Every quarter, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reports on the year-over-year changes in home prices. This is an excellent tool that helps many potential homebuyers and sellers decide when to put their home on the market, and when to buy the home of their dreams. If you’re thinking of buying a home, you may want to do it sooner rather than later. As you’ll see from the graph below, home prices are up year-over-year in every region.

Looking at the breakdown by state, you can see that each state is appreciating at a different rate. This is important to know if you are planning on relocating to a different area of the country. In North Carolina, home prices are currently up 6.3%, with no signs of slowing down any time soon. Waiting to move may end up costing you more!

Ready to buy a home before your priced out of your dream neighborhood? Contact Coastal Realty Connections today, before it’s too late!

Consider Cost, Not Just Price

Sellers are most concerned about ‘short term price’ – where home values are headed over the next six months. As a buyer, however, you must not be concerned about price, but instead about the ‘long term cost’ of the home.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Freddie Mac all project that mortgage interest rates will increase by this time next year. According to CoreLogic’s most recent Home Price Index Report, home prices will appreciate by 5.2% over the next 12 months.

What Does This Mean as a Buyer?

Here is a simple demonstration of the impact an interest rate increase would have on the mortgage payment of a home selling for approximately $250,000 today if home prices appreciate by the 5.2% predicted by CoreLogic over the next twelve months:

The Bottom Line

Buy now – you can’t afford not to. The first step to getting your dream home is to get the ball rolling by contacting Coastal Realty Connections today. Your future is waiting!

Good news for potential homebuyers!

The results of the latest Rent vs. Buy Report from Trulia show that homeownership remains cheaper than renting with a traditional 30-year fixed rate mortgage in the 100 largest metro areas in the United States. This includes many cities in North Carolina, including Wilmington!

The updated numbers actually show that the range is an average of 17.4% less expensive in Honolulu (HI), all the way up to 53.2% less expensive in Miami & West Palm Beach (FL), and 37.7% nationwide!

Other interesting findings in the report include:

• Interest rates have remained low, and even though home prices have appreciated around the country, they haven’t greatly outpaced rental appreciation.
• Home prices would have to appreciate by a range of over 23% in Honolulu (HI), up to over 45% in Ventura County (CA), to reach the tipping point of renting being less expensive than buying.
• Nationally, rates would have to reach 9.1%, a 145% increase over today’s average of 3.7%, for renting to be cheaper than buying. Rates haven’t been that high since January of 1995, according to Freddie Mac.

You CAN Afford a Home

Many people put off buying a home because they think they’ll save money by renting, or that they don’t have enough saved up for a down payment. For many people, however, buying is actually cheaper, even in the short term. This chart shows the advantage of buying over renting quite nicely.

Bottom line?

Buying a home makes sense socially and financially. If you are one of the many renters out there who would like to evaluate your ability to buy this year, let’s get together to find your dream home. Contact Coastal Realty Connection and let’s get started!

Many people claim that the best time to buy a home is in the spring or summer. At Coastal Realty Connection, we don’t believe in waiting for your dreams to come true! Besides, there are many benefits to buying right now. Here are four great reasons to consider buying a home this winter instead of waiting.

1. Prices Will Continue to Rise

CoreLogic’s latest Home Price Index reports that home prices have appreciated by 6.3% over the last 12 months. The same report predicts that prices will continue to increase at a rate of 5.2% over the next year.

The bottom in home prices has come and gone. Home values will continue to appreciate for years. Waiting no longer makes sense.

2. Mortgage Interest Rates Are Projected to Increase

Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey shows that interest rates for a 30-year mortgage have remained around 4%. Most experts predict that they will begin to rise over the next 12 months. The Mortgage Bankers Association, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac & the National Association of Realtors are in unison, projecting that rates will increase by this time next year.An increase in rates will impact YOUR monthly mortgage payment. A year from now, your housing expense will increase if a mortgage is necessary to buy your next home.

3. Either Way You’re Paying a Mortgage

As a paper from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University explains: “Households must consume housing whether they own or rent. Not even accounting for more favorable tax treatment of owning, homeowners pay debt service to pay down their own principal while households that rent pay down the principal of a landlord plus a rate of return. That’s yet another reason owning often does—as Americans intuit—end up making more financial sense than renting.”

4. It’s Time to Move On with Your Life

The ‘cost’ of a home is determined by two major components: the price of the home and the current mortgage rate. It appears that both are on the rise.

But what if they weren’t? Would you wait?

Look at the actual reason you are buying and decide whether it is worth waiting. Whether you want to have a great place for your children to grow up, you want your family to be safer or you just want to have control over renovations, maybe now is the time to buy.

If the right thing for you and your family is to purchase a home this year, buying sooner rather than later could lead to substantial savings. To learn more, contact Coastal Realty Connection today to start the process of finding your dream home!

Is there hope for the growth of the real estate market? Should we be optimistic about the future of real estate? How does real estate relate to the 2016 presidential election?

In this video Ken Kirkman, General Manager of Landfall Realty in Wilmington, NC, answers these questions and more in a speech to Landfall property owners. For insights on the current sentiment and economic outlook for 2016, check out the full speech. For a free market analysis of buying or selling in our local market, contact Coastal Realty Connections today.