In celebration of National Homeownership Month, recognized by the National Association of Realtors each June, we thought we’d share with you a few facts about owning a home in America today and the current real estate market conditions. Homeownership rates are holding steady. In the first quarter of 2019, the homeownership rate leveled off at 64.2 percent, down slightly from the quarter prior. While rates have been rising since late 2015, they’ve hovered around the 64 percent range for the past year. Today’s homeownership rate represents a healthy market. News outlets often talk of the peak rate, which hit almost 70 percent in 2004. However, that high preceded (and frankly contributed to) the market downturn in that a large number of home buyers were getting loans they didn’t have the ability to pay back. That led to affordability challenges and increasing numbers of loan defaults. Today’s rates are closer to the averages in the 1990s, when we had a more stable and positive housing market. More and more millennials are buying homes. The much talked-about generation has been steadily moving from renting to homeownership, as they get married and start families. Mortgage rates have also remained at historic lows, driving […]
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You’ve probably seen the headlines that there’s still a shortage of homes for sale in our area, and we’re heading deeper into a seller’s market. However, just because home sellers are favored when there’s low inventory, that doesn’t mean every property will sell for top dollar immediately just by picking a price and going on the market. Buyers in our market are extremely savvy and very selective, and if you’re getting ready to sell, you should take that into account when preparing and pricing your home for sale. So what can you do to help attract the most interest and get top dollar for your home in the shortest amount of time? Make your home move-in ready. Call it the HGTV effect, but more and more buyers come to the market with high expectations and desires for a move-in ready home with the latest updates and designs. Stage your home for success. Staging is critical these days, and a huge value-add for your sale. Many buyers have trouble imagining themselves living in a home, or hoe their belongings will fit into each space. Staging allows a buyer to mentally move into the home and shows how each room “lives” and […]
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“Happiness is a warm puppy.” —Charles M. Schulz (cartoonist, Peanuts) Spring is truly here, and it’s the perfect time to welcome a new furry family member into your heart and your home! Please join Lisa Levine and The Hersh Group, your Bethesda neighborhood experts, at our fifth annual adoption event in Bethesda with PetConnect Rescue. We’re thrilled to be sponsoring this event again and helping to provide these wonderful dogs with a new family and loving home. As one of Long & Foster’s top teams in the DC Metro area, our goal is to help people find the right house for their needs. What better way to complete a home than adopt a pet? We are pleased to partner again with PetConnect Rescue and the Westwood Pet Center to host this dog adoption event so that more of our neighbors can find the newest additions to their families and give these pets the loving homes they deserve. Please join us: Saturday, May 18th, 2019 11am – 1pm Westwood Pet Center 5428 Westbard Ave Bethesda, MD For more information, call Lisa at (301) 332-5721 or email us at thehershgroupllc@gmail.com. Check back here or ‘like’ our Facebook event to receive updates, and […]
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It’s tax time again, with the day filing deadline just over a month away, and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is now in effect, which means there are new requirements for homeowners. The media covered the changes in much detail in early 2018, and we wanted to share a few housing-related highlights with you as you get ready to file your 2018 tax returns. As you may know, the number of income tax brackets remains the same, but they include lower tax rates. Several itemized deductions, including moving expenses except with military households, interest on home equity loans unless used for home improvements, and more, have also been reduced or eliminated. Here are a few other important changes to keep in mind: Mortgage interest deductions are limited to a combined $750,000 of debt for both primary residences and second homes for any loans taken out after December 14, 2017. Current homeowners with loans made before that date are grandfathered into the previous deduction, allowing a combined debt limit up to $1 million. State and local tax deductions are capped at a combined $10,000 – this includes state and local property, income and sales taxes. Previously, these were fully tax […]
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Happy New Year! As we kick off 2019, we thought it was a great time to reflect a bit on the 2018 real estate market and look forward at 2019 predictions. The market in 2018 was consistently defined by lack of inventory across the country, and particularly here in the DMV. Will that low inventory trend continue into 2019? Experts are saying yes, but that the trend won’t be quite so severe. Here are a few more of the real estate trends that our team at Long & Foster expects to occur in 2019: Inventory will increase a little, but still not enough to meet demand. Inventory will expand this year, but primarily in luxury housing. While demand is strong for entry-level homes, there won’t be much more housing available in that segment. Mortgage rates are likely to rise. The Mortgage Bankers Association predicts that mortgage rates will reach 5.1% by the end of 2019. While that’s higher than the rock-bottom rates of the past few years, keep it in perspective – rates are still historically low. Home values will rise, but at a slower pace. The National Association of Realtors predicts that prices will rise about 3% in 2019 over […]
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