Recently while reading an article about the housing market in Kiplinger magazine, we realized that many of you may feel you missed out as the first time home buyer’s tax credit draws to an end. The real story is that with mortgage rates at historic lows, hovering around 5%, there is still time to reap rewards. Is now the time for you to buy? Let’s look at some numbers.

According to the National Association of Realtors, at a national level, the median price for a single family home is $163,600. The local Wilmington, NC market saw a 14% decline in the past year with the current average sales price of $219,813. Although we are seeing our fair share of short sales and foreclosures, we aren’t riddled like some areas of the nation but the local unemployment rate of 9.7 % may play a role in further price declines.

Freddie Mac predicts mortgage rates near 5.7% for a 30 year fixed rate by the end of 2010. If you continue to wait hoping for prices to drop further any financial gain you could realize may be swallowed up by increased mortgage rates.

If you must sell before you are in position to purchase, get your home realistically priced from the start. Unfortunately, we see sellers who followed the market with their pricing strategy instead of pricing the home ahead of the market. Your home will not be worth more than it is right now; at least for the foreseeable future. We remind our sellers that the current market competition forces us to be in a price war and a beauty contest. Your profits will be greater and the days on the market less if you price it right from the get go. We can advise you how to make your home appealing and priced right to move. Give us a call today 910-442-2030.

See the link below for more information from the Kiplinger article.

http://kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/nows-the-time-to-buy-a-home.html

I hope your 2009 ended well and that your New Year is off to a great start! Our team ended the year strong with a 60% increase in sales, putting us in the top 1 percentile of agents in Wilmington.

As a whole, New Hanover County ended the year with just over 2500 transactions, down 11% from 2008.  The ’09 average sales price was also down 11% from last year and average days on market up 17%.  Total closed dollar amount (the sum of sales prices of all sold homes) declined 21%. 

With interest rates bouncing above and below 5% (for a 30-year fixed), this continues to be a great time to move up or buy a first home. If you or anyone you know has plans to buy, sell or invest in the New Year, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.  We are by no means the high-pressure sale type, and we promise to take great care of you!

It seems you can’t turn on the TV or radio these days without hearing about the doom and gloom of the housing market. Well in this post, I’d like to focus on the positive. The graph below shows the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage since 1972.

GREAT NEWS: rates are the lowest they’ve been in a long long time! Unlike what you hear on the news, there is money out there- and buyers are getting approved for financing everyday. So what exactly does a low rate mean to you? Well, a 1/2% in rate = about $6k more in sales price you can afford per $100,000. Again, great news!

But please also note, buyers waiting for rates to drop even further may miss out. Home loan rates have benefited from the weakness in the financial markets. However, the Fed just lowered the Federal Funds Rate and Discount Rate by 0.50%. In an unprecedented emergency move, central banks across the globe joined in lowering interest rates. This could cause home loan rates to rise in the coming weeks and months if confidence returns to the stock markets.

Thank you JD Terry of East Carolina Bank for providing this data. Feel free to call him anytime with questions about the market: 910-799-4106.

The announcement came at 8:20 am New York time before the U.S. markets opened. Stock futures, which were pointing to a sharply lower open, bounced back but are still indicating a lower open.

The following is the text of a statement released by the U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday:

The Federal Open Market Committee has decided to lower its target for the federal funds rate 75 basis points to 3-1/2 percent.

The Committee took this action in view of a weakening of the economic outlook and increasing downside risks to growth.

While strains in short-term funding markets have eased somewhat, broader financial market conditions have continued to deteriorate and credit has tightened further for some businesses and households.

This mortgage update provided by:

JD Terry Mortgage Banker East Carolina Bank Mortgage Phone: 910-431-6082 Fax: 910-799-7091 JDTerry.com

If you have any questions on how this will effect retail mortgage interest rates please do not hesitate to give JD a call.

Thank you mortgage consultants Eleanor and Steve Thorne for providing the below “By the Numbers” report.

1. FED – The Fed’s # 7 meeting of 2007 will conclude on Wednesday (10/31/07). The Fed funds futures market is priced to reflect a 92% chance of a ¼ of 1% rate cut, a 8% chance of a ½ of 1% rate reduction, and a 0% chance of no rate cut (source: Barron’s).
2. HOME SWEET HOME – The average size (in square feet) of a new home built in the USA is 2,500 today, an increase of +47% since 1970. Bill Gates, the richest American, owns a home with 66,000 square feet (source: Money Magazine, Rocky Mountain News).
3. A FEW OWN A LOT – Americans own 40% of the globe’s wealth yet they make up less than 5% of the world’s population (source: Business Week, Census Bureau).