July 2017

Not quite ready for "show-time" in the process of staging & cleaning, give Marjorie a call  240-731-8079 for a "pre-market" preview.

Updated & expanded Tudor with 5 bedrooms & 5 1/2 baths. Entry foyer & sitting room with bay windows, living room with stone fireplace, formal dining room, gourmet kitchen & breakfast area, great room with wall of windows opens to large, maintenance free deck, private garden & detached garage. Close to restaurants & shops.

Visit www.4550Klingle.com for architectural photos and color floor plan.

Please stop by...OPEN 1-3pm Sunday, July 9th

 4601 North Park Avenue #409

Spacious one bedroom at the sought after Elizabeth condo. Updated kitchen, wood floors & great closet space. Luxury high rise at Metro with reserved parking, 24-hour front desk, beauty salon/ barber shop, convenience store, exercise room, library, meeting room, newspaper service, party room, indoor pool, sauna spa.

$888.67 per month includes water, sewer, heat, electricity, trash removal, snow removal, professional managmenet, maintenance, lawn care, master insturance policy, reserve fund and all amenities.

Some Highlights:

• The National Association of REALTORS® surveyed their members for their monthly Confidence Index.
• The REALTORS® Confidence Index is a key indicator of housing market strength based on a monthly survey sent to over 50,000 real estate practitioners. Practitioners are asked about their expectations for home sales, prices and market conditions.
• Homes sold in less than a month in 24 out of 50 states, and Washington D.C.
• Homes typically went under contract in 27 days in May!

Thinking about buying or selling? You probably have questions. CLICK the link below for a free, confidential 17 minute conversation... LET'S TALK! 

The Joint Center of Housing Studies (JCHS) at Harvard University recently released their 2017 State of the Nation’s Housing Study, and a recent blog from JCHS revealed some of the more surprising aspects of the study.

The first two revelations centered around the shortage of housing inventory currently available in both existing homes and new construction.

Regarding Existing Home Inventory:

“For the fourth year in a row, the inventory of homes for sale across the US not only failed to recover, but dropped yet again. At the end of 2016 there were historically low 1.65 million homes for sale nationwide, which at the current sales rate was just 3.6 months of supply – almost half of the 6.0 months level that is considered a balanced market.”

Interest rates have hovered around 4% for the majority of 2017, which has given many buyers relief from rising home prices and has helped with affordability. Experts predict that rates will increase by the end of 2017 and will be about three-quarters of a percentage point higher, at 4.5%, by the end of 2018.

Last week’s Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey revealed that interest rates for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage have fallen to their lowest mark this year, at 3.88%. This is great news for homebuyers looking to purchase and homeowners looking to refinance.

The rate you secure greatly impacts your monthly mortgage payment and the amount you will ultimately pay for your home.

Let’s take a look at a historical view of interest rates

Forbes.com recently released the latest results of their American Dream Index, in which they measure “the prosperity of the middle class, and…examine which states best support the American Dream.”

The monthly index measures several different economic factors, including goods-producing employment, personal and commercial bankruptcies, building permits, startup activity, unemployment insurance claims, labor force participation, and layoffs.

The national index score was rounded out to 100.0 in January as a baseline for comparison and it rose the fourth straight month in a row to 101.8.

Alaska, coming in at 89.4, represented the lowest score on the index due in part to the recent collapse in oil prices. In contrast, Wyoming came in with the

We all realize that the best time to sell anything is when demand is high and the supply of that item is limited. Two major reports issued by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) revealed information that suggests that now continues to be a great time to sell your house.

Let’s look at the data covered in the latest REALTORS® Confidence Index and Existing Home Sales Report.

REALTORS® CONFIDENCE INDEX

Every month, NAR surveys “over 50,000 real estate practitioners about their expectations for home sales, prices and market conditions.” This month, the index showed (again) that home-buying demand continued to outpace supply in May.

The map below illustrates buyer demand broken down by state (the darker your state, the stronger the demand