WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING WITH HOME PRICES TODAY?

One of the biggest questions people are asking right now is: what’s happening with home prices? There are headlines about ongoing price appreciation, but at the same time, some sellers are reducing the price of their homes. That can feel confusing and makes it more difficult to get a clear picture. Part of the challenge is that it can be hard to understand what experts are saying when the words they use sound similar. Let’s break down the differences among those terms to help clarify what’s actually happening today. Appreciation is when home prices increase. Depreciation is when home prices decrease. Deceleration is when home prices continue to appreciate, but at a slower or more moderate pace. Experts agree that, nationally, what we’re seeing today is deceleration. That means home prices are appreciating, just not at the record-breaking pace they have over the past year. In 2021, data from CoreLogic tells us home prices appreciated by an average of 15% nationwide. And earlier this year, that appreciation was upward of 20%. This year, experts forecast home prices will appreciate at a decelerated pace of around 10 to 11%, on average.

As the green bars show, home prices appreciated between 19-20% year-over-year from January to March. But over the last few months, the pace of that appreciation has decelerated to 18%. This means price growth is still climbing compared to last year but at a slower rate. As the Monthly Mortgage Monitor from Black Knight explains: “Annual home price growth dropped by nearly two percentage points . . . – the greatest single-month slowdown on record since at least the early 1970s. . . While June’s slowdown was record-breaking, home price growth would need to decelerate at this pace for six more months to drive annual appreciation back to 5%, a rate more in line with long-run averages.” Basically, this means, while moderating, home prices are still far above the norm, and we’d have to see a lot more deceleration to even fall in line with more typical rates of home price growth. That’s still not home price depreciation. The big takeaway is home prices haven’t fallen or depreciated nationwide, they’re just decelerating or moderating. While some unique and overheated markets may see declines, nationally, home prices are forecast to appreciate. And when we look at the country as a whole, none of the experts project home prices will net depreciate or fall. They’re all projecting ongoing appreciation. Bottom Line If you have questions about what’s happening with home prices today, connect with the Rural KC Team-Keller Williams Partners at 913-837-0760 or 913-837-0411, or Bill@ruralkc.com or Danicia@ruralkc.com. Have a great day!

TIPS FOR YOUR BASEMENT REMODEL

 

Having a finished basement is a great addition to just about any house. It can give you a place to relax, a play area for your children, or even additional bedroom space if you need it. Some people even use basement areas to create fully furnished workshops, craft rooms, and other furnished DIY areas so they’ll have comfortable places for hobbies and keep DIY clutter out of the main house areas. The possibilities of a finished basement are limited only by your imagination.

With that said, finishing or remodeling a basement area can be a big undertaking. There are ways to keep it from becoming overwhelming, though, as well as things that you can do to avoid potential problems down the line. While the specifics of your basement project will depend on where you live and how you’re designing your basement, here are some tips that should help you to remodel your basement space into something closer to your liking.

Plan for the Basics First

There are a few things that you’re going to want to tackle before you get too far into planning your basement remodel. Some issues such as stuffy air, moisture problems, and poor lighting often plague basements and cause finished basement areas to be underutilized compared to the rest of the house. You’re going to want to make sure that any foundation cracks or other leaks are taken care of, that the basement has good ventilation and air purification as needed, and that there’s sufficient lighting for your needs.

Heating and cooling issues are another thing you’re going to want to plan for early on. Finished basements can become stuffy or drafty if you don’t have proper HVAC extensions or other heating and cooling options in place, and pipes running through the basement ceiling can make a huge mess if they freeze and burst during especially cold winters. Proper insulation, good seals around windows and doors, and some way to keep temperature-regulated air flowing can go a long way toward avoiding these issues.

Make the Room Your Own

Before you really dive into a major remodeling project, take the time to figure out exactly what the space is going to be used for. Once you have this in mind it will help a lot with other design decisions. Having a purpose in place can help you choose wall and ceiling colors, aid in determining storage needs, and even help you choose the sort of flooring or furniture that you want in your finished basement area.

As you plan out your basement and what you want to use it for, your needs can also make it easier to tell whether you’ll need a single large room or if you’ll want to partition the basement space into multiple smaller rooms. Having a plan in place will go a long way toward making sure that all of your needs are covered and that your new space will actually meet your needs.

Bring in Some Help

While there are a number of jobs that you can DIY in a basement remodel, there are still some areas that are best left to the professionals. This is especially important if your basement needs new lighting installed, new plumbing, or an extension to your HVAC system to ensure that you have adequate ventilation in your new basement area. While it may be tempting to try and do some of these things yourself, that can set you up for a lot of problems down the road.

We hope you have enjoyed today's blog.  Please feel free to contact The Rural KC Team-Keller Williams Partners for all of your rural real estate needs.  913-837-0760 or 913-837-0411.

HOW DOES A HELOC WORK?

 

As home values have risen dramatically in the last few years, many homeowners are looking for ways to tap their equity without selling their homes or refinancing their primary mortgage. If your home has gained significant value since you purchased it, or you’ve just paid so much of the mortgage down that you’ve got ample equity to work with, a second mortgage on your home might make sense.

Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) are popular options for homeowners in this very situation. They’re flexible loans that give you a lot of options and time to decide what you want to do with your equity, but they can also be a bit confusing because they don’t work like a more traditional home loan.

HELOCs Are Lines of Credit

The most important thing to keep in mind when it comes to a HELOC is that, unlike a traditional home equity loan, HELOCs are lines of credit. That means that they work much more like a credit card than a mortgage. You’re approved for a line of credit that represents the maximum amount of money you can charge to your HELOC (just like with a credit card), and your payments are based on how much of that line of credit you’ve used.

If you max out your HELOC, you can pay it down and charge again, just like with a credit card. Unlike a credit card, however, your home is being used as the security for this loan, so if you get in over your head, your home is at risk of foreclosure. So you must be very careful with this particular kind of credit line.

HELOCs Have Two Separate Loan Periods

HELOCs start out their lives as open lines of credit, allowing you to charge or pay off as much as you wish at any given time. You’re usually expected to make at least an interest payment each month, but beyond that, you can charge a lot or a little and only pay based on the percentage of the credit line you’ve utilized. This is known as the “draw” period.

This period of the HELOC, where it functions as a line of credit, is usually about 10 years but can be more or less, depending on the loan you take out. Immediately following this period, your HELOC becomes a set loan, and you can no longer charge anything else to the line of credit.

In the repayment period, your HELOC becomes much more like a traditional second mortgage, with a payment that’s based on the amount of credit you ultimately used during the draw period. From here on, your payment is more or less fixed but can vary if you have an adjustable rate loan. The repayment period is usually about 20 years, but, again, can be different based on your agreement with your bank.

There is often a balloon payment due at the end of the repayment period, so if this is a concern for you, make sure that your loan either will fully amortize or that you’re paying extra each month to ensure your last payment takes your note to a zero balance.

HELOC Requirements

Like other home equity loans, you’ll need to be able to qualify for a HELOC with a reasonable credit score (ask your lender for specifics), a debt-to-income ratio of about 40% or below, and a high amount of home equity. Most lenders won’t lend more than about 85% of your home’s equity back to you, in case of default.

Of course, there are exceptions to all of these rules of thumb, so it’s very important to consult with multiple lenders before you make your final decision on who will be servicing your HELOC. You’ll also need an appraisal to assess the current value of your home, as well as minimal closing paperwork to finalize and record the loan.

Ready to Find Your HELOC Lender?

There’s no better place to look than HomeKeepr. Not only are all the best mortgage lenders here, but they’re also coming to you with recommendations from the people you trust most. Just ask The Rural KC Team-Keller Williams Partners for their favorite lenders and you’ll be ready to start your HELOC adventure!

IS RURALKC.COM THE BEST COUNTRY PROPERTY WEBSITE IN THE GALAXY?

If you’ve ever listened to our podcasts, we talk about how our website RuralKC.com is the best country property website in the galaxy. And when looking at all the traffic we get on the website a lot of people agree with us. So, we thought we’d put together a quick blog post about the website and let you decide if it’s the best property website in the galaxy. You see most websites, even other country property websites, were first designed to sell homes in subdivisions. Then they tried to reverse engineer them to work for country property.

RuralKC.com was built from the ground up to be a country property website. To be a great website, it must be an easy-to-use website. And so, we built into the website a lot of the most popular searches that people do and then designed them so that you could do with 1 click what other websites make into a very complex operation. For example, if you know where you want to live you can just scroll down to our metro kc area map and click on the county you are interested in.

Once you click on the county then you can choose with just one more click what’s most important to you. You can then choose the type of property you are looking for. In this example, we used Miami County Kansas.

You can choose from country homes, land, horse properties, or production farms. Once you choose one of those types of property you will get more choices such as: 

So you can choose between presorted prices, acreage, or special features such as homes with ponds, timber, horse facilities, or even log homes But if you really want to get specific then click the “search” feature at the top of the page and you’ll be stunned by all the choices you have to specify exactly what you want.

But it’s the advanced search that really sets RuralKC.com apart. The specific choices you have especially for a country property are unequaled in the rural property Industry.

Maybe you aren’t looking for real estate. It doesn’t matter Rural KC is still a very helpful website to visit regularly. As an example just click our resources tab for a drop-down menu. 

RuralKC.com was never meant just to be a real estate website. Everything we do is built around our love of country living and the country lifestyle. So be sure and check out some of the features of our website that aren’t about real estate. For example, enjoy our podcasts:

                          If you’d like to consider a career on our team start the process

It’s really tempting to get into the details of the website to such a degree that this blog post would quickly be tedious. So we just encourage you to visit Rural KC from time to time and just click around and enjoy it. Our goal is to help you enjoy country life and we hope RuralKC.com helps. Finally please, let us know about anything else you’d like to see on the website that would make your enjoyment of it even greater. Contact either one of us at the number or email below. Be sure and catch us on our next Podcast. Like everything else, You can find it at RuralKC.com.

WHY ARE PEOPLE MOVING TODAY?

Buying a home is a major life decision. That’s true whether you’re purchasing for the first time or selling your house to fuel a move. And if you’re planning to buy a home, you might be hearing about today’s shifting market and wondering what it means for you.

While mortgage rates are higher than they were at the start of the year and home prices are rising, you shouldn’t put your plans on hold based solely on market factors. Instead, it’s necessary to consider why you want to move and how important those reasons are to you. Here are two of the biggest personal motivators driving people to buy homes today.

A Need for More Space

Moving.com looked at migration patterns to determine why people moved to specific areas. One trend that emerged was the need for additional space, both indoors and outdoors.

Outgrowing your home isn’t new. If you’re craving a large yard, more entertaining room, or just need more storage areas or bedrooms overall, having the physical space you need for your desired lifestyle may be reason enough to make a change.

A Desire To Be Closer to Loved Ones

Moving and storage company United Van Lines surveys customers each year to get a better sense of why people move. The latest survey finds nearly 32% of people moved to be closer to loved ones.

Another moving and storage company, Pods, also highlights this as a top motivator for why people move. They note that an increase in flexible work options has helped many homeowners make a move closer to the people they care about most:

“. . . a shifting of priorities has also affected why people are moving. Many companies have moved to permanent remote working policies, giving employees the option to move freely around the country, and people are taking advantage of the perk.”

If you can move to another location because of remote work, retirement, or for any other reason, you could leverage that flexibility to be closer to the most important people in your life. Being nearby for caregiving and being able to attend get-togethers and life milestones could be exactly what you’re looking for.

What Does That Mean for You?

If you’re thinking about moving, one of these reasons might be a top motivator for you. And while what’s happening with mortgage rates and home prices in the housing market today will likely play a role in your decision, it’s equally important to make sure your home meets your needs. Like Charlie Bilello, Founder and CEO of Compound Capital Advisors, says:

“Your home is your castle and should confer benefits beyond just the numbers.”

Bottom Line

There are many reasons why people decide to move. No matter what the reason may be, if your needs have changed, connect with the Rural KC Team-Keller Williams Partners to discuss your options in today’s housing market.  Go to Ruralkc.com to check out all the latest listings.