5 Home Maintenance Projects for Your Home This Summer

Summer is often synonymous with relaxing. However, the sunny season is also a great time to catch up on your home maintenance. Below are five things to do to your home this summer.

Bathe the exterior. Summer brings long, warm days—perfect for giving your home’s exterior a bath. Cleaning your siding, roof and gutters can rid your home of unsightly grime and bacteria build-up. Choose a soft wash over a power wash, which can strip paint and remove shingles if done incorrectly.

Wash those windows. You may be flinging your windows open this summer, or closing them to blast that frosty A/C. However you choose to cool your home, take the time to give your windows a wash. Lather up some soap and polish the glass, wipe down the frames and remove the screens to give them a detailed clean. Holes or tears in your screens? Replace them to keep the bugs out.

Freshen the furnace filter. Now that your furnace is on summer vacation, open it up and inspect the filter. Full of unsightly dust? Clean or replace as needed.

Clean the porch or deck. If you have an exterior lounging area like a porch or deck, it likely has accumulated a bit of dust and dirt since you last used it. Sweep the dirt away, scrub away any hard stains and give the whole thing a solid mop. Still looking less-than-fresh? Consider a new paint job.

Mulch mania. If summers are dry in your area, consider upping your curb appeal with a fresh layer of mulch. This will help the ground retain moisture on sunny days, keep weeds at bay and tie the look of your yard together.

Don’t settle for boring lighting! Here are three ways to get creative. Click here!

 

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November, 2015

 

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What Sellers Should Know About CMAs

Whether you are buying or selling a home, your real estate professional can give you a snapshot of the local market known as the competitive or comparative market analysis or CMA. These are convenient reports that help sellers choose a listing price and buyers to make competitive offers on a given home.

CMAs are generated from multiple listing service software and vary greatly depending on the search fields that are input by the real estate professional. Each quantifier makes the search increasingly specific - type of home (detached vs. attached), zip code, number of bedrooms, baths and living areas, square footage, and numerous other search criteria.

The result is a report that tells you which homes have recently sold, their selling prices, how long they were on the market and other information. The CMA will also tell you about homes in competition with yours that are similar in size, price, amenities, and location.


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Article by Realty Times

10 Reasons 2015 Will Rock for Real Estate

After a slowdown in the market this year, housing analysts and economists have high hopes for 2015. The real estate market is expected to build momentum across the board nest year, mostly because of a strengthening economy.
Here's a recap of some of the real estate forecasts for 2015:

1. Millennial force: Younger professionals are having more luck in the job market, which is expected to help more of them jump into home ownership in the new year. Overall, employment is on the rise, but jobs for Millennials — particularly those aged 25 to 29 — has risen by 3 percent. That's one percentage point above the nationwide rate. According to some forecasts, Millennials are expected to drive two-thirds of household formations over the next five years. The forecasted addition of 2.5 million jobs next year, as well as an increase in household formation, will likely drive more first-time home buyers into home ownership, according to realtor.com® projections.
2. Home prices stabilize: The double-digit price increases seen in 2013 have slowed, and more stable growth was the trend in 2014. As investors have retreated from the market, so have the rapid home prices in many markets. Home prices are expected to continue to edge up in 2015, with realtor.com® predicting a 4.5 percent gain. "After two years of abnormally high levels of home-price appreciation in 2012 and 2013, price increases moderated throughout 2014," realtor.com® notes in its 2014 Housing Review. "We are now experiencing increases in home prices consistent with long-term historical performance."
3. Mortgage rates rising: Interest rates the last few months have been dipping below 4 percent, lowering the borrowing costs of home buyers and refinancing home owners. However, don't expect the low rates to stick around much longer. Mortgage rates are expected to rise next year. Freddie Mac projects mortgage rates will likely average 4.6 percent but inch up to 5 percent by the end of 2015.
4. Return of the 3 percent down payment: New programs are popping up to help more buyers break into home ownership with lower down payments. In early December, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae announced conventional loan down-payment programs that will allow qualified first-time buyers to secure a fixed-rate mortgage with a 3 percent down payment. Prior to that, they needed at least 5 percent. Also, "there are many states as well as national programs, which offer grants that range from 1 to 5 percent to be used for a down payment or closing costs," writes Damian Maldonado, co-founder of American Financing Corp., at CNBC. "These easing loan standards will allow more first-time buyers to enter the market."
5. Housing affordability declines: Affordability for homes, based on home-price appreciation and rising mortgage interest rates, will likely fall by 5 percent to 10 percent in 2015, according to realtor.com® forecasts. However, the decline in affordability could be offset by an increase in salaries next year for many households. "When considering historical norms, housing affordability will continue to remain strong next year," realtor.com® notes in its report.
6. New-home sales rebound: Single-family new-home starts barely budged in 2014 compared to 2013, and new-home sales remain far from normal levels. But that could finally turn around in 2015. Sales of new homes are expected to rise 25 percent as single-family construction picks up traction in 2015. The National Association of REALTORS® projects single-family housing starts to rise to 820,000 in 2015, which is still below the 1 million historical average. In the latest new-home report, sales dipped 1.6 percent in November, but builders are remaining optimistic heading into the new year. "As the labor market and broader economy continue to strengthen, we can expect the housing sector to gain momentum heading into next year," says David Crowe, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders.
7. Foreclosures recede to pre-recession levels: The number of foreclosures is expected to continue to fall in 2015, but expect them to still be elevated in some pockets across the country — particularly in judicial states where foreclosures must wind through the courts. Foreclosure filings have been on the decline for most of this year. From January through November, foreclosure filings fell about 172 percent compared to the same period one year prior, according to RealtyTrac data. "Every month so far this year, we've been down from a year ago," Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac, said in a prior report. The only uptick has been in foreclosure auctions, which are up 5 percent in November compared to one year earlier. Foreclosures will likely fall to pre-crisis levels in 2015, Blomquist predicts.
8. Drop in oil prices will boost housing: Oil prices have plunged 45 percent since June, which could inadvertently provide a lift to the housing market. "Households in the U.S. spend more than $1,800 on energy-related costs annually, and 22 percent of that energy consumption is due to residential real estate," according to CoreLogic's 2015 Housing Outlook. "So while the drop in oil prices typically has been linked to a reduction in driving-related expenses, it clearly also reduced energy-related expenses for residential real estate."
9. Rent rises to outpace home-value growth: Rents likely will continue to rise in the new year, and an increase in rental costs in 2015 could outpace annual home-price gains. Expect the rental market to remain a "landlord's market" in 2015, with vacancy rates expected to stay below 5 percent in the new year, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. That should lead to demand pushing rents up even higher and keeping them above inflation, notes NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. Apartment rents are projected to increase 4 percent in 2014 and 4.1 percent in 2015.
10. Stronger economy leads to greater confidence: A stronger economy will likely lead to more demand for housing in 2015. "Overall, the economy finally appears to be gaining enough momentum to help provide the support that the housing market has needed for stronger recovery," Sam Khater, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic, notes in the company's 2015 Housing Outlook. "The combination of stronger employment growth and especially Millennial job growth makes for solid footing for the real estate market. Moreover, the recent drop in oil prices cannot be overstated, because not only does it directly lower the transportation and home energy costs for households, but it also improves consumer confidence. And confident consumers are more likely to spend on big ticket items, which is sweet music to the ears of the real estate market."

—By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine

605 Gertruda Avenue, Redondo Beach offered by Jack McSweeney | RE/MAX Es...

Fabulous South Redondo Beach Custom home For Sale

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New Listing coming in early May, 2014
605 S. Gertruda Ave, Redondo Beach, CA., 90277
4 BR, 4 Bath, Den, Family Room, 4642 SqFt
Built in 2003, 6618 SqFt Lot, Walk to Beach.
$2,450,000

6010 Pacific Coast Hwy #9, Redondo Beach, CA 90277, Presented by Jack McSweeney, Re/Max Execs. Powered by Cristiano Design

6010 Pacific Coast Hwy #9, Redondo Beach, CA 90277, Presented by Jack McSweeney, Re/Max Execs. Powered by Cristiano Design

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Housing Will Strengthen in 2014

Housing Will Strengthen in 2014
Despite many headwinds, the housing recovery is expected to pick up in the next year.
“The cards are in play for a decent and fairly strong recovery in 2014 and particularly in 2015,” says David Crowe, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders. "From the standpoint of GDP growth, housing has been a plus, growing at two, three, and four times the rate of the rest of the economy in recent quarters."

2013 California Real Estate Market Outlook

http://www.car.org/marketdata/marketforecast/
Interesting take on what is happening in the California market.

Freddie Mac: Mortgage rates up this week; 30-year loan averages 4.39%

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mo-freddie-mac-mortgage-rates-20130801,0,3975927.story

Fixed mortgage rates moved higher this week after two weeks of declines, with the widely watched Freddie Mac survey pegging the average rate for a 30-year home loan at 4.39%, up from 4.31% last week (LA Times)

Rapid home price gains will slow

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/01/real_estate/home-price-gains/index.html

Home prices have been seeing rapid gains in recent months, but don't expect that to continue.
CNN

Will Rising Rates Lead to Buyer Rush?

Will Rising Rates Lead to Buyer Rush?

Mortgage rates soared to a two-year high last week, rising by the largest pace since 1987. Freddie Mac reported the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbed from 3.93 percent to 4.46 percent last week. Some economists are predicting 30-year rates to climb to 4.5 percent and 5 percent over the next 12 months, following the Federal Reserve’s recent announcement that it will soon end a program that has kept interest rates near all-time lows for months.

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