Younger Buyers More Optimistic, Confident About Homeownership

 

Despite an uncertain future, the Millennial generation – those 32 years old and younger – have more optimism and confidence about their recent home purchase than any other age group.

According to a recent National Association of Realtors^® study that evaluated the generational differences of recent home buyers and sellers, 85 percent of buyers under age 32 believe their home purchase was a good financial investment. That is compared to just 50 percent of buyers ages 88 and older.

“The oldest of the Millennial generation are starting to buy their first home,” said Keith Taggart, President of The Oklahoma Metropolitan Association of REALTORS® (OKCMAR). “They understand that homeownership is one way to accumulate wealth, especially for younger families in today’s world. Currently, they might be facing an uncertain job market, mounting debt, and tighter mortgage lending rules, yet homeownership still matters to them, and they still aspire to one day become homeowners.”

The study found that 79 percent of Millennials were first-time home buyers and 65 percent of them previously rented a home. Half of respondents said the reason for buying a home was their desire to own a home of their own. Twenty-two percent said the affordability of homes made them want to purchase. The Millennial generation is also the second largest group of recent buyers, accounting for 28 percent of recent purchases. They follow Generation X, those born between 1965 and 1979, who made up 31 percent of recent purchases.

“The Millennial generation is the largest in history after the baby boomers and they are expected to give the housing market a boost,” said Taggart. “However, there are some significant challenges that might hinder their ability to purchase homes. Buyers with student loan debt may find it difficult to access mortgage credit, as well as save for a down payment.”

The impact of student loan debt is a concern for future generations and their ability to become home owners, since those burdened with growing monthly debt payments will have restricted access to mortgage credit and could find it harder to save for a down payment.

Taggart agrees today’s young home buyers are facing challenges, yet those hurdles aren’t changing younger buyers’ attitudes about homeownership. “There is still tremendous affordability in the market and interest rates are still low,” said Taggart. “Today’s market presents opportunities for young buyers to own a home and they recognize that. Realtors^® are committed to making sure those who are willing and able to own a home have the opportunity to do so. Everyone should have the ability to pursue the dream of homeownership.”

Courtesy of OKCMAR Mocha Newsletter

3 Things To Consider Before Listing As FSBO

If you’re looking to sell your home in the near future, you may feel inclined to list it as a For Sale By Owner (FSBO) before working with a Realtor.  For many, this is considered one good way to cut back on costs and possibly earn a little more profit on the sale. 

However, there are certain aspects you may want to consider before going down this path.  Statistically, over 80% of FSBO’s end up being listed with a Realtor at some point.  Therefore, it pays to take the time to fully assess whether or not this is the right plan of action for you.

Properly Marketing Your Property

First of all, listing a home for sale can be a very time consuming and difficult process.  Unfortunately, this typically is not as easy as posting a sign in the yard and setting up a classified ad in the local newspaper.  There is certainly a lot more than meets the eye.

For instance, many FSBO websites will tout that you can obtain a wide exposure to buyers nationally, but this pales in comparison to the results that you can expect from big named sites like Realtor.com, which only agents can post to.

Next, your agent will have a lot of expertise with implementing online real estate marketing strategies that will gain you a ton of locally targeted searches.  And in fact, nearly 90% of all searches for real estate related inquiries start online.

Realtors will also have a strong network of both agents and buyers that they work with on a regular basis.  This is a business where it pays to network.  More contacts equals greater exposure.

Asking Price & Showings

For starters, a lot of FSBO’s will start at the wrong asking price.  This is by far one of the most important factors that goes into marketing your home, so you want to do this properly off the bat.  But, without being fully invested in your local market and understanding the current trends, it can be difficult to price the home accurately.

As alluded to in section one, selling a home can be a lot of work.  Most individuals these days have to juggle a full time job, family obligations, recreational activities, household chores, etc.  Where do you find the time for fully investing into the sale as well?

When the opportunity would arise for interested parties to view your property, you would need to schedule individual showings, open houses, inspectors, appraisers, etc., while also trying to stage and maintain your property’s appearance.  Miss out on a good opportunity for matching schedules and you can quickly lose interest.  

Negotiations & Contracts

If you get to the point where you negotiate with a buyer, it is much more difficult to handle this aspect without a qualified agent.  Selling your home can be a very emotional undertaking, so it is easier to set unrealistic expectations, or to even concede on more than necessary when you don’t have a 3^rd party buffer.

During most real estate transactions, both the buyer and seller will typically have a set of concessions and contingencies.  For a majority of buyers, they will expect to have some type of a financing, inspection and/or termite contingency. 

This is set up for their protection, in order to complete their due diligence on the home before moving forward to closing.  If other issues are found, this may even been grounds for further negotiation or eventually walking away from the deal.

Or you will be expected to lower the price, fix the issue or offer a concession on something else in order to alleviate the problem.  Likewise, you want to ensure that the buyer is not overstepping their boundaries or that you are pressured into giving away more than is reasonable. 

In summary, it’s worth taking the time to carefully consider these 3 areas before making any final decisions.  If you still decide to take the FSBO route, I sincerely wish you great success.  Also, please feel free to share this information with a friend and to bookmark this page for future reference as well!