Grace Townsley
April 26, 2022
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- James & David
Zillow admits its 2022 market predictions were a little overzealous. To compensate for rising mortgage rates and improving inventory, the company has downwardly adjusted both its home value growth and sales volume expectations for this year. Zillow now predicts:
It makes total sense that Zillow lowered its expectations. Clearly, rising interest rates are going to make buyers a little hesitant. However, rates are still historically low. Remind your clients that they can still buy a great property right now with rates that are most likely to rise later in the year.
To compensate for rising prices, homeowners are starting to settle for smaller homes. Demand for condos is soaring, and buyers are returning to walkable metropolitan areas where they value location over spaciousness. Redfin’s latest home buying data for March shows:
In our experience, one home size doesn’t necessarily sell quicker than another. Once you really learn the art of selling, you can use that skill set to sell a $1,000,000 home the same way you sell a $50,000,000 home. The higher the price point, the smaller the pool of potential buyers, so of course we’ll see some adjustments on the upper end of the market. You will have to work harder to find those buyers, but ultimately, the market is strong and opportunity awaits.
Foreclosures are on the rise, but they’re still well below pre-pandemic levels. According to Realtor.com, over 78,000 properties were under foreclosure in Q1. That’s a jump of 39% since last quarter, when many foreclosure moratoriums expired.
While foreclosures are expected to continue climbing, there’s no need to hit the panic button. Between low unemployment and rising wages, it’s unlikely we’ll face a widespread foreclosure crisis. Plus, today’s at-risk homeowners can often sell their property for more than their outstanding mortgage, avoiding foreclosure altogether.
Unfortunately, foreclosures were an inevitable consequence of the pandemic. It’s really quite terrible and we feel for the people who are unable to make their payments because of job loss or any other crisis they’re going through. However, this statistic isn’t ringing any alarms for us just yet. We expected this to happen, and we believe it’s a natural result of what has happened to the economy in the past couple years.
The news that just missed the cut
Advice from James and David to win the day
An agent’s first five years in this industry are critical. To learn several tips and tactics that can help you build a sustainable new business, check out this expert panel. Here are a few great takeaways from that conversation that can help you level up your career:
Keep the latest industry data in your back pocket with today’s mortgage rates:
Don’t let this talk of the market cooling and foreclosures rattle you. What do we say about fear? It’s False Evidence Appearing Real. You can let it get to you, or you can stay focused. People will always need homes, and there’s always opportunity out there– if you know where to look.
- James and David
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