Utah Real Estate News

Northern Utah Sales Report

admin — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:14:44 +0000

My sense is that sales activity is increasing. Let’s see if the numbers tell the same story.

DAVIS COUNTY

Active-2069

Under Contract-407

Sold last 30 days-179

Ratio- 7.2% (sold to total active and under contract) This is a good improvement by almost 2%.

SALT LAKE COUNTY

Active-6507

Under Contract-890

Sold last 30 days-686

Ratio-9.3% This is a 3% increase over last month.

UTAH COUNTY

Active-3718

Under Contract-808

Sold last 30 days-338

Ratio-7.5% A 1.4% increase.

WEBER COUNTY

Active-2037

Under Contract-315

Sold last 30 days-156

Ratio-6.6% A 1.7% increase

SUMMIT COUNTY (Park City)

Active-869

Under Contract-102

Sold last 30 days-57

Ratio-5.9% This is a 2.7% increase.

Wow, what a jump over the last 30 days. I would expect to see the same increase over the next 30 days as well. I think the word is out to take advantage of the rates while they are around. You may want to do the same or someone you know.

Jake@Utahhomeshq.com

Home renovations to avoid

admin — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:54:47 +0000

Your home needs love and attention. If we don’t take care of it we lose a lot of money. The value will suffer greatly. Conversely there are upgrades you can spend money on that will also not improve the value of your home. While it does improve your comfort and pride it does not build equity. One thing to consider is the average home quality of the neighborhood. Making your home slightly better will improve the selectability when it is time to sell. But if you double the square foot and install jewel encrusted fixtures and hardware, you have put yourself in an awkward position. Generally home buyers do not want to pay $500,000 for a a home in a neighborhood of $250,000 homes.

If you plan to stay in your home until the day you die you can relax on these recommendations a bit, but the bottomline is be cautious. CLICK HERE and read about the list of renovations to avoid.

Jake@utahhomeshq.com

Utah homes sales hot spots

admin — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 18:01:16 +0000

If you have read my Wasatch Front homes sales report you know that hundreds of homes sell each month. I ran across this local news report that highlights which areas are selling the best. Find out if your home you are looking to buy, or sell is in the HOT SPOTS in northern Utah. CLICK HERE

Jake@utahhomeshq.com

buying a house with cash?

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:10:10 +0000

Many dynamics of the real estate economy are still changing. Expect to see that for a few more years. One interesting aspect of this is more people are buying homes with cash. I have only working a a couple of people that have been in that position to pay cash. I can certainly speed things up, but is it the best idea? To answer that question you would have to consider they situation individually. I will soon be sharing a program with all of you about how you can pay your home off a lot faster and save yourself thousands of dollars. It’s like getting a raise, and a big on at that.

CLICK HERE to read the article that I found that talks more in depth about cash home buyers.

Jake@utahhomeshq.com

Home repair and maintenance

admin — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:15:46 +0000

I was recently visiting with a client that bought a home a year ago. One thing she mentioned about owning a home that surprised her was the cost to maintain a home. It is of course more expensive than renting because you are the landlord. The older the home is, the more expensive it gets. This should be something to consider when buying a “cheaper” home. If you buy a home for less because it is in less than perfect condition after years of neglected maintenance, you will likely have additional monthly expenses.

I was also recently in the home of someone that will be putting their home up for sale soon. We were meeting to discuss things he needed to do to get the home ready to put on the market. He has owned the home for over 7 years. There was a long list of things that had been neglected. The home was in no way ready to put on the market, and certainly could not get it’s potential full market value due to it’s condition. Not taking reasonable care of the property was now going to cost him thousands of dollars, and possibly keep the home on the market for a long time.

Here are a list of things that you should keep an eye on. Just looking for any potential problems is the most important thing you can do.

CLICK HERE

What other repairs do you think are a good idea?

Jake@utahhomeshq.com

CHANGES TO THE HOUSING MARKET

admin — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:30:17 +0000

We are still in the middle of the housing recovery. While I can optimistically say things are improving, more changes will need to be implemented for long term stability. Interest rates are fantastic thanks to taxpayer subsidy. But they can’t stay this low forever. Here is a link to an article that talks about some changes that are coming and that may come. If you are a home owner or hope to be some day, it is worth reading because this affects you directly.

CLICK HERE

and also changing effective April 18, 2001 are the FHA mortgage insurance premiums. This will boil down to affect monthly payments by about $20 per $100k borrowed.

FHA Annual Mortgage Insurance Premiums Increasing in April

Edit

FHA Annual Mortgage Insurance Premiums will Increase this April

In a statement released yesterday, FHA Commissioner David H. Stevens announced a new premium structure for FHA-insured mortgage loans increasing its annual mortgage insurance premium by a quarter a percentage point (.25) on all 30 and 15 year loans. The upfront MIP will remain unchanged at 1.0 percent. Commissioner Stevens stated:

“After careful consideration and analysis, we determined it was necessary to increase the annual mortgage insurance premium at this time in order to bolster the FHA’s capital reserves and help private capital return to the housing market,” said Stevens. “This quarter point increase in the annual MIP is a responsible step towards meeting the Congressionally mandated two percent reserve threshold, while allowing FHA to remain the most cost effective mortgage insurance option for borrowers with lower incomes and lower down payments.”

The increase in the Annual Mortgage Insurance Premiums is effective for case numbers assigned on or after April 18, 2011.

We continue to tell everyone we know, if you or a friend is considering a home purchase, get started sooner rather than later.

Jake@utahhomeshq.com

Northern Utah Sales Data Report

admin — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 17:18:09 +0000

Another month has passed. Let’s see if the numbers of total sales have changed, or if the ratios have improved.

Davis County

Active 2055

Under contract 358

Sales (last 30 days) 132

Sold ratio to the last 30 days is 5.5%. For Davis county this is the lowest I have seen in several months. However the number of sales in the last 30 days did rise almost 30%.

Salt Lake County

Active 6493

Under contract 1261

Sales (last 30 days) 490

Sold ratio is 6.3%

Weber County

Active 2031

Under contract 288

Sales (last 30 days) 114

Sold ratio is 4.9%

Utah County

Active 3695

Under contract 740

Sales (last 30 days) 269

Sold ratio is 6.1%

Summit County (Park City)

Active 901

Under contract 107

Sales (last 30 days) 32

Sold ratio is 3.2%

Sales ratios across the board have dropped . Not too surprising considering the time of year. However, these numbers further indicate the advantage that buyers have. More and more pressure is being put on sellers. Combine that with the rates and you have a formula for success.

Jake@utahhomeshq.com

Things to look for when buying a home-neighborhoods

admin — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:05:24 +0000

When I first started in real estate over 7 years ago, I was told something that I have passed on to many clients. “You can change the house, but you can’t change the neighborhood.” Here is a practical guide with some good insights into this.

CLICK HERE

This is one of many things to consider for your home purchase. If you think this article could be helpful to someone you know, pass it along.

Jake@utahhomeshq.com

VIDEO blog. Buyer agent misconceptions

admin — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:02:28 +0000

From time to time I produce short videos discussing points in real estate that I think are important. CLICK HERE

Please comment!

Jake@utahhomeshq.com

Buyer agent misconceptions

admin — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:14:14 +0000

Please click the link to get the video discussing common rumors about using an agent as a representative when buying a home.
Buyer agent misconceptions