Hi ladies and gentlemen, this is Diane Cardano from Cardano Real Estate Experts here with the Latest Cardano Real Estate Expert Market Report. It has been an incredible year in Real Estate and I have been right here, month after month, breaking down all the information and making it easy for you to understand. So many of you have been giving me such positive feedback on these blogs and I want to thank you for that! I am very happy you are enjoying them and finding the information and my advice so helpful.
Before I get to the news I wanted to take a second to address a request made by a few of my video blog viewers. They wanted to know why they should hire a real estate expert versus just a traditional sales person.
Imagine hiring a real estate expert, a real estate professional.
Imagine what they can do to protect your real estate asset.
Imagine what that looks and feels like.
#1- They help with all disclosures and paperwork necessary in today’s heavily regulated environment. There's more paperwork to fill out when you sell a house now than any time in history. We have a team, executing market tested, proven repeatable systems which ensure every document is processed accurately and filed well ahead of deadlines.
#2- An expert Realtor is well educated in and experienced with the entire sales process. There are over 115 variables that must be managed in the home-selling process so this is very important as one mistake from an agent who is not an expert can cost you thousands.
#3- They act as a ‘buffer’ in negotiations with all parties throughout the entire transaction. The vast majority of people don't want to get involved in negotiations and most don’t even know how to start. Most people want somebody in the middle of it. They want someone helping them talk to the appraiser or the inspectors. They want someone helping them and maybe even talk to the bank. But most importantly they want someone to stand up for them and negotiate for them.
#4- They help understand today’s real estate values when setting the price on a listing or on an offer to purchase. The days of using just Comps to understand a home’s value are long gone. You need to consider hundreds of variables, aside from obvious ones like upgrades and renovations you have done to your home, there are economic indicators, rental housing vacancies, new single and multi-family construction, seasonal market changes, interest rates, and even regional and national unemployment rates just to name a few.
#5- They simply and effectively explain today’s real estate headlines and decipher what they mean to you. Home buyers are more informed than ever with their Internet searches. We all know that there is plenty of information out there. However, there's a critical need to transform that information into analysis and advice that helps our client make the best home buying and selling decisions.
I hope that helps clarify the very real need to have an expert, helping you, your friends, family and neighbors with what is more than likely the largest single asset they own. You need to choose your expert wisely. Just go to www.QuestionsToAskARealtor.com for a complete list. A bad hire can cost you thousands.
This brings me to the market research I want to share with you this month!
Greg McBride, Bankrate.com's Senior Financial Analyst, put it this way: "It seems like Americans' love affair with real estate has returned," and I couldn't agree with him more.
The existing home sales chart, going all the way back to January 2011,shows that the market is definitely back. It's flying back. Things are doing really, really, really well, the real estate market is back in a big way.
Take a look at the recent Survey Fannie Mae did which shows the top 5 reasons Americans are buying homes:
Number One, they want a better place to raise their children;
Number Two, a place that their family can feel safe;
Number Three, they want the ability to have more space, more elbow room;
Number Four, they want the freedom to renovate that space to their taste. They may want to paint that room a lot of different bright colors in order to spark creativity, but a lease might tell you have to keep it beige. They may want to put a swing set out in the backyard, but a landlord tells them no because that's an insurance risk and you can't do that.
Number Five, and perhaps the most important reason, is that they understand that owning is a better investment than renting.
As a matter of fact, a study just came out last week that showed that owning is still 35 percent cheaper than renting in the United States. Owning a home is 35 percent cheaper than renting a home in this country, and the study covered a hundred of the largest metro areas. And how many were at the cheaper end? All 100. They weren't all 35 percent cheaper, but on average it's 35 percent cheaper, and every single one of the hundred largest metro areas it's cheaper to buy a home than rent a home. That's exciting.
I’ll tell you what is even more exciting, What we're getting back to is people realizing the investment ability of owning a home, and that this is a great time to buy.
Take a look at this chart, I go all the way back to January 2000 and come right up to the most current numbers.
See what is the return on investment if you invested in the Dow, the S&P, and the NASDAQ, or if you invested in real estate. And we can see over that 13‐year period that real estate outshines any one of the other investments. It's still the case even though the stock market is taking off.
Some people will say, "Well, Diane, that's over 13 years. You know, what about from 2006 on?
Well, I don’t have time in this video to break down every single time period, but let's just take a look at the last year.
Everyone is bragging how well the stock market did. And they're not wrong; the Dow's up 13.9 percent. The S&P is up 12.1 percent. And the NASDAQ that took a tremendous hit is roaring back; they're up 17.4 percent.
But look at home prices in this country are up 12.4 percent. We're not doing as well as every one of them, although a little bit better than the S&P, but even in the last year where the stock market was skyrocketing, owning a home is a sound and profitable investment.
And friends, realize, when you buy a stock, if you're buying two hundred thousand dollars' worth of stock, you're paying two hundred thousand dollars. If you're buying a two hundred thousand dollar house, you're putting down ten, maybe $20,000. So the return on your actual cash investment skyrockets over any of these other investments.
I know many of you watching this will be selling and or buying a home in the upcoming year. Or you know a close friend or family member who will be.
I am here to tell you that it is an Amazing time to be on the market. But like I explained at the start of this video, you really can’t do it right without the help of an Expert.
There is still one more opportunity to attend one of my Home Seller Seminars, on November 21st at 6:30pm in the Abington Free Library! Just go to www.homesellingsharks.com, and sign up today!!
This is Diane Cardano, signing off!
