Good News All Around?

As we review the numbers and trends over the last couple of months we are glad to report that we have good news for both buyers and sellers. Take a look at the numbers in the chart below. We'll detail the positives we see for buyers and sellers in the following...

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Real Estate Update

Last January we decided to run a trivia contest to guess the medium sales price for 2023 across Hampton Roads and offered to donate $100 to the charity of the winner’s choice. Joey’s guess was $331,400 and the final number was $330,000 so he was the closest....

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Real Estate Update

I was dreaming all December of snow falling for a white Christmas that we definitely did not get, but at least the interest rates have been falling over the last two months. Here is a chart from the St Louis Fed showing the 30-year mortgage rates since August 1st. As...

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Real Estate Update

The past couple of months we have talked a lot about interest rates. While interest rates are arguably one of the most impactful factors in the real estate market, in our opinion supply and demand is the most important, followed closely by the state of the economy. ...

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Fixed Mortgage Rates Under 4%

Last month our trivia question was: Of the approximately 53 million outstanding home mortgages, 32.33 million of them are under what fixed mortgage rate? The correct answer was 4% (congratulations to Stephen), and interestingly enough, his winning answer was...

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What do 32.33 Million Americans have in Common?

Last week the Federal Reserve Board did not raise the Federal Funds Rate but it hinted that it will do so later this year. After the announcement, the stock market went down and the 30-year mortgage rate went up. Last month we evaluated the impact of the current...

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Is 7% Too High of a Rate?

August 2023 Over the last few weeks, the national 30-year mortgage rates are averaging over 7%. As you can see in the chart to the right, other than a couple of weeks in November 2022, rates have not been this high in almost two decades. The chart is from the St....

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A Real Estate Heat Dome?

We traveled to Oregon, the home state of Jean Cross (Harry’s mom, Lee’s Grandmother), and found it much hotter than we remembered! The weather is being blamed on a heat dome, and after seeing this chart, courtesy of the Real Estate Information Network (REIN our local...

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Broken Record…

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we think the sales trends for this summer are going to be very similar to the summer trends of 2021 and 2022. Fewer homes overall are being sold but those that go on the market are still selling fast. The average number of...

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SUMMER TIME!

Summer doesn’t officially start until the summer solstice on June 20, but I (Lee) consider the start of summer to be the week after Memorial Day. The last day of school has either already arrived or is right around the corner and the lightning bugs are flying...

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