Sales of newly built,
single-family homes in May rose 2.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual
rate of 610,000 units after an upwardly revised April reading, according to
newly released data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and
the U.S. Census Bureau.
So, that is the good news. The bad news? The median sales price jumped 11.5% to $345,800.
Supply is still very tight with only 5.3 months of inventory at the current
sales pace which means steady upward pressure on future prices.
“This month’s report is in line with our forecast, and consistent with solid
builder confidence readings,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “With
more consumers entering the market, further job growth and tight existing home
inventory, the new home sector should continue to expand.”
Regionally, new home sales increased 13.3 percent in the West and 6.2 percent
in the South. Sales fell 10.8 percent in the Northeast and 25.7 percent in the
Midwest.
Staying on top of all the
things you need to do to keep your home well maintained can seem like a
challenge sometimes. But the good news is that it doesn’t have to be a
monumental chore. Here are four tips on how you can keep yourself on track. Learn
What Needs Maintaining
The first step to keeping your house in good repair is to learn what kinds of
things need doing. Find a good online list of home maintenance tasks, and
figure out which ones apply to your particular home. From there, you can start
to get an idea of the costs and materials associated with keeping things up. Make
a Calendar
Once you have a solid list of maintenance tasks for your new home, you'll need
to arrange the items in a way that will help you track how often you will need
to perform each task. Put it up in a common area, and make sure to mark all of
the dates for maintenance clearly.
Use Your Electronics
Of course, modern electronics offer multiple ways to help you organize your
life. You can use calendar and reminder apps for your smart devices to replace
or supplement your physical calendar if you want. Having a monthly reminder pop
up telling you what kind of cleaning and maintenance duties are due at your
home is helpful as far as reminding you, though it can be a bit too easy to
simply flick the remainder away when it goes off. Put
Money Aside
Maintenance isn't free, unfortunately, and one common cause of putting off what
needs to be done is a lack of money when it needs doing. It's all too easy to
tell yourself you'll just wait a week for some cash to free itself up. To
prevent this, set aside a fund for home repair and maintenance tasks, and avoid
using it for anything other than a true emergency.
Home maintenance is not always fun, but it prevents bigger problems down the
line. Spending some time now on keeping things up will pay off in the future.
According to the Mortgage
Banker's Association, mortgage applications for New Home (homes not previously
occupied) are on the move upward.
Purchase apps were up 15% year over year. Month over month, applications went
up by 4%. On a seasonally adjusted basis, last month saw an increase of 8.6% from April’s
557,000 units; on an unadjusted basis, new home sales increased by 5.6% to
57,000 new units from 54,000 in April.
"Following a decline in April, applications for new homes slightly
rebounded month-over-month in May, setting up a 15% year over year increase
relative to May of 2016," said Lynn Fisher, MBA vice president of research
and economics. "While March has signaled the peak in applications for new
homes for the last two years, we may see more sustained activity throughout the
balance of this year as demand for new homes continues to increase and strong
house price growth continues to motivate homebuilding."
Conventional loans made up 69.2% of loan applications; FHA loans, 17.5%;
RHS/USDA loans, 1.1%; and VA loans, 12.2%. The average loan size of new homes
decreased to $324,844 last month from $329,244 in April.
If your home is struggling to catch the eye of a buyer, it could be for an entirely valid reason. Maybe you're stuck in a sluggish market or have the poshest place on the block (always a tough sell). But there's another possibility, too—your home could be sitting on the market because of a rookie selling mistake. All of us can make 'em, even those of us who actually have a few home sales under our belts.
The good news? These basic slip-ups can be easily corrected or avoided. To help you out, we spoke to real estate agents to identify some of the most common mistakes people make in trying to sell their home. Sidestep these flubs to avoid sabotaging your own sale.
Rookie mistake No. 1: Overpricing your home
All sellers want to get top dollar for their house. Unfortunately, says Julie McDonough, a real estate agent in Southern California, “many people overestimate the value of their home.” For example, she says, “if a neighbor sells their house for $400,000, you might automatically assume that your house is worth at least that much money, but that’s not necessarily the case.”
“Price is typically the reason why a house doesn’t sell,” says Irvine, CA, real estate agent Benny Kang. And the last thing you want to do is list too high right from the start, because it could cause your house to sit on the market—which might require you to make a serious price reduction in order to sell it.
“If a home is on the market for more than four weeks, prospective buyers are going to assume that there is something wrong with it,” says Kang.
Your best approach: Listen to your agent’s listing price recommendation, and try not to get too emotional if your agent's suggestion isn't as high as you'd hoped.
Rookie mistake No. 2: Not budging on price
Even if the price is right, you might need to be flexible—especially if you’re in a buyer’s market. So, if you receive an offer that’s below list price, you should at least consider making a counteroffer. After all, receiving $5,000 or $10,000 less for your house than what you wanted is a small concession in the long term.
Rookie mistake No. 3: Doing a lousy job of cleaning
Let's make this clear: Your home needs to be spotless. That might mean hiring a professional cleaner to do a deep and thorough cleaning of the entire place. You might want to consider renting a storage locker to make the process of cleaning out the garage, closets, and attic less onerous. But it will likely be worth it, because clutter distract buyers in a big way.
Bonus: A clean house will also enable you to takegreat photographs for your listing (see our next point).
Rookie mistake No. 4: Using crummy photographs
Unless you’re an artist with the camera, you’ll want to hire a professional photographer to take pictures of the house, because nearly half of home buyers start their search online, a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors® found.
“You can write a beautiful description, but people aren’t initially focusing on the description," says Philadelphia real estate agent PatrickConway. “They’re looking at the pictures.”
A photographer will cost between $150 and $400—a good investment.
Rookie mistake No. 5: Leaving religious or political belongings in plain sight
“You never know what type of buyer is going to look at your house,” says McDonough, so put away all personal belongings—specifically, religious or political items, which can be awfully polarizing. “You don’t want anything that’s going to distract buyers.”
Rookie mistake No. 6: Lurking around at your own open house
This is a huge mistake for several reasons.
“If the buyer knows that the seller is there, they might feel uncomfortable asking the listing agent honest questions about the home,” says Kang. Buyers might also feel like they’re intruding if you're present, which is kind of crazy.
“People like to open closet doors and look closely at the home without someone hovering over their shoulder,” says Conway.
Rookie mistake No. 7: Making it difficult for agents to show your home
When selling your house, “be prepared for little privacy,” says Kang. Translation: You'll need to be flexible when buyers ask to see your home on short notice. To make it easy for buyer’s agents to show the property while you're away (see No. 6), let your agent install a lockbox with keys to the house, advises Conway.
Rookie mistake No. 8: Leaving pets at home during showings
Some people are simply scared of pets, (yes, even your cute little pug), or they might have allergies that will make them want to steer clear. So don’t just crate your dog or cat during showings; instead, take them with you or drop them off with a neighbor while buyers are viewing the house. And because pets, like humans, tend to accumulate lots of stuff—leashes, collars, toys, water bowls, and the like—make sure you stow their paraphernalia in a cupboard or closet. And do a quick vacuum of pet hair before you go!
According to the US Census
Bureau's recent Quarterly Housing Vacancies and Homeownership report, rates of
homeownership look to be holding steady. The homeownership rate clung to 63.6
percent in the first quarter of 2017, virtually unchanged from 63.7 percent the
quarter prior and 63.5 percent the year prior.
Additional findings from the study include:
The Midwest held the highest
homeownership rate in the first quarter, at 67.6 percent, while the West
held the lowest at 59 percent.
Homeownership rates in the
first quarter were also highest among homeowners aged 65 and older, at
78.6 percent, and lowest for homeowners aged 35 and younger at 34.3
percent.
The rate of homeownership among
Hispanic Americans markedly rose for the second straight year in 2016 - a
trend against the current par for the course and currently stands at 46.6
percent.
The renter vacancy rate came in
at 7 percent. Breaking this down more specifically, the renter vacancy
rate was highest outside "Metropolitan Statistical Areas" or
"MSAs" at 8.7 percent, followed by inside principal cities at 7
percent and in the suburbs at 6.5 percent.
The median asking sales price
for vacant for sale housing in the first quarter was $176,900. The median
rent for vacant for rent housing, over the same period, was $864.
Selling a home should be a joyous process—where you show off your digs to enamored buyers who shower you with offers that far surpass what you paid for the place originally. That's the dream, anyway. And yet, all too often, the home-selling process is fraught with pain, surprises, and no small amount of post-sale regrets. As proof, peruse these cautionary tales of real-life home sellers, and the lessons they learned.
Moving in with Mom and Dad
Last year, Nick Braun sold his Columbus, OH, home ... while his new home was still being renovated. The combination of lousy planning and poor timing meant Braun had to move out of the old house and pay to store his furnishings as he waited for the new house to be ready. "My family and I lived in my parents' house for over three months!" says Braun.
Lesson learned: "It’s difficult to plan perfect timing when you're selling and buyingand renovating," says Carolina Chia, a Realtor® at New York's TripleMint Real Estate. But you can mitigate this risk by including a contingency in your contract saying that your new digs must be ready before you move out of your old. Or else, arrange to have other interim living arrangements in place. "And there's always the option of leasing back from the buyer until the renovations are finished," says Chia.
You see 'homey,' they see clutter
Rachel Ryan learned a hard lesson when she sold her first home in Hanahan, SC. "My house was sparkling clean, but there was a lot of stuff that drew attention away from the home's key features," says Ryan. "What I thought looked homey actually made the house seem cluttered and disheveled." That mistake chopped tens of thousands off Ryan's sale price. Ouch!
Lesson learned: Potential buyers have to be able to envision themselves living in a home, says Erika Dalager,at the home staging site roOomy. She advises sellers to remove as much clutter as possible and refrain from displaying personal items like family photos. Instead opt for neutral décor that showcases the space without overpowering it.
Why didn't we fix that sooner?
Like many people, Chris Brantner put off nagging updates he'd wanted to do in his first home in Houston, TX, because of the cost. When it came time to sell, he did them all, to get a good sale price. "And guess what? We didn't want to leave!" says Brantner.
Lesson learned: "Don't wait to fix your home up until right before you sell!" says Brantner. "Our experience would have been so much better had we just done the updates." Remember, many renovations that seem pricey have a greatreturn on investment, so do them now, and they'll pay off later. Meanwhile, you can enjoy the improvements yourself!
No parking allowed
When Brad Chandler needed to move out of state to care for a sick relative, he priced his Chesapeake Beach, MD, home to sell, and quickly went to contract. But when the buyer got a land survey—which Chandler had failed to do—it revealed that his driveway ran through an adjacent property. The day before closing, the buyers' lender wouldn't accept the property. "Now I have to fix that issue, and the house will be worth less in the long run," says Chandler.
Lesson learned:Always get a survey of the property prior to selling, especially when you aren’t in a cookie-cutter neighborhood or the house is in an older subdivision, advises Chandler.
Wait, I want my home back!
For Michelle Morton, the hardest part of selling her home of 11 years in Raleigh, NC, was the unexpected emotion. It affected her so much, she tried to back out of the sale several times, but the buyers refused to budge. "I was still a mess on the move-out day," says Morton. "I felt like I had just taken my kids' home away from them."
Lesson learned: Sellers are often blindsided by the heartbreak they feel when selling a home. Still, if the time is right to sell, try to focus on the benefits—like the money you'll save and the better neighborhood you're moving to, says Tracey Hampson of Century 21 Troop Real Estate in Santa Clarita, CA. Also keep in mind that moving doesn't erase the fond memories you have—and that your new place will "feel like home" eventually. Just give it time.
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Margaret Heidenry is a writer living in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, and Boston Magazine.
