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November SunCrest Market Update
What’s Going On With House Appraisals?
In a hot SunCrest real estate market, with low house inventory, and multiple-offer (aka bidding war) situations becoming more common; purchase prices are being driven up higher and higher. While that might sound great for a seller, it creates problems for buyers and sellers alike when the home is being evaluated prior to purchase: a low appraisal.
Appraisals: A Refresher
When a home is being sold, a professional home appraiser is usually hired to evaluate the property. While the home’s condition, maintenance, and improvements can be taken into consideration, the largest factor they use to calculate a home’s value is “comparables,” or more plainly, how much similar houses in your neighborhood have sold for.
Why (Low) Appraisals Matter
Unless there’s a cash offer, a seller needs to “sell” their home twice. First, the buyer has to make an offer at a certain price. Then, in order for a lender to make a loan, they also want to make sure a home is worth what they’re lending out, so an appraisal is required. When a market sees rapidly rising prices like we’ve seen in SunCrest recently, appraisal prices may lag behind current sales prices, and we see appraisal values that come in below the agreed offer price. This gap may cause some hiccups to an already emotional process.
What To Do With A Low Appraisal
Fortunately, you’re not without options if you’re faced with a low appraisal. At the time an offer is submitted and reviewed, discuss the options of the “what if the appraisal comes in low?” Are the REALTOR and seller prepared to dispute the value with the appraiser if they feel it is wrong? Does a buyer have the ability to pay above the appraised value and/or work with their lender to restructure a loan? Having an experienced professional on your team who knows all the angles, and who is able to support, educate, and most importantly communicate, may not only help a buyer or seller achieve their real estate goals but might potentially save thousands—even tens of thousands of dollars—in the event of a low appraisal value.
Haunted Trail 🧟and Pumpkin Pick Up 🎃
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out to the Haunted Trail 🧟and Pumpkin Pick Up 🎃.
150 pumpkins donated, a creepy witch, grim reaper, a howling skeleton dog, and countless scones and hot chocolate – we had a monster good time teaming up with the SunCrest OA this Halloween. We love this community!
October SunCrest Market Update
Does an election year impact the SunCrest real estate market?
We’ve actually been getting this question a lot as Election Day draws near. We do know that each fall the market slows as everyone settles in for the winter. But we thought we’d dig through the data to see if there are any trends in years with presidential elections.
Examining SunCrest home sales since the community was first built, we looked specifically at the trends from October to November. On average, there’s about a 7% decline each year. In election years, that decline is about 22%. It should be noted that this is a limited sample size over only a few elections in our still young community, but we believe it’s more closely related to overall consumer confidence and consumer caution. Any declines in sales were short lived.
Our take: How people view the election may impact their immediate home buying selling decisions, but ultimately the housing market has always marched on. Factors like the economy, jobs, interest rates, and overall consumer confidence will ultimately have far more meaningful roles in the home purchase decision, and those factors develop much more gradually than do overnight election results. While some consumers may wait to buy or sell ahead of the election, we always recommend working with a Realtor who can help guide and educate on the current market trends and bigger picture factors to determine if a move is in your future.
Moosavi’s SunCrest Story
We’re excited to share the Moosavi’s #suncreststory. After making a spontaneous move to SunCrest, Abeeha and Abbas now credit the communal, diverse, and inclusive neighborhood as the reason they never want to leave. In their free time, you can find Abeeha enjoying her “side hustles” while Abbas is pushing the limit outdoors.
Ready to share your #suncreststory? Our goal is to share unique stories of people living in SunCrest and we’d love to feature you! Interested? Email info@suncrestlifestyle.com
September SunCrest Market Update
Coronavirus Is Changing How Homes Look
We’ve all been spending more time at home. With quarantines and business closures, you’ve probably memorized the number of tiles in your kitchen by now. It’s no surprise that more time at home has meant some emerging trends in real estate. We’ve outlined a few things we’re seeing from renovations, new construction, and wish lists from current buyers.
Home Office
Working from home is the new norm and some employers are scrapping plans to return to office life. Having a dedicated workspace inside the home is the hottest new must have.
Home School
Whether it’s hybrid classes or 100% home school, class is not fully back in session. We’re seeing flexible spaces being turned into dedicated learning spaces—essential for for both parents and children.
Home Gym
Having room to maintain a healthy lifestyle at home—mentally and physically—has taken a prominent role with many gyms closed or reduced capacity. Headspace, bodyspace, or space to stretch out is crucial.
Home Landscaping
A place to escape to the 4 walls we live and work is necessary, no matter the season. Outdoor spaces can become an extension of your home and weave the outdoors and indoors together, and we’re seeing plenty of new patios, decks, furniture, and revitalized lawns and gardens.
Our Take
The pandemic is changing our lives, and our homes are at the center of it all. People are moving, upgrading, or downsizing, for a variety of different reasons today. You may not have space to implement all the trends we’re seeing, but if you’ve been trying to decide if now is the time to buy or upgrade your home, we recommend talking to a professional to see what’s realistic, and where you get the most bang for your buck.
SunCrest Neighborhoods Map
There have been a few moments lately where we thought it would be handy to have a map of the different neighborhoods in SunCrest. Surely there’s an easy-to-read map of the community that we could keep handy when people post about missing pets, runaway garbage cans, or wildlife sightings, right? Well, there is now.
We had a lot of fun creating this map and we hope it’s helpful as you navigate the neighborhood or post about things going on in SunCrest.
August SunCrest Market Update
How To Buy a House in a Competitive Market
Last month, we shared that homes for sale are in short supply. This month we’re seeing the same, but in addition, we’re now seeing a new surge of buyers enter the market. Record low interest rates have made it a great time to buy, and everyone who is stuck at home seems to want to make a change. Simply put, it’s a fiercely competitive market if you’re looking to buy a house.
Making Your Offer Stand Out
Sellers are seeing multiple offers, sometimes into the dozens. With so many offers to choose from, it’s likely that less attractive offers will be rejected. Here are 3 tips to make your offer stand out.
1) Price. Like it or not, we’re not seeing a lot of “room for negotiation.” Sellers can afford to be picky, and although you should do your due diligence to investigate the home’s value, most homes are being priced fairly and are selling at or above their listed price. If you can, cover your own loan costs and eliminate any costs you may ask a seller to pay, such as a home warranty or HOA transfer fee.
2) Timing. Being flexible with your timing can be enticing to sellers. Before submitting an offer, find out what’s most important to the seller. Would they prefer to close quickly or have a little extra time before they have to move?
3) Risk. Let’s face it, the more assurance that you as a buyer can give to a seller that the sale will actually go through, the better. Strong consideration, or earnest money, for an offer is a great start. Committing to and keeping your deadlines, and few or no variables or contingencies in your offer can help paint a low risk picture for a seller.
Our Take:
If you’re thinking of buying, we wouldn’t be concerned about entering the competitive market. Smart buyers are still getting wonderful homes for fair prices. However, the smartest buyers are writing strong, creative offers, and are pouncing on great homes with outstanding interest rates. Today’s landscape is definitely different and we always recommend partnering with a true expert, to navigate the housing shortage.
Wagner’s SunCrest Story
Meet Jane and JB. They recently became empty-nesters, so they’re turning their attention to all that SunCrest has to offer like an “epic” trail system. They’re learning new hobbies and revisiting old ones from their youth. We’re excited to share their #suncreststory with you—it’s fun, inspiring, and heartwarming.
July SunCrest Market Update
The Housing Shortage
Right now, we have a housing shortage. Homes for sale have been in short supply for a while now, but as businesses have adjusted to the pandemic and many workers will be at home for the foreseeable future, there’s been a surge of buyers looking to change their housing situation.
What Does This Mean?
Essentially, more people are competing to buy fewer houses. This imbalance leads to a shortage in housing, which in turn drives up home prices, creates competitive bidding wars, multiple offer scenarios, and means that houses that go up for sale tend to go under contract much faster. For buyers, buckle up, it may get bumpy. It’s not uncommon to see offers above a seller asking price, strategic contract terms, and quick timeframes. It’s likely to be competitive for the foreseeable future until we see more homes come to the market and inventory stabilizes. The good news is, rates have never been better. The average rate for a 30 year loan is now below 3%. Qualified buyers are able to purchase more homes for their money. Upsizing, downsizing, or a change of lifestyle can now mean more favorable financing, too. For sellers, there’s huge upside as more competition means you may get a better offer, if you play your cards right.
Our Take
If you’re thinking of selling or selling, we wouldn’t be concerned about putting your house on the market right now or jumping into these competitive waters. There’s no better time to sell an item than when demand for it is high and supply is limited. Smart buyers who make intelligent moves and creative offers can pounce on great homes with outstanding interest rates. Today’s landscape is definitely different and we always recommend partnering with a true expert, to navigate the housing shortage.
SunCrest Lifestyle Rebrand
Since we started SunCrest Lifestyle in 2001, we’ve always tried to make it a place for you to find information about our community and the homes in it. It’s changed over the years, and we’ve recently made a few changes.
First, we completely redesigned our site here at SunCrestLifestyle.Com. We simplified the home page so community news is easier to see, and dedicated a page for our monthly SunCrest Market Update. We kept all the HOA information handy, and have added even better trail information, maps, and videos.
If you’re looking to find a house, we now have a full search feature that is even easier to use.
Offline, you may notice a new look to our For Sale sign in the yard – that’s still us! Finally, we freshened up the look of our flyers and postcards. We love hearing from all of you about the places you see us.
Thanks for all your support over the years. We’re excited to share our new look with you and look forward to seeing you around the community soon!
