What’s included in every real estate update?
Interesting Real Estate Stats
Recommended Articles Of The Month And Why
Real Estate Local News
Interesting Real Estate Stat For This Edition:
Every month we’ll pull an interesting stat for you directly from our MLS for Pinellas County.
Well good news for folks gearing up to buy a home soon – the market has started to soften up a bit. The past few years have been pretty hectic for buyers – multiple offer situations, overpriced listings and homes going under contract within hours of going on the market.
This seller’s market is starting to deflate and now home buyers have a bit more leverage when buying a home in Pinellas County.
In the past few months we’ve noticed the demand drop significantly. Most listings you see now have dropped their prices. Homes are staying on the market longer and we are shifting into a buyers market.
As you can see on the graph below, our days on market average has started to shift up dramatically just in the past month or so.
What does this mean to you as a potential home buyer?
Well it’s a great time to buy for a number of reasons.
Yes prices of homes are decreasing due to less buyer demand but did you know that mortgage rates actually lowered as well? They dropped about half a percent. A half a percent over 30 years on a $300,000 home will save you about $30,000 in interest.
If you’re familiar with Pinellas County, you know that this area is booming. What was previously sort of a hidden gem is fast becoming one of the hottest places to live in Florida. Other parts of the country are experiencing cost of housing shifts that are strictly related to interest rates however Pinellas County has another variable that we have to take into consideration – the new population of people that are moving here.
Did you know 900 people move to Florida every single day? I’m not sure how many of those are coming to Pinellas County but I do know that land is limited here. We live on a big peninsula that has no room to build out. Regardless of interest rates, land will always be appreciating in the long term here as the population continues to rise.
How You Can Use This Information To Help You
Sellers will need to be a bit more flexible in this new market. Negotiating a lower price or including seller paid closing costs to the contract could give you the advantage you need to get into the right home.
It is not uncommon for sellers to pay 3% of the total purchase price back to you at closing. For example if you had this clause in your contract on a $300,000 home, the sellers would give you a credit of $9,000 at closing towards your closing costs and pre-paid taxes and insurance.
If you’re considering buying a home this year and need to finance, we can recommend some mortgage lenders to talk to. It’s smart to shop around a bit to see who can give you the best rate and the lowest fees. Now is a great time to lock in a low mortgage rate.
Well that concludes the January 2019 Monthly Real Estate Update. Have any questions for us or know a friend that might want to receive our monthly updates? Feel free to reach out to us here or call/text me at 727-307-1111. 2019 is going to be a great year to buy a home and we will be here whenever you’re ready to get your search started. Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Sincerely,
Chris Formico
Recommended Articles Of The Month:
For this update, we’ll highlight some must-reads we’ve written:
Top 5 Historic Neighborhoods In St. Pete Florida – This article outlines our favorite Historic Neighborhoods and it has some great local videos! Each neighborhood has a more in depth article linked as well.
Top 8 Luxury Condos In Downtown St. Pete – Who doesn’t want to live Downtown? This article covers everything from the ritzy condos at The Vinoy to the affordable apartment style condos that are popular among college students and young professionals. 
Real Estate News:
Here are some news stories you may enjoy!
Forbes Real Estate Forecast for 2019 – How rising mortgage rates will effect the market and how 2019 is the year of the millennial home buyer.
Top 20 Home Inspection Photos – An article outlining the outlandish things found during home inspections.
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