Sylvia Albers's Blog

 Now that the housing market has stabilized, more and more homeowners are considering moving up to the home they have always dreamed of. Prices are still below those of a few years ago and interest rates have stayed near historic lows.Sellers should realize that waiting to make the move when mort...

 Some Highlights: Harvard University's Joint Center of Housing Studies recently released the top financial & emotional reasons to own a home. Owning is a good way to build up wealth that can be passed along to your family as it is usually a form of "forced savings." You're paying for a house whet...

Some of the housing headlines are causing concern for some consumers who are in the process of either buying or selling a home. Pundits are concerned over the lack of new construction or the month-over-month sales numbers. Let’s set the record straight; 2015 was a good year for residential real e...

In CoreLogic’s latest Home Price Index, they revealed home appreciation in three categories: percentage appreciation over the last year, over the last month, and projected appreciation over the next twelve months. Here are state maps for each category: The Past – home appreciation over the last ...

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) just announced that the February Pending Home Sales Index reached it’s highest reading since July 2015.What is the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI)?NAR’s PHSI is “a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings”. The higher thePending Home Sales In...

In today's market, with homes selling quickly and prices rising, some homeowners might consider trying to sell their home on their own, known in the industry as a For Sale by Owner (FSBO). There are several reasons this might not be a good idea for the vast majority of sellers.Here are five of th...

Some Highlights This is the 48th consecutive month with year-over-year price gains. Lawrence Yun, NAR's Chief Economist says that, "The main issue continues to be a supply & affordability problem. Finding the right property at an affordable price is burdening many potential buyers." Inventory is ...

Two weeks ago, we posted a blog which explained that current increases in home prices were the result of the well-known concept of supply & demand and should not lead to conversations of a new housing bubble. Today, we want to look at home prices as compared to current incomes.Here is a graph sho...

CoreLogic’s latest Equity Report revealed that one million borrowers regained equity in their homes in 2015. The outlook for 2016 remains positive as well, as an additional 850,000 properties would regain equity if home prices rose another 5% this year. The study also revealed: 95% of homes value...

 In school we all learned the Theory of Supply and Demand. When the demand for an item is greater than the supply of that item, the price will surely rise.SUPPLYThe National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently reported that the inventory of homes for sale stands at a 4.4-month supply. This is ...