, averaging 7.09% for a 30-year fixed-rate home loan as of Aug. 17, according to Freddie Mac.

In addition to home loan rates hitting their highest levels in two decades, home prices edged upward for the week ending Aug. 12 compared with this same time period last year.

“For the third consecutive week, the median home listing price maintained a slight upward trajectory,” says Realtor.com® economic data manager Sabrina Speianu in her analysis.

Why record-high mortgage rates affect both homebuyers and sellers.

Record-high mortgage rates aren’t just weighing down buyers—they’re tethering sellers to their homes, too.

Speianu explains that most homeowners…

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Housing market downturn “inevitable” with higher rates, but brokers find bright spots.

KIRKLAND, Washington (August 7, 2023) –A downturn in the housing market was inevitable given higher mortgage rates, acknowledged broker Dick Beeson, but he and others who commented on the latest report from Northwest Multiple Listing Service noted some positives for both buyers and sellers.

The Northwest MLS statistics summarizing July activity for 26 counties in the report showed declines in listings, pending sales, closed sales and prices when compared to 12 months ago. The same metrics, which include single family homes and condominiums, were also down from June, with the exception of total active listings and months of inventory. Both showed slight month-over-month improvement.

 Buyers could choose from 10,982 active listings at the end of…

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Great Home Buyer Expectations (Rising Rates and Low Inventory) Home Affordability is What You Make of it.

Earlier predictions were that home prices would fall due to rising interest rates. Simply put, that hasn’t happened. While higher rates have slowed appreciation and added a few extra days on the market, home prices are actually climbing at about 4% this year, which is right in line with inflation. That main reason for this is simple supply and demand economics. Most of the country is sitting at historically low levels of inventory.

Sellers have been able to hold fairly strong this year even in the face of continued high interest rates and recession fears. The biggest contributing factor here has been the lack of inventory. People still have to buy due to job and lifestyle reasons such as growing families. With many people holding onto their homes…

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The Cascade Team Voted Neighborhood Favorite on NextDoor!

The Cascade Team is extremely honored to be recognized as the “Neighborhood Favorite” in Issaquah by NextDoor!

Thank you to our neighbors! We are honored to be voted a 2023 @Nextdoor Neighborhood Fave. This award means so much for our business and helps us become more recognizable in our community.

“Neighbors know best, and Nextdoor’s Neighborhood Faves are the only annual awards celebrating the businesses that are most loved by locals. This prestigious recognition is only awarded to 1% of the local businesses on Nextdoor and is a testament to the positive impact they have had on their community,” said Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar.

At The Cascade Team we understand first and foremost that it isn't about "Us". It's all about "You"! We are…

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UPDATED: 2023 Real Estate Market Predictions

Here is the link to my original 2023 PREDICTIONS

In early January we made our top 10 real estate predictions for 2023. So now, with the year a little more than half over, we are going to review and revise that same forecast and see where we actually are.

Original prediction: Sales prices will fall in 2023.

The most significant forecast was that sales prices would fall in 2023 without any sort of systemic decline in values. So far, prices are down by about 12% year over year; however, prices rose by 3.6% from March to April.

Taking into account interest rates remaining in the high 6% range currently we are standing by our original prediction that the median sales price for 2023 will be lower than that of 2022 however we do not anticipate…

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Despite High Interest Rates Buyers Compete Over Low Inventory

“Although at a lower velocity than previous years, low inventory and higher interest rates keep the overall market in a more balanced state as sales keep pace with new and existing inventory,”

KIRKLAND, Washington (July 6, 2023) – Brokers with Northwest Multiple Listing Service reported their highest volume of closed sales last month (6,842) since September 2022’s total (7,504) as buyers competed for limited inventory.

The Northwest MLS report summarizing June activity showed there were about six weeks of supply (1.55 months), with twelve of the 26 counties having less than two months of inventory. Among those were King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties, where nearly 55% of the inventory is located. Five counties reported having more than…

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Gain Your Independence From High Real Estate Commissions

High Impact Real Estate Marketing & 1% MLS Listing Commissions For Today’s Home Sellers

The Cascade Team Real Estate is a company like no other because of the marketing, service and home seller savings we provide. We understand that in today’s real estate & home selling environment, we need to provide a high level of real estate service and widespread marketing of the home for sale, utilize technology to keep our home seller clients in the communication loop and provide added value to both buyers and home sellers in the real estate transaction. The effective use of technology tools allows our local real estate agents to focus more of their time on servicing our clients and finding buyers for your home, all the while providing the most comprehensive…

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Un-Lock up to 85% Of Your Home’s Equity (Buy Before You Sell!)

How it works

1)      Unlock equity from your home with ease.

Discover the amount of equity you’re able to unlock from your current home with no fee or commitment. We'll evaluate your property property for the program and let you know how much of your equity you can unlock for the purchase of your new home.

2)      Help you buy your dream home with confidence.

The Cascade Team will enable you to make a strong offer on your new home without a home sale contingency - and move on your schedule. You are able to move in immediately upon closing.

3)      You Have 10 days to list your prior home on the open market after closing on your new home.

You then have an additional 90 days for your Cascade Team agent to get your prior home under…

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Preparing Your Home to Sell

True Full Service, Marketing & The Latest Innovative Technology, for a 1% Listing Fee!

As a home seller, the initial launch of your home for sale is a very important event. We want to make sure that all our clients give a great first impression to all home buyers who enter their homes. Here are some things you should look at when preparing to list your home for sale.

Home-improvements: Our local real estate agents and home stagers can provide you information on those items that provide the greatest return on getting your home sold quickly and for making a strong first impression.

Timing: We usually recommend to list your home for sale on a Thursday to maximize exposure to the weekend home buyers. Most people searching for homes will tour…

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