The Cascade Team Blog - Selling A Home

Housing Market Locked Downed (Are Last Year’s Low Rates the Reason?)

The premise of a mortgage rate lockdown is simple: so many American households have such low mortgage rates that some will never move once rates rise, which then locks up housing inventory. Said another way; A homeowner planning to relocate or downsize might find the higher costs related to higher mortgage rates too much of a hurdle to clear.

This is something I’ve never considered in my real estate career because we hadn’t had a period where mortgage rates moved up so quickly and then held higher for an extended period. But now this is a real risk.

For many Americans, homeownership became a reality during the years of ultra-low mortgage rates following the 2008 financial crisis, an environment that essentially lasted all the way up until the…

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Mortgage Rates Fall Again For 5th Week (Some Homes Are Seeing Bidding Wars)

Although slightly, mortgage rates dropped further this week. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 6.27% from 6.28% the previous week. With inflation moving closer to the Fed's 2% target, mortgage rates are expected to decrease further in the coming months, likely to be below 6% by year's end.

Meanwhile, these falling mortgage rates create opportunities for many buyers. A lower mortgage rate brings down the monthly payment for a home loan. If rates drop to 6%, 3.1 million more households will once again be able to afford to buy the median-priced home compared to the beginning of the year. And, 1 in 3 of these households are younger than 40. Last year, 1 in 5 mortgage purchase originations had a rate higher than 6%.

Some sellers…

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Average long-term mortgage rate falls a fourth straight week

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate fell for the fourth consecutive week and has dropped more than three-quarters of a point since hitting a 20-year high last month. This fourth week in a row of declines is leaving prospective buyers hopeful for sustained low rates throughout spring homebuying season.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average on the benchmark 30-year rate dipped to 6.33% from 6.49% last week. A year ago, the average rate was 3.1%.

The average long-term rate sat at 7.08% in early November but has since had the steepest 4-week decline since 2008.

“Though week-to-week rate changes can move up and down, the longer-term prospect on rates is for further improvement, with a clear possibility of going under…

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Spring Real Estate Market Finally Arrives

•          Inventory in the King, Snohomish and Pierce counties region grew over 14% from February.
•          March had “good sales activity on well-priced homes.
•          Pending sales jumped more than 14.5% from February,
•          Prices overall were down about 7.5% from a year ago.
•          All signs point toward a rather unusual market through the end of 2023.
•         Lowering prices, lowering interest rates, and longer days on the market signal some of the unpredictability of the current market.

KIRKLAND, Washington (April 6, 2023) – Real estate brokers around Washington state say the market is moving in a positive direction with the spring market “finally showing up in March.”

Newly-released statistics from Northwest…

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Predicting The Very Best Week To List Your Home in 2023

Calling all sellers. Do you want a quick home sale at a higher price, even in this troubled real estate market? Then open your calendar to April, uncap a bright yellow marker, and highlight the week of April 2–9th. This seven-day stretch has been identified as the best week to list your home in 2023.

Just how much extra cash can a seller potentially pocket and how fast can a home go from a new listing to the closing table?

During the best week to list, home prices are expected to be $8,400 higher than the typical week—and a whopping $48,000 above where we estimate price to be only 30 days later during May of 2023. Real estate listings are expected to receive 16.4% more views than in the typical week.

When is the best time to sell?

And…

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Mortgage Rates Fall in Wake of 3 Recent Bank Failures

•                   Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA): “Long-term rates have already peaked. We expect that 30-year mortgage rates will end 2023 at 5.2%.”
•                   National Association of Realtors (NAR) senior economist and director of forecasting, Nadia Evangelou: “If inflation continues to slow down—and this is what we expect for 2023—mortgage rates may stabilize below 6% in 2023.”
•                   Freddie Mac: Forecasts the average 30-year mortgage rate to start at 6.6% in Q1 2023 and end up at 6.2% in Q4 2023.
•                   The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 6.57% on Monday, according to Mortgage News Daily.
•                   If rates continue to drop now, buyers could return to the…

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Fewer Homes, for 50% More Money: An Honest Look at Homebuyers’ New Reality

If you’re the type of homebuyer whose mood soars or plummets depending on the latest mortgage rates, then this week was a tough one.

Mortgage rates continued to climb this week, with the 30-year loan averaging 6.73%, Freddie Macreports. Rates began climbing more than a month ago and are now prompting concerns that they could again head back above 7%. This means today’s homebuyers will have to pay almost 50% more per month for home than they would have just a year earlier.

Still, economists are largely forecasting rates to trend downward in 2023, even if there are some blips ahead.

For now, “rates may rise further in subsequent weeks, depending on how strong other economic data is,” says Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of real…

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Seattle Area Home Prices Could Face Double-Digit Drop, Goldman Sachs Warns

Seattle among cities likely to see big slump in housing prices.

Some of the biggest cities in the U.S. that became boom towns during the pandemic are set to see a drastic decline in home prices, according to Goldman Sachs analysts.

In a recent note to clients, the strategists warned that by the end of 2024, home prices are set to plunge by 19% in Austin, 16% in Phoenix, 15% in San Francisco and 12% in Seattle. That's because those four cities have seen large increases in inventory, and supply is now overwhelming demand.

"While overall levels of housing inventory remain tighter than pre-pandemic levels, some vulnerable metropolitan areas have seen supply increase rapidly. Unsurprisingly, our home price appreciation forecasts have been most…

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Don't Just Buy The House, Buy The Neighborhood

When you’re ready to buy your dream home, you’re committing to living in one location for a while. A great way to find out what it’s like to live somewhere before you commit is doing a little research about the neighborhood you’re interested in.

For example, reading reviews of residents who have shared their firsthand experiences of living in their neighborhoods will help you determine whether the zip code you’re interested in is the right fit for you and your family live in.

So, before you put your money on the line, take a peek around the neighborhood. We won’t use a certain cliché, but there is a reason the pros emphasize location when buying real estate. You can change your house—but you can’t change the neighborhood. And if your…

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Hard lessons from the Zillow fiasco: Why Zillow and Redfin pricing is wrong, and how homebuyers and sellers can avoid the same mistake when pricing a property in 2023

Hard lessons from the Zillow fiasco: Why Zillow and Redfin pricing is wrong, and how homebuyers and sellers can avoid the same mistake when pricing a property in 2023

Key Takeaways

• The Redfin Estimate and the Zillow Zestimate calculate a home’s market value by using publicly available information and user-submitted data.
• Both tools are often used by buyers when shopping for a home.
• Redfin’s median error rate is 2.28% for on-market homes, while Zillow’s is 1.9%, according to the two companies as of this writing.
• Neither home value estimator can or should replace a professional appraisal.

If you’ve ever wondered what you could get for your home, you probably pulled up the real estate listing site Zillow to check its Zestimate or…

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