Have you ever said something in the heat of the moment, then wished for weeks later you could reel those words back in? Truth is, all of us commit emotion-driven mistakes in some areas of our lives. But when it comes to selling your home - read: cashing out your most valuable asset - the stakes are simply too, too high to allow yourself and your transaction to fall prey to predictable emotional pitfalls.
Fortunately, when it comes to emotion, what’s predictable is avoidable if you’re willing to acknowledge and correct for your own feelings and how they can foul up your decision-making. This list will help you predict - and better yet, avoid - some common decision traps driven by emotions.
1. Price reduction paralysis. Wikipedia defines panic as “a sudden sensation of fear which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reaction.” But there’s a real estate-specific reaction to panic that the infinitely wise Wiki editors left out: freezing up entirely.
In cases of overpricing, the seller has most often started out as overconfident in their home’s prospects on the current market. But as the days on the market turn into weeks, or even months, that overconfidence morphs into panic: panic that the place will only get a lowball offer, panic that the place won’t ever sell, panic that the seller will be stuck in the property, panic that the seller’s future life or career plans will be ruined. This is a panic that snowballs into increasingly disastrous hypothetical scenarios, and fast.
Unfortunately, this panic is often accompanied by a fear that actually reducing the home’s list price will actually kick off the snowball effect. This couldn’t be further from the truth: when a home is dramatically overpriced, cutting the price is the only way to fix the scenario (besides pulling it off the market entirely) and render the home more compelling to buyers. Some sellers have actually found that reducing their price gets them to a sweet spot wherein their home receives multiple offers and sells somewhere between the reduced price and the original list price.
But sellers who cannot manage their fear and panic can end up paralyzed, unable to cut the list price. And this begins the snowball effect of more and more days on the market, which aggressive buyers watch until they believe the seller’s desperation will make them amenable to a lowball offer.
The best way to deactivate this panic is to put a plan in place before it ever arises. Work with your agent to understand how to use the data around how long most homes in your area take to sell as a guidepost for making price reductions, if and when the need arises.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Monday, November 12, 2012
Housing market uptrend expected through 2014
ORLANDO, Fla. – Nov. 12, 2012 – The housing market recovery should continue through the coming years, assuming there are no further limitations on the availability of mortgage credit or a “fiscal cliff,” according to forecast presentations at a residential forum at the 2012 Realtors® Conference and Expo. Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), said the housing market clearly turned around in 2012.
“Existing-home sales, new-home sales and housing starts are all recording notable gains this year in contrast with suppressed activity in the previous four years, and all of the major home price measures are showing sustained increases,” Yun said. “Disruption from Sandy likely will be temporary, notably in New Jersey and New York, but the market is likely to pick up speed within a few months with the need to build new homes in damaged areas.”
Yun sees no threatening signs for inflation in 2013, but projects it to be in the range of 4 to 6 percent by 2015. “The huge federal budget deficit is likely to push up borrowing costs and raise inflation well above 2 percent,” he said. Rising rents, quantitative easing (the printing of money), federal spending outpacing revenue, and a national debt equal to roughly 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product are all raising inflationary pressures.
Mortgage interest rates are forecast to gradually rise and to average 4.0 percent next year, and 4.6 percent in 2014 from the inflationary pressure.
With rising demand and an ongoing decline in housing inventory, Yun expects meaningfully higher home prices. The national median existing-home price should rise 6.0 percent to $176,100 for all of 2012, and increase another 5.1 percent next year to $185,200; comparable gains are seen in 2014.
“Existing-home sales, new-home sales and housing starts are all recording notable gains this year in contrast with suppressed activity in the previous four years, and all of the major home price measures are showing sustained increases,” Yun said. “Disruption from Sandy likely will be temporary, notably in New Jersey and New York, but the market is likely to pick up speed within a few months with the need to build new homes in damaged areas.”
Yun sees no threatening signs for inflation in 2013, but projects it to be in the range of 4 to 6 percent by 2015. “The huge federal budget deficit is likely to push up borrowing costs and raise inflation well above 2 percent,” he said. Rising rents, quantitative easing (the printing of money), federal spending outpacing revenue, and a national debt equal to roughly 10 percent of Gross Domestic Product are all raising inflationary pressures.
Mortgage interest rates are forecast to gradually rise and to average 4.0 percent next year, and 4.6 percent in 2014 from the inflationary pressure.
With rising demand and an ongoing decline in housing inventory, Yun expects meaningfully higher home prices. The national median existing-home price should rise 6.0 percent to $176,100 for all of 2012, and increase another 5.1 percent next year to $185,200; comparable gains are seen in 2014.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Study: Homeownership benefits children
WASHINGTON – Oct. 25, 2012 – Three California professors conducted a study on how homeownership benefits of children. Working under the Research Institute for Housing America, an independent arm of the Mortgage Bankers Association, they found that the homeowners’ children stay in school longer and face a lower risk of teen pregnancy than renters’ children.
The study did not offer a reason why homeownership helps children, but one author has an opinion:
“Does buying a home make you a better person?” asks Richard K. Green, director of the University of Southern California’s Lusk Center for Real Estate. “No, but the discipline associated with saving for even a small downpayment and subsequently managing a house is, on average, associated with the discipline needed to promote better outcomes for children.”
To focus on the value of homeownership, the study attempted to back other influences out of the equation, such as the education level of parents or their marital status, income, race and age. Their goal was to look specifically at homeownership’s influence on a child’s development.
Major findings
• Children who live in owner-occupied homes have higher graduation rates. The dropout rate was 2.6 percent lower than renters’ children.
• The teen birth rate for homeowners’ children was 5 percent less than renters.
• The length of homeownership seemed unimportant. Some critics suggested that it wasn’t homeownership per se that influenced children, but instead, the length of time a family lives in a neighborhood. However, the study suggests that even relatively recent homebuyers’ kids had the same benefits as long-time owners.
• The size of the parent’s home downpayment made little difference, even if it was relatively low. All children benefited when their parents owned the home. However, the authors noted one exception: Parents who bought a home with no downpayment saw no advantage.
• For both renters and homeowners, a parent’s education level was a strong predictor of their child’s success.
• Buying a home has the strongest benefit for children 12 to 17 years old. While a home purchase helps younger children, the study found that it had the greatest benefit around the teen years.
The study did not offer a reason why homeownership helps children, but one author has an opinion:
“Does buying a home make you a better person?” asks Richard K. Green, director of the University of Southern California’s Lusk Center for Real Estate. “No, but the discipline associated with saving for even a small downpayment and subsequently managing a house is, on average, associated with the discipline needed to promote better outcomes for children.”
To focus on the value of homeownership, the study attempted to back other influences out of the equation, such as the education level of parents or their marital status, income, race and age. Their goal was to look specifically at homeownership’s influence on a child’s development.
Major findings
• Children who live in owner-occupied homes have higher graduation rates. The dropout rate was 2.6 percent lower than renters’ children.
• The teen birth rate for homeowners’ children was 5 percent less than renters.
• The length of homeownership seemed unimportant. Some critics suggested that it wasn’t homeownership per se that influenced children, but instead, the length of time a family lives in a neighborhood. However, the study suggests that even relatively recent homebuyers’ kids had the same benefits as long-time owners.
• The size of the parent’s home downpayment made little difference, even if it was relatively low. All children benefited when their parents owned the home. However, the authors noted one exception: Parents who bought a home with no downpayment saw no advantage.
• For both renters and homeowners, a parent’s education level was a strong predictor of their child’s success.
• Buying a home has the strongest benefit for children 12 to 17 years old. While a home purchase helps younger children, the study found that it had the greatest benefit around the teen years.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Construction in 4 Fla. cities up 9.6%
CHICAGO – Oct. 22, 2012 – For major-metro regions in Florida – Jacksonville, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Tallahassee, and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater – had an increase in actively bid construction projects, according to the third-quarter BidClerk Construction Index (BCI). This increase covered both private and public construction projects that grew year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter.
Overall, Florida actively bid construction activity increase of 9.6 percent compared to one year earlier. Private construction rose 19 percent, while public construction rose 4.3 percent.
In a quarter-over-quarter analysis for all construction projects, the major-metro regions in Florida saw an increase of 12.3 percent. Third-quarter public projects saw an increase of 20.8 percent compared to the second quarter of 2012, while private projects increased 1.4 percent.
Miami
In a year-over-year analysis for the Miami region, actively bid public and private construction projects rose 10.8 percent compared to one year ago. Private projects increased 22.4 percent and public projects increased 4.4 percent.
Quarter-over-quarter, combined private and public construction projects in Miami increased 12.3 percent. Private projects rose 2.8 percent and public projects rose 19.3 percent.
Orlando
In a year-over-year analysis for the Orlando region, actively bid public and private construction projects dropped 4.4 percent compared to one year ago. Private projects decreased 3.1 percent and public projects decreased 5.6 percent.
Quarter-over-quarter, combined private and public construction projects in Orlando decreased 3.3 percent. Private projects decreased 4.5 percent and public projects dropped 2.2 percent.
Tampa-St. Pete
In a year-over-year analysis for the Tampa-St. Pete region, actively bid public and private construction projects rose 24.5 percent compared to one year ago. Private projects increased 23.7 percent and public projects increased 24.9 percent.
Quarter-over-quarter, combined private and public construction projects in Tampa-St. Pete increased 16.9 percent. Private projects decreased 9.1 percent and public projects rose 37.8 percent.
Nationally, actively bid combined public and private construction projects increased 3 percent in the third quarter of 2012, compared to the same quarter a year ago. Third quarter 2012 public construction increased modestly, rising just 0.2 percent, while third quarter 2012 private construction rose 12.3 percent, year-over-year.
BidClerk, a provider of construction project data and marketing tools for building product manufacturers, contractors and distributors, releases the BidClerk Construction Index quarterly.
Overall, Florida actively bid construction activity increase of 9.6 percent compared to one year earlier. Private construction rose 19 percent, while public construction rose 4.3 percent.
In a quarter-over-quarter analysis for all construction projects, the major-metro regions in Florida saw an increase of 12.3 percent. Third-quarter public projects saw an increase of 20.8 percent compared to the second quarter of 2012, while private projects increased 1.4 percent.
Miami
In a year-over-year analysis for the Miami region, actively bid public and private construction projects rose 10.8 percent compared to one year ago. Private projects increased 22.4 percent and public projects increased 4.4 percent.
Quarter-over-quarter, combined private and public construction projects in Miami increased 12.3 percent. Private projects rose 2.8 percent and public projects rose 19.3 percent.
Orlando
In a year-over-year analysis for the Orlando region, actively bid public and private construction projects dropped 4.4 percent compared to one year ago. Private projects decreased 3.1 percent and public projects decreased 5.6 percent.
Quarter-over-quarter, combined private and public construction projects in Orlando decreased 3.3 percent. Private projects decreased 4.5 percent and public projects dropped 2.2 percent.
Tampa-St. Pete
In a year-over-year analysis for the Tampa-St. Pete region, actively bid public and private construction projects rose 24.5 percent compared to one year ago. Private projects increased 23.7 percent and public projects increased 24.9 percent.
Quarter-over-quarter, combined private and public construction projects in Tampa-St. Pete increased 16.9 percent. Private projects decreased 9.1 percent and public projects rose 37.8 percent.
Nationally, actively bid combined public and private construction projects increased 3 percent in the third quarter of 2012, compared to the same quarter a year ago. Third quarter 2012 public construction increased modestly, rising just 0.2 percent, while third quarter 2012 private construction rose 12.3 percent, year-over-year.
BidClerk, a provider of construction project data and marketing tools for building product manufacturers, contractors and distributors, releases the BidClerk Construction Index quarterly.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Jacksonville Florida Real Estate Market Update August 2012
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Thursday, September 6, 2012
Jacksonville Real Estate Market Update
Jacksonville Real Estate Agents Look at the Market
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