Why Every New Home Buyer Needs the Representation of a Realtor
New home sales here in Phoenix are UP, and have been for some time NOW, and here in
the Phoenix Area buyers are searching for a Newly Constructed or
yet-to-be-constructed home. Unlike conventional home buyers, these
buyers are generally less knowledgeable about real estate than the HOME
SELLER are, since the sellers of NEW HOMES are DEVELOPERS and that’s
what they do for a living. Because
of the special complexities of a new
home purchase, BUYERS are in desperate need of representation and
counseling. Buyers NEED there OWN Representation. But many buyers feel
when purchasing a New home, that they don't need a Realtor. When in fact
it is preferred. Realtors Are Your Advocate During the Process * Bring A REALTOR *
The
new Home Builder will have you sign a waver letting you know that THEY
represent THE BUILDER NOT YOU!
Employing the services of a Realtor, particularly when purchasing a
newly constructed home, will give buyers an extra line of defense
against many of the common issues that arise during the buying process.
Rather than battling the builder ALONE when problems arise during
construction, your Realtor will take matters into their own hands and
work to assure that any problem is corrected in a way that is suitable
to you. Realtors are also experienced in contracts and contract negotiations.
While the wording of a contract may be somewhat cryptic to the buyer, a
Realtor can clarify any wording that is confusing and work to get
changes made to contract stipulations that are unsuitable. This will
help to prevent misunderstandings and misleading contract terms that are
binding, once a purchase agreement is signed.
Still Want to Go It Alone?
While some have successfully purchased homes directly from a builder,
buyers should ask themselves if this is a risk that they are willing to
take. In most cases, the peace of mind and protecting that is given by
using a Realtor is well worth their commission. By choosing to purchase a
newly constructed home through a Realtor, the likelihood of a positive
outcome is almost assured, from start to finish.
Last week, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released their Existing Home Sales Report.
The report announced that the median existing-home price in June was
$236,400. That value surpasses the peak median sales price set in July
2006 ($230,400). This revelation created many headlines exclaiming that
home prices had hit a “new record”:
Wall Street Journal: Existing-Home Prices Hit Record
USA Today: Existing home sales surge, prices hit record
Though the headlines are accurate, we want to take a closer look
at the story. We do not want people to believe that this information is
evidence that a new “price bubble” is forming in housing.
NAR
reports the median home price. That means that 50% of the homes sold
above that number and 50% sold below that number. With fewer distressed
properties (lower valued) now selling, the median price will rise. The
median value does not reflect that each individual property is
increasing in value.
Below are the comments from Bill McBride, the author of the esteemed economic blog Calculated Risk.
McBride talks about the challenges with using the median price and also
explains that in “real” prices (taking into consideration inflation) we
are nowhere close to a record.
“In
general I'd ignore the median sales price because it is impacted by the
mix of homes sold (more useful are the repeat sales indexes like
Case-Shiller or CoreLogic). NAR reported the median sales price was
$236,400 in June, above the median peak of $230,400 in July 2006. That
is 9 years ago, so in real terms, median prices are close to 20% below
the previous peak. Not close.”
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journalcovered this issue in detail. In this story, Nick Timiraos explained that this rise in median prices is nothing to be concerned about:
“Does
this mean we have another problem on our hands? Not really…There may be
other reasons to worry about housing affordability by comparing prices
with incomes or prices with rents for a given market. But crude
comparisons of nominal home prices with their 2006 and 2007 levels
shouldn’t be used to make cavalier claims about a new bubble.”
Bottom Line
Home
values are appreciating. However, they are not increasing at a rate
that we should have fears of a new housing bubble around the corner.
Last week, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) released their Existing Home Sales Report.
The report announced that the median existing-home price in June was
$236,400. That value surpasses the peak median sales price set in July
2006 ($230,400). This revelation created many headlines exclaiming that
home prices had hit a “new record”:
Wall Street Journal: Existing-Home Prices Hit Record
USA Today: Existing home sales surge, prices hit record
Though the headlines are accurate, we want to take a closer look at the
story. We do not want people to believe that this information is
evidence that a new “price bubble” is forming in housing.
NAR reports the median home price. That means that 50% of the homes sold
above that number and 50% sold below that number. With fewer distressed
properties (lower valued) now selling, the median price will rise. The
median value does not reflect that each individual property is
increasing in value.
Below are the comments from Bill McBride, the author of the esteemed economic blog Calculated Risk.
McBride talks about the challenges with using the median price and also
explains that in “real” prices (taking into consideration inflation) we
are nowhere close to a record.
“In general I'd ignore the median sales price because it
is impacted by the mix of homes sold (more useful are the repeat sales
indexes like Case-Shiller or CoreLogic). NAR reported the median sales
price was $236,400 in June, above the median peak of $230,400 in July
2006. That is 9 years ago, so in real terms, median prices are close to
20% below the previous peak. Not close.”
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journalcovered this issue in detail. In this story, Nick Timiraos explained that this rise in median prices is nothing to be concerned about:
“Does this mean we have another problem on our hands?
Not really…There may be other reasons to worry about housing
affordability by comparing prices with incomes or prices with rents for a
given market. But crude comparisons of nominal home prices with their
2006 and 2007 levels shouldn’t be used to make cavalier claims about a
new bubble.”
Bottom Line
Home values are appreciating. However, they are not increasing at a rate
that we should have fears of a new housing bubble around the corner.
- See more at:
http://theocrealestateedge.com/2015/07/are-home-values-really-at-record-levels/#sthash.lk2QBKzD.dpuf