Real Estate Market Trends

Don't List Your Home on a Sunday

With all of the preparation that goes into listing your home, the particular day of the week on which you list probably doesn't even cross your mind.

These Are the Features That Home Buyers Really Want

What do buyers really want? It's a question that perpetually buzzes inside the heads of sellers, real estate professionals, and, of course, home builders, which is why each year the National Association of Home Builders creates their “What Home Buyers Really Want” report. The information in the report comes directly from recent and prospective home buyers, who were asked to rank their most-desired features in a home. The results of the 2019 survey revealed a clear winner, as 91% of buyers prioritized a laundry room as a key feature in their new home. Keep reading to learn about some of the other findings from the report.

Buyers Should Have an Easier Time in 2019

For the last several years, prospective home buyers in most areas of the country have had to face conditions that aren't exactly ideal. Rapid price growth, low housing inventory, and fierce competition among buyers have resulted in conditions that can only be described as a strong seller's market. However, if you have been holding out on buying a home, then there is some evidence that the winds could be shifting in your favor. Keep reading to learn why 2019 might offer some relief for home buyers.

Which State's Mortgage Borrowers Put the Most Down?

Saving for the down payment is understandably regarded as one of the most difficult aspects of buying a home. Although the exact number depends on the purchase price, buyers generally need to come up with tens of thousands of dollars up front in order to take out their mortgage. Of course, any statistic will display a wide range of averages across the nation's fifty states, and both down payment amounts and percentages follow this rule. With that in mind, LendingTree sought to determine which state's buyers were offering up the largest and smallest down payments on their mortgages in Q3. They found that New York came in near the top of the list in both down payment amount and percentage.

What's the Best Way to Determine Your Home's Value?

Many homeowners believe that they have the strongest insight into the value of their home; after all, only they understand all of the blood, sweat, and tears (and money) that have been put into countless maintenance and improvement projects over the years! Other people are certain that computer-generated automated valuation models (AVMs), with their access to millions of data points from the overall market, comparable properties, and buyer tendencies, can give estimates that no human can match. So which side is actually better at valuing a home, the owner or the AVM? As it turns out, there isn't really much of a difference between the two options, partially because neither is very good at the job!

Median Down Payment Percentage Reaches 15-Year High

The amount of money that buyers are paying up front on their mortgages is way up, but still might not be as high as you think. Although many people believe in the myth of the 20% down payment, the typical buyer actually puts down far less; in fact, even though the median down payment percentage reached a nearly 15-year high last quarter, it was still just 7.6% of the median sales price! Keep reading to learn more about the changing trends in home financing.