Homebuyers Willing To Sacrifice ‘Must-Haves’ In Favor Of Good School Districts
It should come as no surprise that buying a home in a good school district is important to homebuyers. According to a report from Realtor.com, 86% of 18-34 year-olds and 84% of those aged 35-54 indicated that their home search areas were defined by school district boundaries.
What is surprising, however, is that 78% of recent home buyers sacrificed features from their “must-have” lists in order to find homes within their dream school districts.
The top feature sacrificed was a garage at 19%, followed closely by a large backyard, an updated kitchen, the desired number of bedrooms, and an outdoor living area. The full results are shown in the graph below.
Buyers are attracted to schools with high test scores, accelerated academic programs, art and music programs, diversity, and before and after-school programs.
Test scores were the factor most often selected by buyers as a hallmark of a good school (59 percent), followed by having accelerated programs (53 percent), arts and music (49 percent), diversity (43 percent), and before- and after-school programs (41 percent).
Younger buyers were more likely than older buyers to cite diversity as a factor that makes for a good school — 49 percent for 18-34 year-olds, compared to 37 percent for 55-plus. More older buyers placed importance on whether a school has accelerated programs — 62 percent for 55-plus vs. 50 percent for buyers under 55.
With a limited number of homes available to buy in today’s real estate market, competition is fierce for homes in good school districts. Danielle Hale, Chief Economist for Realtor.com, explained further,
“Most buyers understand that they may not be able to find a home that covers every single item on their wish list, but our survey shows that school districts are an area where many buyers aren’t willing to compromise.
For many buyers and not just buyers with children, ‘location, location, location,’ means ‘schools, schools, schools.’”
For buyers across the country, the quality of their children’s (or future children’s) education ranks highest on their must-have lists. Before you start the search for your next home, meet with a local real estate agent who can explain the market conditions in your area.
Info Source: Keeping Current Matter
Homeownership Is A Part Of The American Dream
According to the latest Aspiring Home Buyers Profile by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 82% of surveyed renters desire to own a home in the future, with 80% believing homeownership is a big part of achieving their American Dream.
The profile went on to state that 50% of millennials believe that their rent will increase, with 20% believing that an increase in rent will be the catalyst that pushes them to consider buying a home vs. renewing their lease.
So, what is holding renters back?
What would make renters take the plunge?
AR’s Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun believes that,
“Housing demand in 2018 will be fueled by more millennials finally deciding to marry and have kids and the expectations that solid job growth and the strengthening economy will push incomes higher.”
Yun goes on to warn that,
“However, with prices and mortgage rates also expected to increase, affordability pressures will persist. That is why it is critical for much of the country to start seeing a significant hike in new and existing housing supply. Otherwise, many would-be first-time buyers will be forced to continue renting and not reach their dream of being a homeowner.”
If you are one of the many homeowners whose houses no longer fit their needs and are looking to move up to your dream home, now is a great time to list your starter home! First-time buyers are out in force looking to achieve their American Dream.
Source: Keeping Current Matters
Home Inspections: What To Expect
So you made an offer, it was accepted, and now your next task is to have the home inspected prior to closing. Oftentimes, agents make your offer contingent on a clean home inspection.
This contingency allows you to renegotiate the price you paid for the home, ask the sellers to cover repairs, or even, in some cases, walk away. Your agent can advise you on the best course of action once the report is filed.
How to Choose an Inspector
Your agent will most likely have a short list of inspectors that they have worked with in the past that they can recommend to you. Consider following these 5 areas when choosing the right home inspector for you:
- Qualifications – find out what’s included in your inspection and if the age or location of your home may warrant specific certifications or specialties.
- Sample Reports – ask for a sample inspection report so you can review how thoroughly they will be inspecting your dream home. The more detailed the report, the better in most cases.
- References – do your homework – ask for phone numbers and names of past clients who you can call to ask about their experiences.
- Memberships – Not all inspectors belong to a national or state association of home inspectors, and membership in one of these groups should not be the only way to evaluate your choice. Membership in one of these organizations often means that continued training and education are provided.
- Errors & Omission Insurance – Find out what the liability of the inspector or inspection company is once the inspection is over. The inspector is only human after all, and it is possible that they might miss something they should have seen.
Ask your inspector if it’s okay for you to tag along during the inspection, that way they can point out anything that should be addressed or fixed.
Don’t be surprised to see your inspector climbing on the roof or crawling around in the attic and on the floors. The job of the inspector is to protect your investment and find any issues with the home, including but not limited to: the roof, plumbing, electrical components, appliances, heating & air conditioning systems, ventilation, windows, the fireplace and chimney, the foundation, and so much more!
They say ‘ignorance is bliss,’ but not when investing your hard-earned money into a home of your own. Work with a professional who you can trust to give you the most information possible about your new home so that you can make the most educated decision about your purchase.
Information Source: Keeping Current Matters
West Coast Thunder 2018
We are honored to participate and invite our community to celebrate our fallen heroes, as we support Riverside National Cemetery. Each year upwards of 7,500 motorcyclists pack the streets of Riverside on a determined route past our flagship location on Indiana Avenue in Riverside to observe and participate in the tradition of honoring the fallen warriors of our country.
The annual West Coast Thunder motorcycle ride to Riverside National Cemetery starts with a pancake breakfast at 6 a.m. Riders will leave the Riverside Harley-Davidson about 9 a.m., stop at the cemetery’s ceremony and head to the Lake Perris Fairgrounds. Riverside National Cemetery is a resting place dedicated to United States Military personnel. When the Cemetery first opened, it was in a continuous building and expansion process. Eventually, with the influence of Riverside County becoming involved, the Department of Veteran Services created the support committee, thus further evolving to become their own organization – the Riverside National Cemetery Support Committee our affiliation is with Bill Chamberlain and Jamil Dada, both staunch supporters of Veteran Affairs in our region.
Family and Friends joined us in saluting our fallen heroes and supporting this great tradition. While providing coffee, breakfast treats and flags!
A special thank you to Heidi Carter and Patti Triplett who chaired this gathering and our affiliate’s participation.
The agents and staff at our three Riverside locations, wish to thank all the volunteers who work hard and dedicate their time and energy giving back.
Windermere Cares.
Top Reasons to Own Your Home
Family: Putting the needs of your immediate family & children first.
Privacy: Having your space that is solely your own.
Financial Investment: Chance to grow your asset & wealth.
Comfort: Surround yourself with items that enhance your life.
Community: Being part of a broader community of people and society.
Accomplish: Reflection of your efforts & success.
Provides Stability: Having control of your own future direction & security.
Personal Expression: Display your unique personality, desire & interests.
Buyers Are Out Now! Don't Wait to Sell your Home!
The concept of "Supply & Demand" reveals that the best price for an item is realized when the supply of that item is low and the demand for that item is high.
Let’s see how this applies to the current residential real estate market.
It is no secret that the supply of homes for sale has been far below the number needed to sustain a normal market for over a year at this point. A normal market requires six months of housing inventory to meet the demand. The latest report from NAR revealed that there is currently only a 3.6-month supply of houses on the market.
Supply is currently very low!
A report that was just released tells us that demand is very strong. The most recent Foot Traffic Report (which sheds light on the number of buyers who are actually out looking at homes) disclosed that “foot traffic grew 10.5 points to 52.4 in March as the new season approaches.”
Demand is currently very high!
Waiting to sell will only increase the competition between you and all of the other sellers putting their houses on the market later this summer. If you are debating whether or not to list your home, contact a local real estate professional who can explain the conditions in your market.
Information Source: Keeping Current Matters
Art Float Riverside
This Friday, May 11, 2018, 5 p.m. - 7:30 p.m., at Redwood Street Bridge, is the Launch Party of Art Float - Riverside!
Come for the 5:30 p.m. "ribbon-cutting" with Mayor Bailey and other dignitaries, and then take your complimentary wine glass on a wine-tasting, food-nibbling, music-filled walk while the sun sets on the Art Float spheres and creates a magical display.
$25/person (Sponsors of $1000 or greater to receive complimentary tickets.) Casual attire. Outside, in the evening, so please dress accordingly.
The Riverside Art Museum (RAM), in collaboration with the City of Riverside’s Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Department and the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD), will host a signature community art event that will involve hundreds of huge, floating, hand-painted spheres in Lake Evans at Fairmount Park. Called Art Float – Riverside, the project is patterned after one staged a few years ago by Portraits of Hope in Los Angeles. The Art Alliance of the Riverside Art Museum, the volunteer fundraising group of RAM, is spearheading the event that will take place May 11 - June 1, 2018. When complete, the floating artwork will feature over 350 hand-painted spheres that will float in Lake Evans for a three-week festival.
Each plastic sphere is six feet in diameter and will be brightly painted by schoolchildren at 48 RUSD schools. After being painted, the spheres will be launched in Lake Evans at Fairmount Park and will float as a huge piece of community art. During the time the spheres will be in the lake, there will be multiple events for the public to enjoy.
“This will be a signature event in Riverside,” says Lucile Arntzen, incoming RAM Board President. “It will allow everyone free access to a unique kind of community art.”
Art Float – Riverside chairwoman, Kathy Allavie, says that one of the unique aspects of the project is the involvement of thousands of schoolchildren throughout the city. Allavie, who also sits on the RUSD Board of Trustees, is excited to bring the art experience into the schools. “Our painting teams will be visiting each school and letting the children participate in the process,” says Allavie. “I know that when they see the spheres floating colorfully in the lake they will be thrilled to have had a hand in its creation.”
Art Float – Riverside is also a fundraiser for the museum. Allavie is hoping to have 350 spheres sponsored by community members for $350 each. After the event, the sponsors can keep the painted spheres or have them donated to a school, library, or community center. The money raised by the project will return to RAM’s mission-driven programs, including their award-winning art education program called Art-to-Go. Art-to-Go delivers art education directly to each classroom with age-appropriate projects and lessons given by qualified art instructors. RUSD has engaged the museum to deliver around 3,700 art classes in all their elementary schools, K-6th, this coming year.
Days On The Market Drops To New Low In April
According to recently released data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the median number of days that a home spent on the market hit a new low of 26 days in April, as 57% of homes were on the market for under a month.
NAR’s Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun, had this to say,
“What is available for sale is going under contract at a rapid pace. Since NAR began tracking this data in May 2011, the median days a listing was on the market was at an all-time low in April, and the share of homes sold in less than a month was at an all-time high.”
Strong buyer demand, a good economy, and a low inventory of new and existing homes for sale created the perfect storm to accelerate the time between listing and signing a contract.
The chart below shows the median days on the market from April 2017 to April 2018:
If you are a homeowner who is debating whether or not to list your home for sale, know that national market conditions are primed for a quick turnaround! Meet with a local real estate agent who can explain to you exactly what’s going on in your area, today!
Source: Keeping Current Matters
How Long Do Most Families Live In A House?
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) keeps historical data on many aspects of homeownership. One of their data points, which has changed dramatically, is the median tenure of a family in a home, meaning how long a family stays in a home prior to moving.
As the graph below shows, over the last twenty years (1985-2008), the median tenure averaged exactly six years. However, since 2014, that average is almost ten years – an increase of almost 50%.
Why the dramatic increase?
The reasons for this change are plentiful!
The fall in home prices during the housing crisis left many homeowners in a negative equity situation (where their home was worth less than the mortgage on the property). Also, the uncertainty of the economy made some homeowners much more fiscally conservative about making a move.
With home prices rising dramatically over the last several years, 95.3% of homes with a mortgage are now in a positive equity situation, according to CoreLogic.
With the economy coming back and wages starting to increase, many homeowners are in a much better financial situation than they were just a few short years ago.
One other reason for the increase was brought to light by NAR in their 2018 Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report
. According to the report,
“Sellers 37 years and younger stayed in their home for six years…”
These homeowners, who are either looking for more space to accommodate their growing families or for better school districts to do the same, are likely to move more often (compared to typical sellers who stayed in their homes for 10 years). The homeownership rate among young families, however, has still not caught up to previous generations, resulting in the jump we have seen in median tenure!
What does this mean for housing?
Many believe that a large portion of homeowners are not in a house that is best for their current family circumstance; they could be baby boomers living in an empty, four-bedroom colonial, or a millennial couple living in a one-bedroom condo planning to start a family.
These homeowners are ready to make a move, and since a lack of housing inventory is still a major challenge in the current housing market, this could be great news.
Source: Keeping Current Matters
Spring Home Selling Tips
It is that time of year when flowers begin to bud, birds sing and the sun shines a little brighter. As spring starts to blossom it is also a time when lots of people consider buying a home. If you are in the market to sell your home we have lots of information designed to help you prepare your home for spring selling season. The following spring home selling tips are grouped by topic in order to help you apply this to your own situation.
It may seem obvious, but the best practices used for selling a home during the bustling winter months or the color explosion of the fall months are drastically different from selling a home in the Spring.
Spring Cleaning is Top of the List
Many people take advantage of the better weather and longer days in order to tackle their list of cleaning chores. Listed below are some of the most important parts of your home that need special attention when preparing to sell the property.
Main Entry
- Give a thorough dusting to the lights as well as the actual switches that control the light
- Clean the entire door along with the trim around the door. Then clean the floor, ceiling and the walls.
- Shine up the door knob, on both sides, with appropriate cleaning solution
Living Room
- With a cleaning cloth or duster, wipe the walls, ceiling, electrical outlets and switches for the lights
- Thoroughly clean each window as well as the surrounding sill
- If the room has carpet, vacuum the entire carpet and then have the carpet steam cleaned
- If the room has hardwood floors, check with the instructions from the manufacturer and clean accordingly
- If the windows have blinds, use a gentle cleaning solution to clean away dust or other dirt from the blinds
- Vacuum and clean any dirty spots on couches, chairs, recliners and ottomans
Bathroom
- Deep clean any and all vanities along with the supporting cabinets
- Organize all objects on and near the sink. Clear out as much clutter as possible
- Deep clean both the outside and inside of the commode. If you are handy with tools, remove the actual commode seat in order to clean around the bolt areas.
- Clean the liner for the shower/tub. It may be necessary to replace the liner
- Deep clean the tub and/or shower.
- Use cleaning solution to clean the mirrors, light switches and the light fixtures
Kitchen
- Deep clean the sink and counter tops. Remove as much clutter from counters as possible
- Go through the refrigerator and clean out any old items. Thoroughly clean the inside of the fridge. Don’t forget to clean the tip top of the fridge too!
- Do the same cleaning for the freezer
- Deep clean the stovetop and the oven. Pay particular attention to the glass section on the oven door
- Wipe down the walls, floors, and ceilings
- Pull out all of the appliances away from the wall and clean
- Clean up any dust or grime along the coils of the refrigerator
- Clean every light
- Clean out the dishwasher and then run a complete cycle without any dishes to ensure cleanliness
Lawn Care and Other Outdoor Ideas
Many people will look at pictures of your home online or drive by the property and take a quick peek. Since the lawn, walkway, front door and shrubs are available for all to see, it is important to make these areas look as good as you can. Developing a good impression with the yard will improve your chances of getting that important showing of the house. Here are just a few ideas to help improve your property’s curb appeal.
Gutters – Clean out all of the gutters. Also, go over each section of the gutter to see if there are any types of leaks. Clear out any debris that may be blocking the downspouts.
Clear away dead leaves – With the end of a long winter, there are bound to be some leaves in the yard. Remove the leaves in order to give the grass time to grow and shine. It will also give any fertilizer a better chance to work.
Trim the lawn, shrubs and low branches – It goes without saying, but now is the time to give the grass a fresh mowing and trim any shrubs. It is also a good idea to cut back any low hanging branches that may obscure a vision of the home from the road.
Clean up the walkway and driveway – If you have a pressure washer, or do not mind renting one, clean the driveway as well as the walkway leading to the front door. Making these areas look fresh and clean will really improve the appeal of the home.
Pay attention to colors – If you wish to plant flowers, use a pattern of colors that complements the exterior of your home. Make the scheme of colors uniform throughout the garden.
Inspect the roof – Make sure there are no missing shingles from the roof. While inspecting the roof, look for signs of potential leaks and have those addressed by a professional contractor. Be sure to know your roofing options as well.
Choosing a Real Estate Agent
Readying yourself and your home for a sale includes choosing a real estate agent. The agent will be responsible for various things throughout the selling process so it is important that you choose wisely. Here are some guidelines for picking an agent.
Listing a Home at the Correct Time
In order to get your home sold during the spring, your agent will need to list it at the correct time. If the home is listed too soon in the spring, there may not be enough interest in your property. Conversely, if the home is listed too late in the season then you may miss your potential buyer.
Picking the Right Price
Choosing the correct sales price takes a bit of work. The real estate agent will need to factor in things like
- Recent home sales in your neighborhood/area
- The similarity of your home with the homes recently sold
- Distinguishing characteristics of your property that make your home more valuable
- Outside variables that affect price (school district, proximity to shopping, condition of roads, crime rate)
It may seem that the best bet would be to price the home a bit high and simply wait for the right buyer to come along and negotiate. However, not all buyers are willing to haggle. It is wiser to consult with your agent and get their input before settling on a price.
What Happens Next?
After you have sold your current home, what happens next? Do you plan to buy another home in the same general area or do you plan to move out of state? Are you depending on the proceeds from the first sale to facilitate the purchase of your next property? If you are in need of a contingency, then you will definitely want to explain this to your agent. Your agent can present a sales contract in such a way that protects your best interests while also moving the sale along.
As you can see, there are a lot of items that need your attention when it comes time for selling your property.
Keep in mind that this is a process, almost like a marathon, that will take dedication. It is a good idea to write out a plan of all the things you wish to complete and tackle them one at a time.
Our goal with this article is to provide you with not only a big picture view of selling your property but also some practical actionable items that can be put to use right away.
We hope this information will be of use as you prepare to sell your home in the upcoming spring home selling season.