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Is It Just Me, Or Are There

Actually Houses To Buy Now?

I can’t tell if it is just me, but I swear I saw some houses for sale in Woodstock. Then I saw some in Roswell, Sandy Springs and in Dunwoody. Is it just me, or are did people actually just start listing their houses this week?

Brenda and I drove around our small section of The Woodlands in Woodstock last night and counted 9 houses that listed in the last week – and there are only about 117 in our section. I did a quick Zillow search this morning and found more than 1,000 homes listed in Woodstock, about 717 in Roswell, more than 2,758 in Marietta, and well over 14,000 in the north Metro area. And Zillow I know for a fact does not have every house listed on its site. (4 of the 9 in my Woodlands section are not listed on Zillow yet). So I’m sure the numbers are much higher.

Not only that, but more importantly, my phone has been ringing significantly more and I have written more pre-approvals this week than any week this year. Memorial Day Weekend is certainly a popular one to house-hunt – but this seems like something bigger. At least that is what I’m hoping.

I’ve heard that this low-inventory market is driving home values up to unhealthy levels – pushing many homeowners out of the market for what they might want. It makes sense. The buyers are the ones having to make themselves attractive, not the sellers. Smart sellers are listing their houses at the maximum they think they would appraise for, and then they are not budging. And home values are rocketing upward. So bring on the new inventory!

With the way this market has gone this year though, we have to be smart. This could be a quick blip. We have to acknowledge the possibility that instead of this being a prolonged trend of increased listings, this might be a quick dumping of the bulk of the homeowners who will move this year. With the way the market has gone, there is no time to rest in any sort of expectation that there will be more deals to make around the corner.

But for now – the iron is hot! Houses are listed and rates have been dropping. Good luck this weekend!

Nothing happened this week to disrupt the Fed’s vow last week to continue its two stimulus measures that are currently helping to keep interest rates at historic lows. After a slight rise Monday, they dropped and held steady at 4.125% best execution.

The only big news this week was the Fed’s release of the minutes from last month’s meeting. The minutes seemed to confirm the Fed’s comments about continuing the stimulus and further illustrated officials’ concern for the housing economy.

Rates kind of feel like a helium balloon being held close to the ground by Fed officials, the global economy and investors’ concern for any instability in the stock market. The more concern and instability, the tighter those forces hold onto the balloon and bring it down. The less instability, and those forces forget about the balloon and it starts to float up.

For right now though, the balloon is pretty close to the ground holding steady at rates not seen since July of last year.

What this Means to You:

With the Fed confirming continued stimulus last week rates may stick around current lows. But a strong jobs report in June could push them higher. It is hard to imagine rates going any lower than they are – but you never know.

Best execution rates currently sit at 4.125%.