Gary

In a year in which mortgage rates saw an unexpectedly high average, one would expect a year-end review article to talk about how the housing market has slowed or even receded.

Even without data or deep analysis, the winter market would be slower than other parts of the year. 

Affordability is always a hot topic of discussion with regard to the housing market in southern Orange County. 

There’s an old expression, typically attributed to Mark Twain, that says “buy land, they’re not making any more of it.” 

From July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 at least one home was sold in 244 distinct subdivisions in southern Orange County.

We continue to exist in a low-inventory housing market. 

There may be nothing more polarizing in southern Orange County right now than the proposals and discussions related to zoning, land use, etc.

It is March, and we are entering the spring housing market.

We can have great emotions about our homes. 

The year 2022 began with home prices soaring to historic highs, driven by mortgage rates seeing historic lows.

In 2019, the average sale price for a home in Southern Orange County* was $437,916 (median $385,050).

In southern Orange County, the average home sales price has typically been lower than the average asking price.

A client recently commented to me that there was a shortage of land, and her comment prompted me to analyze the availability of land and lots in southern Orange County. 

I previously investigated several data points within the Triangle Multiple Listing Services (TMLS) to try to determine what evidence existed for a slowing of the housing market.

The big question on everyone’s mind is whether the increase in mortgage rates has finally slowed things down.

Given all we read and hear related to how hot the current real estate market is, one would assume there to be few instances of contracts under asking price and financial concessions given by sellers.

Several recently-published national articles have posited that a housing bubble is coming. 

In this hot real estate market, it can seem like every house is bought before it is even available to be toured.

The presence of a homeowner association (HOA) can be a surprisingly polarizing aspect of the home search. 

It comes as a shock to no one reading this article that 2021 was a hectic year for real estate. 

It seems to start earlier and earlier each year.  For some it happens as early as October, even before Halloween and trick-or-treating. 

Some of the biggest recent news in real estate came when Zillow announced last month it would pause its purchases of homes as part of its ZillowOffers program, and then just a week and a half later announced it would be stopping the program entirely and would be laying off 25% of its employees.

What is a condominium? What makes a particular residence a townhome? It is not always immediately clear, when looking at a property,…

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In the multiple listing service (MLS) Realtors use to broker the sale of homes, each entry is categorized as a particular “property type.” In the MLS, there…

There is a meme making its way around the internet that features a fictional buyer’s agent submitting an offer on a home with an email that says, “Hi…

Homeownership is a common goal in the United States and is often seen as a key goal to building generational wealth (that is, wealth that is passed from generation to generation).

You have probably heard that the housing market is very competitive this year. Maybe you know someone who has been looking for a new home who has been outbid. Perhaps you heard that your neighbor’s home sold for well above asking price. Possibly you have seen…

The 2021 Orange County property revaluation saddled residents of the Northside community with, on average, a 50 percent increase in the value of their homes…