When 2014 came to a close, the National Association of Realtors reported sales of pre-owned homes fell short from 2013 totals. Yet, new home sales increase by 1.8%. Even though price gains slowed for previously owned homes, builder confidence remained high for the last 2 quarters of 2014.

Why are builders so optimistic with such unclear signals? Simply the data between pre-owned and new construction are showing a housing market that is shifting from a rapid recovery into a more stable market. Here are the 10 expectations of home builders for 2015 for this new stable market:

1. Builders Shift to more Affordable Homes
During the recovery, home builders switched their model to building fewer homes then selling those homes at a more expensive listing price. This was mostly due to the cost of land being out of reach to many home builders. Now that the recovery is over and land is more obtainable, home builders are going to try and push past the average sales mark of 450,000 per year to 500,000 in 2015. To do this they are going to need to sell more homes at a less expensive price. Having lenders willing to give out home loans to those with credit scores below 640 will help home builders reach this goal. The average home buyer will be able to afford the product the builder is offering and, in return, allow builders to meet their goal.

2. Say Good Bye to Investors, Hello Us Normal Folk
Great news for those looking to purchase a home in 2015 they actually plan on living in. The home buying process is going to get much easier for those looking to buy their own homes as investors leave the market and lenders make it easier to be approved for a home loan. While inventory stays low, it becomes harder to find a cheap bargain on home sales. This makes the investors and cash buyers back out of the market. Creating a healthy real estate that benefits both seller and buyers.
 
3. Interest Rates will Rise…?
The Mortgage Bankers’ Association predicts that interest rates will increase by 5% by the end of 2015. Yet in 2014, we heard the same prediction and at the end of the year the average rate for a conventional 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was only at 3.93%.

4. A Slow Growth in Home Price
There was a slow growth in 2014 when it came to home price increase and this trend is to remain the same in 2015. Unlike 2013, where we saw a 10.8% year-over-year price increase due to high inventory and investors, 2015 will bring a slow release of homes for sale and the exit of many investors. This new market will take away any dramatic increase in the average home price and will bring it to a nice slow and steady upward pace.

5. Affordability will Decrease
While a growth in home price may be slow, incomes will increase at an even slower pace. According to Realtor.com home affordability will decrease up to 10% in 2015 and with homes currently just undervalued at 3%, there is not much room before homes will be overvalued, making homes less affordable for those seeking to buy.

6. Millennials – The Next Generation of Homebuyers
Millennials (35 years in age or under) will surpass Gen X (those 35-50 years old) and will become the largest group of homebuyers by the end of 2015. Millennials have been delaying purchasing a home since this generation is known to wait longer then Gen X to get married and have children. While these two key factors are now approaching their desires, the decision to buy a home is becoming their main focus.

7. Rent Increases
In 2015 while Millennial will plan to buy a home within the next 5 years, they will need to save up for a down payment, making them look to renting until they can afford to purchase a new home. This will increase rent prices as Millenial’s dominate the renting market. In fact, it is forecasted that rent will rise 3.5% in 2015. However, this may push some of those Millennials to become home buyers. “As renters’ costs keep going up, I expect the allure of fixed mortgage payments and a more stable housing market will entice many more otherwise content renters into the housing market,” says Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow. The trend of increased rent will also increase the demand for more developments of condos and townhomes.

8. Multifamily will be in Demand
It’s predicted that more people are going to try and sell their homes in 2015. If this trend develops, it will flood the market with pre-owned homes and will make the low inventory of new homes available spike in price. This will push builders to meet the demand of Millennials by building multifamily housing (a more affordable option for new home buyers). Last year we saw a boom in multifamily development and it looks like 2015 will continue in this trend.

9. Foreclosure will Drop
In 2014, each passing month saw a dip from the previous year-over-year average in foreclosures. The trend is at a steady pace and we plan to see foreclosures at pre-disaster level within 2015.

10. The Essentials
In 2015, the real estate market will be driven by economic essentials: incomes, job growth and household growth. Gone are the days when homebuyers will be concerned about national economics and will now be more focused on their present family/personal economic status.

On your mark, get set, sell those homes! Spring is here and so is the beginning of the home buying season. During the months of April through July, the home building industry sees the most number of home sales. The combination of warmer weather and kids out of school during vacation, home buyers are on the prowl for their new home. Not to mention most homes buyers do not want to move their kids from one school district to another and wait till the school year is at a close to uproot.

As we enter the optimal time for house hunting, we can expect home prices to rise and in most cases to their highest in the year. To counter act the higher prices, mortgage rates are doing their part to kick start the home buying season. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 4.34% after a two week increase.

Home builders may be feeling more confident this season as we see inventory of homes on the market increase by 10% year-over-year. High demands for new homes are on a rise and a sellers’ market is becoming evident with a drop of 114 days the average home is on the market and an increase in median home price. California is seeing the biggest inventory rise with twice as many homes for sale than this time last year. Here is to hoping we all have a great home buying season this spring!

Make sure your new homes are found this home buying season, add your communities today!.

If you think it’s a tough time to be a new home salesperson, think about being a new home buyer these days. On the one hand, the cards are all in your hand – it’s an amazingly incredibly powerfully wonderful time to buy! On the other hand, the whole world seems to be saying, “bad idea”. Now add their current housing situation (which must be amiss or they wouldn’t be shopping). Insert the stresses associated with making the right deal, and market conditions, and finding the right home in an endless sea of choices, and market concerns, and gas prices, and….

You get the idea. It all leads to a recipe for one seriously stressed-out customer. And how does that stress affect them more than anything else? More than anything else, the stress clogs their brain – they don’t think clearly. Stressed out people struggle with keeping everything straight, and the more data coming at them, the greater the stress and confusion.

If you think about it, you are probably just like that, as am I. We get stressed about something and the stress makes it hard to think clearly. We lose our equilibrium. Before we know it even minor irritants cause us to snap.

What is the remedy? In a word: SIMPLICITY. Stressed out people abhor ambiguity, but they love the straightforward. Consider how your own presentation can compliment the simple and avoid the complicated.

Sales Stressors:
Feature-dumping
Long-winded answers without interaction
Lack of openness that causes the customer to wonder about your character
Product- or price-centered presentations

Stress Relievers:
Confirmation questions throughout the process
Explain things in simple steps
Giving the customer permission to ask questions when confused
Letting the customer know that stress is normal

Are you accidentally stressing out an already-stressed homebuyer? It might be time to simplify. Only then do you truly have a shot at changing their world.

By,

Jeff Shore

From the design and logo of Craigslist.org to the people who are looking for a new home we can obviously see that their whole motto is keep it simple.

I recently put this motto to the test because if this is true then those who post within the real estate section might be scaring away potential new home buyers rather than pulling them in with their ads that clearly give the information from a brochure you get while looking at model homes.  Don’t get me wrong, I think it is very important for those who are browsing to get all the information possible about your new homes and community but maybe we should try going about it with a simplistic perspective.

I posted an ad on Craigslist.org with information that was upfront and very informative but still to the point.  Think of an ad that a home owner trying to sell their own home would put up just with a hint of professionalism.  Then I made an ad that looks typical of a real estate agent meaning lots of information about the home and community, and a catchy title.  As an end result both the test communities were very close in their numbers but I did notice a slight lead in the community who had the least amount of filler information versus the highly worded ad.

Based on my results your best bet is to make your ads have a nice medium between the real estate agents ad and the “for sale by owner” ad.  Here are a few tips and tricks to help you do just that:

• Bullet point the important information people are searching for such as bedroom count, bathroom count, square footage, HOA cost (if any), community amenities such as a pool, park(s), greenbelt(s) and so on.
• Try to avoid words such as amenities or using your community name too often as it might seem like a real estate agent is posting the ad and most people do not use the word amenities when speaking about their communities pool.
• Highlight the fact that you are selling a new home in your title but be sure to include something about your community in the title as well.  Example: New home with community pool for sale
• Don’t be afraid to post your price in the area where Craigslist asks for the home price.  Putting the price within the ad description is very hard to find especially if your ad has lots of content to it.
• Put as many quality pictures within the ad as possible.
• It’s perfectly fine to use some of your brochure information or phrases within the ad just made sure it isn’t an overwhelming amount of information.

Happy posting!

In the home building industry, the challenge is to get the word out and show that owning a new home doesn’t mean that you are paying an arm and a leg.  For a long time we have adjusted the way we market to potential new homebuyer’s, case and point billboards, newspaper ads, television commercials…  I could go on but I don’t like to dwell in the past.  All of these ways to draw in a new homebuyer were great, 10 or 20 years ago.  It’s time to re-adjust yet again but this time let’s take our efforts to Craigslist.org.

Craigslist has been the leader in classified websites and lately it has been given the reputation as the biggest hub for scammers.  Just like anything in life there are risks but the reward at the end of this risk is the lead you get from your Craigslist ad.  With about 50 million unique visitors each month it seems as though potential new homebuyers have become very savvy on Craigslist and can spot a scam versus the real deal or in other words, you.

Now that we have cleared up our fears about Craigslist here are a few pointers to get you started:

• Set-up an account with Craigslist.org.
• Research the area you are looking to post in, look at what others are using for titles and descriptions.  Try to make your posts have a similar theme but still make each post your own so that it grabs the attention of someone looking for a new home.
• Use keywords that most new homebuyers are searching for such as new home, pool, bedroom count, etc. in your title and description.
• Abide by Craigslist.org’s Terms of Use, the last thing you want is to be banned from Craigslist.
• Make sure that you put at least one picture per posting.
• List bedroom count, square footage, price, etc. in your postings.
• Lastly, don’t forget to put in contact information or how you would like to be contacted within your description.

Happy posting!

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Do you live in Michigan and are in need of a reliable, clean and friendly handyman, then Dandy Handyman Services is company you are looking for. This independently owned and operated handyman services in Kalamazoo, Michigan offers quality workmanship with competitive pricing.

Whether you are in need of quality repairs, remodeling, freshening up, or a landlord looking to fix up your rental properties Dandy Handyman can provide your handyman services in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Don’t worry though if you are in need of such a great handyman and live outside Kalamazoo, for Dandy Handyman services will provide any of your handyman needs within 40 miles of Kalamazoo. Now that’s a dedicated handy man if you ask me.

Of course you will not want to just take my word for it. Dandy Handyman service in Kalamazoo has the testimonials to prove their worth.

“I find Duane's work to be excellent and always top quality. Duane is very easy to work with and always a pleasure to be around. I feel that Duane is a very honest and hardworking person and completely trustworthy. He has been in my home without anyone else there and I completely trust him. I would highly recommend Duane, his talent, honesty and integrity are hard qualities to find all in one person.” -Loyal Customer.

In fact many of Dandy Handyman customers are returning customers and would recommend his work for any handyman services in Kalamazoo.

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As you can see Dandy Handyman services in Kalamazoo offer a wide range of handyman needs. From painting and staining, power washing, door and window repairs, wood deck repairs, vinyl siding installation and so much more! If you are in need of any repairs or handyman services in Kalamazoo, MI, call Dandy Handyman at 269-665-4545 or E-Mail at dandytoolman@gmail.com. You can also visit Dandy Handyman on FaceBook or Twitter.