Preview Orange County Real Estate Blog - The Aaronson Group

Home Prices Didn’t Crash After All

During the fourth quarter of last year, many housing experts predicted home prices would crash this year. Here are a few of those forecasts:

Jeremy Siegel, Russell E. Palmer Professor Emeritus of Finance at the Wharton School of Business:

"I expect housing prices to fall 10% to 15%, and the prices are accelerating on the downside."

Mark Zandi, Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics:

"Buckle in. Assuming rates remain near 6.5% and the economy skirts recession, national house prices will fall almost 10% peak-to-trough. Most of those declines will happen sooner rather than later. And house prices will fall 20% if there is a typical recession." 

Goldman Sachs: 

"Housing is already cooling in the U.S., according to July data last week. As…

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The Main Reason Mortgage Rates Are So High

Today’s mortgage rates are top-of-mind for many homebuyers right now. As a result, if you’re thinking about buying for the first time or selling your current house to move into a home that better fits your needs, you may be asking yourself these two questions: 

1. Why Are Mortgage Rates So High?
2. When Will Rates Go Back Down?

Here’s the context you need to help answer those questions.

1. Why Are Mortgage Rates So High? 

The supply and demand for mortgage-backed securities (MBS) influence the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. The supply and demand for mortgage-backed securities (MBS). According to Investopedia: 

“Mortgage-backed securities (MBS) are investment products similar to bonds. Each MBS consists of a bundle of home loans and…

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The Benefits of Selling Now, According to Experts

Here's what you should know if you're trying to decide if now's the time to sell your house. First, the limited number of homes available now gives you a significant advantage. That's because there are more buyers out there than homes for sale. And, with so few homes on the market, buyers will have fewer options, so you set yourself up to get the most eyes possible on your house.

Here's what industry experts are saying about why selling now has its benefits:

Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors (NAR):

"Inventory levels are still at historic lows. Consequently, multiple offers are returning on a good number of properties."

Selma Hepp, Chief Economist at CoreLogic:

"We have yet to see the traditional…

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OPEN HOUSE-Saturday, May 27, 2023 from 1-4 p.m.

LOADING - 35555 Beach Road

Full details can be found by checking out the 35555 Beach Road MLS Listing

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Why Buyers Need an Expert Agent by Their Side

Buying a home can feel intimidating, even under normal circumstances. But today’s market is still anything but ordinary. There continues to be a minimal number of homes for sale, creating bidding wars and driving home prices back up as buyers compete over the available homes.

Navigating this can be daunting if you’re trying to do it alone. That’s why having us at The Aaronson Group to guide you through home-buying is essential, especially today. Bankrate shares this perspective: 

“Advice and guidance from a professional real estate agent can be invaluable, particularly amid a hot or unpredictable housing market.

Here are just a few of the ways The Aaronson Group makes a big difference: 

• Experience – The Aaronson Group knows the ins and…

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The Worst Home Price Declines are Behind Us [INFOGRAPHIC]

Some Highlights

• While home prices vary by local area, they’ve already hit their low point nationally and are starting to rise again.
• Last July, prices started to decline, but around February, they began climbing back up.
• If you put your plans to move on hold, waiting to see what would happen with home prices, reach out to #theaaronsongroup to discuss if now’s the right time to jump back in.

Contact us: Call 949-388-5194 or email info@previewochomes.com

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The Best Time To Sell Your House Is When Others Aren’t Selling

If you’re considering selling your house, you should know the number of homes for sale right now is low. That’s because, this season, fewer sellers are listing their houses for sale than the norm.

Looking back at every April since 2017, the only year fewer sellers listed their homes was in April 2020, when the pandemic hit and stalled the housing market (shown in red in the graph below). In more typical years, roughly 500,000 sellers add their homes to the market in April. This year, we saw fewer than 400,000 sellers entering the market in April (see graph below):

While several factors contribute to this trend, one thing keeping inventory low right now is that some homeowners are reluctant to move when the mortgage rate they have on their…

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The Impact of Inflation on Mortgage Rates

If you’re reading headlines about inflation or mortgage rates, you may see something about the recent decision from the Federal Reserve (the Fed). But what does it mean for you, the housing market, and your plans to buy a home? Here’s what you need to know.

Inflation and the Housing Market

While the Fed’s working hard to lower inflation, the latest data shows that the number has improved, but the inflation rate is still higher than the target (2%). That played a role in the Fed’s decision to raise the Federal Funds Rate last week. As Bankrate explains:

“Keeping its inflation-fighting streak alive, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates for the 10th time in 10 meetings . . . The hikes aimed to cool an economy on fire after rebounding…

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Why Today’s Housing Market Is Not About To Crash

There’s been some concern lately that the housing market is approaching a crash. And given some of the affordability challenges in the housing market, along with a lot of recession talk in the media, it’s easy to understand why that worry has come up.

But the data clearly shows today’s market is very different than before the housing crash in 2008. So rest assured, this isn’t a repeat of what happened back then. Here’s why.

It’s Harder To Get a Loan Now

It was much easier to get a home loan during the lead-up to the 2008 housing crisis than it is today. Back then, banks had different lending standards, making it easy for anyone to qualify for a home loan or refinance an existing one. As a result, lending institutions took on much more…

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Buyer Activity Is Up Despite Higher Mortgage Rates

If you’re a homeowner considering moving, you may wonder if it’s still an excellent time to sell your house. Here’s the good news. Even with higher mortgage rates, buyer traffic is picking up speed.

Data from the latest ShowingTime Showing Index, which is a measure of buyers actively touring homes, helps paint the picture of how much buyer demand has increased in recent months (see graph below):

As the graph shows, the first two months of 2023 saw a noticeable increase in buyer traffic. That’s likely because the limited number of homes for sale kept shoppers looking for homes even during colder months.

To help tell the story of why the latest report is significant, let’s compare foot traffic this February with each February for the last…

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