Category: Real Estate

Wasting Money | Household Money Saving Tips | Are Extended Warranties Worth It

1. Contractor House Calls

Think you need a pro to fix that leaky toilet? You’d be surprised how easy it can be to fix it yourself — and save the typical $45 to $150 per hour plumbers can charge (and don’t forget the boost in your can-do attitude!). You can often find home remedies for small jobs like a leaky faucet or broken garbage disposal on YouTube. Just be sure it’s a reputable source. And check out several videos on the same repair. That’ll help make sure no crucial step is missed.

“We save a couple hundred dollars per year by doing small home repairs ourselves,” says Lauren Greutman, frugal living expert and author of “The Recovering Spender: How to Live a Happy, Fulfilled, Debt-Free Life.”

For those who prefer an expert, Greutman suggests smaller, local retail appliance stores. “It’s a little-known secret that they usually have repair men that are very inexpensive,” she says.

2. Extended Warranties

It’s tempting to insure your new, big purchase, but according to Consumer Reports, you’re probably already as covered as you need to be.

How’s that? Most major appliances come with at least a 90-day manufacturer’s warranty. Buy with a major credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express) and it will likely double that standard warranty.

Combine that with the fact that “Consumer Reports” found most products won’t break during the standard two- or three-year service contract period. When they do, the repair cost is usually just a few dollars more than the cost of the warranty.

Instead of paying for an extended warranty, stash the cash in a savings account earmarked for home repairs. When you need it, it’ll be there.

3. Flashy Feature Appliances

The newest appliances come with super fun features. Who wouldn’t want an oven that talks, remote access to your A/C, or bottle jets in the dishwasher (paging new parents!)? Still, it may not be financially wise to replace a fully functioning older model just to gain modern perks. So says Arthur Teel, owner and operator of The Handyman Plan in Asheville, N.C.

Circuit boards break, and energy efficiency numbers don’t always add up,” he says.

Yup. That’s even true for some energy-efficient appliances that boast cost savings. “Spend $1,000 on a new, energy-efficient stove and it could take 10 years of energy savings to offset the cost of the new stove,” he says. “Unless you have a really old appliance, it’s probably efficient enough for your needs. Also, putting the appliance into the landfill isn’t exactly great for the environment.”

4. Budget Bulbs

Incandescents may be easy on your everyday household budget, but they’re tough on your energy bill. Start replacing them now with LEDs. To help swallow the initial costs, just replace them as they die out. A typical LED bulb can recuperate its cost in a little over a year (at least according to manufacturers, so in reality it’s probably a bit longer, but not enough to quibble about). Even better, since LEDs can last a decade or more, you won’t have to buy bulbs as often, and your energy costs will be lower!

5. Commercial Cleaning Supplies

Even if you’re buying off-brand products to save costs, you’re still wasting money. You don’t have to spend anywhere near the cost of commercial products.

“Vinegar will clean a lot of things, and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than buying pricey cleaning supplies,” says Prettelt. She also likes baking soda and hydrogen peroxide, each of which can be found for just a fraction of the cost of their popular store-bought equivalents.

“You can use these natural products in your dishwasher, in your garbage disposal, in your wash,” Prettelt adds. Easy peasy. And it’s super cheap.

That’s right. You can make dishwasher soap from a cup each of borax and washing soda, a half-cup kosher salt, and five packets unsweetened lemonade mix. Or whip up your own window cleaner with these simple ingredients:

• half-cup white vinegar
• rubbing alcohol
• two cups of water
• two tablespoons of cornstarch

All those ingredients cost pennies. And to think you were paying $2-$4 for the commercial kind.

6. A Storage Unit

If it doesn’t fit in your home, is it really worth keeping? Ditch nostalgia and think with your bank account: At a cost of between $50 and $300 per month, it may be time to purge the junk.

If you can’t bear to part with something you don’t use regularly — say, great-grandma’s heirloom china — rethink your home’s organizational storage. Clean out the closet, craft shelves beneath the stairs, or build window seats with drawer storage. You’ll be investing in your home instead of giving money to a storage vendor.

7. Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)

Bought your house with less than 20% down? You’re probably paying for PMI (a type of insurance that guarantees your mortgage lender will be covered if you default). It costs between $600 and $1,200 per year for a typical home. But once your loan-to-value ratio drops to 80%, you’re not required to pay it. But the lender isn’t required to drop it until it reaches 78%.

That 2% difference could cost you hundreds, even thousands of dollars, depending on your home’s mortgage balance. So, keep an eye on your statement and whip out that calculator when you’re getting close. Then, if you’re feeling really savvy, keep paying that amount every month — but apply it to your mortgage principal instead. Do that, and you could recoup your PMI fees. Because as you pay down your principal, you’ll pay less in interest, potentially saving thousands. Now how savvy is that?

5 Fixes That Can Raise a Home’s Value | Realtor Magazine

For home owners looking to spruce up their home before listing it, there’s plenty they can do to attract more buyers and potentially boost the value of their home too.

Veteran real estate professionals recently weighed in at This Old House on some of the best home improvement projects they believe can help a home show better. Here are a few of their ideas:

1. Open up the space.

Create more space, whether that’s even removing a kitchen island or knocking out a non-structural wall. “Right now buyers want a wide open floor plan, the living room right off the kitchen. They are into big spaces,” Kristin Wellins, senior manager of program development at ERA Real Estate, told This Old House.

2. Light it up.

Keep the home bright: Have windows open to let the natural light flow in, consider lights that use motion detectors to turn themselves off, or install sun tubes, a reflective material that funnels natural light from a hole cut in a rooftop down through a ceiling fixture in a room. “High wattage bulbs make small spaces feel larger, and soft lighting brings warmth to empty spaces,” This Old House notes.

3. Enhance the front door.

“Don’t underestimate the power of a front door,” Willens says. “People make up their minds in the first seven seconds of entering a house.” Have an overhang on the front porch, such as an awning or portico above the front door, suggests Roger Voisinet, a real estate professional in Charlottesville, Va.

4. Pay attention to the floors.

Spend some money on the floors, suggests the real estate professionals surveyed by This Old House. Even a $600 to $900 investment could help boost the home’s value by possibly $2,000, they say. Get a carpenter or handyman to eliminate distracting squeaks from floors, repair any broken tiles, patch damaged floor boards, and remove wall-to-wall carpeting, they suggest.

5. Tackle easy bathroom upgrades.

Bathroom upgrades can quickly get pricey but a few upgrades can still make a big difference. For example, swap frosted glass for clear glass, remove any rust stains, apply fresh caulk, update doorknobs and cabinet pulls, replace faucets, buy a new toilet seat, or install a low-flush toilet.

White Lies to Help You Buy a House

When you find a home you’re dying to own, you might assume that honesty is the best policy when dealing with the seller (or the listing agent). And it is … to a point. But keep in mind, buying a home is a high-stakes poker game—er, negotiation—where revealing exactly what’s going on in your head, heart, and bank account could cost you big-time.

Of course, you should never outright lie when you’re trying to buy a house. We’re on the record on that point, right? Good! But all that said, you might need to tiptoe around the truth sometimes.

So before you say something you’ll regret, here’s what info to gently spin so the ball stays in your court.

White lie No. 1: ‘I’d ideally like to move in by X date’

What you really mean: “I have to be out of my current place by X date! Help!”

Recently Bob Gordon, a Realtor® with Berkshire Hathaway in Boulder, CO, walked through an open house with a client who fell in love with the charming home—and excitedly approached the listing agent, announcing she was going to make an offer. Oh, and she had to be out of her current home in 30 days.

“That’s when I jumped in and took my client outside,” Gordon notes. The lesson he drove home to his client (and wants to pass on to others) is that if you absolutely have to move by a certain date, sellers will smell your desperation and play hardball. So it’s better to soft-pedal this info and pray they’re eager to move out quickly, too (as many sellers are).

White lie No. 2: ‘We’ve made every effort to get our finances in order’

What you really mean: “God, we hope we can afford this.”

You don’t want a seller to worry that your contract will fall through, so keep all money concerns (like fears about loan denials) to yourself.

“Most of these issues can be covered by generic financing contingencies,” assures Kyle Alfriend, managing partner for Alfriend Real Estate Group Re/Max Achievers in Dublin, OH. If not, you should probably wait to make an offer until your issues are resolved.

White lie No. 3: ‘We’re really excited about this house’

What you really mean:  “We must have this house! Seriously, we’ll do anything.”

Of course, homeowners will be flattered to know you love their home, but for your wallet’s sake, you need to play it cool, says Paul Silverman, a broker associate for Martha Turner Sotheby’s International Realty Circle of Excellence in Houston. “If sellers know that you’re absolutely in love with the home, they might not be as willing to negotiate.”

White lie No. 4: ‘We’re not sure yet what our top offer will be’

 

What you really mean: “The most we can possibly pay is ___.”

“You shouldn’t let the seller or seller’s agent know what you’re willing to pay, no matter how much you want the house,” advises Laura Usher, president of Cape Cod & Islands Association of Realtors and a Realtor for Kinlin Grover Real Estate in Brewster, MA. “Negotiation is part of the strategy in the home-buying process. It’s important not to show your hand.”

White lie No. 5: ‘We’re guessing there are other houses that also offer what we want’

What you really mean: “This is the only house that has the price point/pool/school district we want. Period.”

“Sellers must price their homes against the competition, and this is the greatest tool the buyer has,” says Alfriend. Because of that, try not to gush like a schoolgirl with a crush about any features that make the home unique.

Even “if this is the only home in your price point with a pool, walking distance to a school, three-car garage, or five bedrooms,” Alfriend says, “don’t let the sellers know that these are critical to your purchase decision.” If you do, they’ll know they have the upper hand.

White lie No. 6: ‘We have a few more questions’

What you really mean: “We’re getting cold feet.”

Freaking out a little about your decision? Please don’t express your jitters to the home sellers. Feeling nervous is entirely normal—or a sign that you should ask more questions to clear up any concerns.

For instance, if you’re wary of whether the pool and yard will require too much upkeep, go ahead and ask the sellers how many hours they spend on maintenance (or what they pay someone to do it for them). Or if you’re leery about neighborhood safety or wonder if there’s good access to public transit, there are plenty of ways to research the area online and get more info. Or, if you’ve truly got a case of cold feet, you may just need a reality check from a trusted friend or your real estate agent about how, say, you’ve looked at plenty of homes to make the right decision. But this sounding board should not be the home seller—unless you want some major drama on your hands.

Home Owners Tackle Garage Messes | Realtor Magazine

The garage is hardly a showpiece of the home. Instead, it can be a sore spot of mounting clutter, storing the lawn mower, sports equipment, storage bins, old paint cans, and more.

For many owners, the clutter may be getting to be too much. Garage organization products are going through the roof. Sales of these products are expected to rise 4.5 percent this year and each year through 2019. Ultimately, garage organization products are expected to reach a $2.4 billion business, a 25 percent rise from 2014, according to Freedonia Group, a market research firm.

Home owners are “starting to realize that our very expensive cars are sitting in the driveway while we’re housing our inexpensive stuff – and even junk – in the garage,” Lisa Mark, a professional organizer in Los Altos, Calif., told The Wall Street Journal.

A quarter of home owners admit they can’t fit even one car into their garage, according to a survey conducted in 2015 by Whirlpool Corp.’s Gladiator GarageWorks line. Also in that survey, a third of respondents said they keep their garage door shut because they don’t want others to see their messy garage. What’s more, 20 percent of owners say they have argued with their spouse over the state of the garage.

“There’s a lot of friction in the family about the garage,” says Josh Gitlin, Gladiator’s general manager. Realizing that garage messes can be a big project to take on, Gitlin says the company now also offers starter kits to help owners get a small start at digging through the clutter. The kit includes a few hooks and hanging units for items like lawn tools, sports equipment, and ladders.

California Closets says its garage product sales have doubled since 2010 as more owners focus on taking control over their garage messes’.

“When clients are moving into a new home, they’re even choosing to do their garage ahead of certain furniture purchases and landscaping, because they’re so starved for storage and organization,” Benjamin Weiss, a senior design consultant for California Closets, told The Wall Street Journal.

Some owners are even turning their garage into a spot they want to show off. A family in San Diego told The Wall Street Journal that they spent $15,000 on renovating their garage, adding cabinets and trying to make the space feel more like an extension of their home. A new epoxy floor is speckled black, gray and white. The walls are painted the same gray shade as the inside of the home. Three charcoal-colored cubbies near the door offer a mudroom, allowing the family’s children to place their jackets and shoes.

Now, “when I show people the house, I say ‘You have to see the garage,’” says Heather Weisman, the owner of the home.

Home Buyer Advantage Starts Now | Realtor Magazine

Buyers had to be prepared to bring their housing A-game this year. Amid tight inventories of homes for sale and a tight lending environment, they’ve needed to get pre-approved for a mortgage, be laser-focused on what it is they want in in order to make quick decisions, and even forgo some contingencies to get the home they wanted.

Though active listings likely will fall more (8 percent over last year), the market still may be shifting slightly as the start of the school year arrives and give buyers more bargaining power, writes Jonathan Smoke, realtor.com®’s chief economist in his latest column.

“The real estate cycle has shifted into its slower fall phase, and we see it evident in the median days on the market,” Smoke says.

Active listings remained on realtor.com® a median of 65 days in May and June. In August, however, that is expected to reach 72.

“Demand follows a more extreme seasonal pattern,” Smoke notes. “The busiest month on average is June, and June has almost 75 percent more sales than December, the slowest month of the year.”

Weather can be a big culprit behind that trend. In some colder areas, winter can make it more difficult to buy a home, but the school calendar also plays a big role for many families. Many families don’t want to move when the school year is still in session.

In any case, “from now until January, buyers will have more inventory available relative to each sale with each passing month,” Smoke writes.

The very best month that tends to work the most in buyers’ favor: January, says Smoke. On the other hand, the cycle will likely shift again to favor sellers starting in February, he adds.

“When the cycle favors buyers, prices weaken and inventory sits longer,” Smoke notes. “So even in a tough ‘seller’s market’ like this one, the cycle can be your friend if you are willing to buy when others aren’t as interested.”

Yellen Says Rate-Hike Case ‘Has Strengthened in Recent Months’ – Bloomberg

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the case to raise interest rates is getting stronger as the U.S. economy approaches the central bank’s goals.

“In light of the continued solid performance of the labor market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation, I believe the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months,” she said in the text of a speech Friday to central bankers and economists in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

She also said the economy is “nearing” the Fed’s goals of full employment and stable prices. The Fed chair didn’t discuss the specific timing of a rate move in her first public comments since June.

 

The Federal Open Market Committee raised its target for the federal funds rate to a range of 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent in December, after keeping the benchmark near zero for seven years.

Despite their repeated intentions to raise the rate again, officials have skipped a hike at all five meetings this year, and futures markets have priced in about a 30 percent chance of another hike at the Sept. 20-21 policy meeting, the second-to-last gathering before presidential elections in November.

“While economic growth has not been rapid, it has been sufficient to generate further improvement in the labor market,” Yellen said at the Kansas City Fed’s annual conference, the title of which is “Designing Resilient Monetary Policy Frameworks for the Future.”

‘Moderate Growth’

“Looking ahead, the FOMC expects moderate growth in real gross domestic product, additional strengthening in the labor market, and inflation rising to 2 percent over the next few years,” Yellen said in her prepared remarks. “Based on this economic outlook, the FOMC continues to anticipate that gradual increases in the federal funds rate will be appropriate over time to achieve and sustain employment and inflation near our statutory objectives.”

 

A Commerce Department report released earlier Friday showed the U.S. economy grew less than previously reported last quarter on lower government outlays and a bigger depletion of inventories, capping a sluggish first-half performance propped up mainly by consumer spending. Gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, rose at a 1.1 percent annualized rate, down from an initial estimate of 1.2 percent, the report showed.

The Fed chair’s speech comes amid a reassessment among central banks globally about future strategies for monetary policies, a topic she addressed in the second half of her remarks. Ageing populations, declining productivity and below-target inflation rates are likely to result in lower peaks in their policy interest rates. That means central banks are likely to reach the zero boundary on their policy rates faster in the next recession.

San Francisco Fed President John Williams, Yellen’s former research director when she was head of that bank, urged central banks in an essay earlier this month to “carefully reexamine” their strategies, and mentioned the possibility of raising inflation targets, among other options. By contrast, David Reifschneider, a special adviser to Fed governors, argued in a paper that “even in the event of a fairly severe recession, asset purchases and forward guidance should be able to compensate” for the Fed’s limited scope to reduce short-term rates.

Fed’s Tools

Her review of the Fed’s “toolkit” began with a spirited defense of techniques used during the financial crisis, including bond purchases and pledges to hold rates low for an extended period. She made clear the Fed should retain those new tools. Those may be needed again, she said, as the next recession may arrive before interest rates rise to levels normally seen during an economic recovery.

“We expect to have less scope for interest rate cuts than we have had historically,” she said.

Without embracing their views, Yellen acknowledged that economists, including some prominent Fed officials, have suggested the Fed consider broadening its asset purchases if that strategy is required again, and raising its inflation target. “The FOMC is not actively considering these additional tools and policy frameworks, although they are important subjects for research,” she said.

 

This Month’s 20 Hottest Housing Markets | Realtor Magazine

Housing is sizzling in the last few weeks before the end of summer. According to Realtor.com®, it’s the “hottest August in a decade” for real estate.

Homes are selling 2 percent more quickly than a year ago and prices are reaching new highs. The median home was listed for $250,000 on realtor.com®, which is 8 percent higher than a year ago.

Realtor.com®’s research team did its annual check up on housing markets across the country to identify which metros are seeing homes sell the fastest and garnering the most listing views (based on realtor.com® traffic). New cities added to its list this month included Kennewick, Wash., and Waco, Texas. Detroit also notably moved up in the rankings this month, up four spots to land in the top 10.

Here are the 20 real estate markets that topped realtor.com®’s list in August:

1. Vallejo, Calif.
2. Dallas
3. Denver
4. San Francisco
5. Stockton, Calif.
6. San Diego
7. Columbus, Ohio
8. Waco, Texas
9. Detroit
10. Sacramento, Calif.
11. Fort Wayne, Ind.
12. Yuba City, Calif.
13. Modesto, Calif.
14. San Jose, Calif.
15. Fresno, Calif.
16. Colorado Springs, Colo.
17. Santa Cruz, Calif.
18. Kennewick, Wash.
19. Santa Rosa, Calif.
20. Nashville, Tenn.

Don’t Do That! 5 Ways You’re Making It Harder to Sell Your Home | US News Real Estate

There may be many reasons your house isn’t selling. The economy isn’t working in your favor. Your house is an eyesore. It’s random chance that the right buyer hasn’t come along. But if you haven’t broken a mirror lately (you know, seven years of bad luck), you should look in one. After all, nobody is born with real estate skills. If you’re making any of these rookie mistakes, you are torpedoing your chances of selling your house.

Your asking price is too high Everyone wants as much money for their home as possible, but you can’t be delusional about it, says Kelly-Jo Choate, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker Professionals in Port Huron, Michigan.

Choate often sees sellers overpricing their homes. “Everyone thinks they are sitting on a goldmine … They often seem to forget that even if someone magically came along and was silly enough to pay their price, the house still has to appraise,” she says.

In other words, a lender isn’t going to approve a client borrowing, say, $400,000 on a house that should sell for $300,000.

There’s too much of your personality in the home. Maybe throughout your house you have a collection of pig or owl statuettes or hundreds of thimbles that you’ve purchased over the years from your world travels? Start boxing them up and put them out of sight.

Too often, homeowners don’t clean up the clutter, pictures and knick-knacks, says Steven Dekok, a real estate agent with McMahon Phillips Real Estate in Sacramento, California.

“A buyer wants to see themselves in the house, not the current owner,” he says.

Damien Adams, a financial planner in McKinney, Texas, believes his family photos and artwork may have kept buyers from making an offer on his previous home, also in McKinney. It’s unsettling to consider in this day and age, but Adams suspects buyers were possibly turned off because his home seemed too African-American.

His neighborhood was highly sought after, with many homes selling, and his neighbors were getting offers within a week or so. But not Adams and his wife.

Adams says their agent kept hearing, “It’s just not what we’re looking for,” or, “Something wasn’t right.”

So after about 10 showings, Adams says, “My wife and I decided to take down our family pictures and ethnic art work and CD collection – everything that seemed ‘black.'”

And then two showings later, Adams quips: “And what do you know? Eureka! An offer.”

He adds, “I am not saying that race played a factor in prospective buyers not buying my home, but it was a strange coincidence the way it happened.”

 

Do not give tours of your home. Most real estate agents will tell you: This is a job best left to the pros.

“No, the buyer doesn’t want to hear how little Johnny grew up in this house,” Dekok says.

Peter Boscas, a real estate broker and owner of Red Cedar Real Estate in Columbia, Maryland, agrees. “Nothing makes a buyer more uncomfortable or disinterested in a property than when the seller is home for a showing,” he says.

Buyers, he says, don’t feel that they can truly explore the house if you’re there, Boscas explains, likening the experience to shopping at a department store.

“Imagine if … a sales clerk followed you around at the hip, the entire time you were in the store from the moment you entered the front door. You likely wouldn’t stay very long. More importantly, you wouldn’t be comfortable enough to shop and ultimately purchase something. The same principle applies here,” he says.

Do not let your pets take over your house. This can be tricky, especially if you have a menagerie. Still, if you want to sell your home fast, find a place or places for them to go while you’re selling, suggests Rachel Hillman, who owns Hillman Homes, a real estate firm in West Newton, Massachusetts.

She also advises homeowners do whatever they can to make buyers forget, as much as possible, that you even own pets. In other words, when you clean your home, don’t forget about your pets’ clutter.

 

“Sorry, cat lovers, most people do not like the smell of cats or litter boxes,” Hillman says. “This is the same for old and smelly dog beds. As the owner, you might be used to your pet smells, but it is a real turnoff to potential buyers. It’s important to pack up all pet toys and beds, put away scratching posts and be sure to clean out the litter box. The best option is have the pets removed for all of the showings and definitely for the open houses.”

Restricting when buyers can see the home. You want to make it as easy as possible for your potential buyers to see your home, says Tracey Hampson, a Realtor with Century 21 Troop Real Estate in Santa Clarita, California.

Hampson says that constraints for when homebuyers can drop by the house is one of the biggest mistakes home sellers can make.

“I understand it’s an invasion of privacy and a hassle to keep their home clean, but making it hard to view their home is such a hindrance when it comes to selling,” she says. “I’ve had listings where the seller requested 24 hours [advance notice] to view their home. It’s one thing to be by appointment only, which makes it difficult enough, but then to put a 24-hour restriction to show it is just ridiculous.”

Boscas is also sympathetic that this isn’t easy to do, especially for families with pets, but he strongly agrees that you have to make the home as available for tours as possible, somehow.

“No matter how well a property shows, is marketed, is priced, if a buyer can’t visit the property due to showing restrictions, they aren’t going to make an offer,” Boscas says, adding that you’re only hurting yourself.

“Sellers who make the property unavailable for showings will end up costing themselves thousands of dollars in carrying costs and lower sales prices as the property sits on the market because they are hindering competition for their own product,” he says.

A product, indeed. Right now, you are a business owner. You are in the business of selling your home, and companies do well when they are customer-friendly. If you chase people away with limited viewings, odd cat odors and by hovering over your prospective buyers, you are ensuring that you’ll be in this business for a long, long time.

Existing home sales wobble as inventory stays tight and prices march higher

Inventory is picked-over and buyers suffer from “a lack of excitement,” an industry group said.

 

Sales of previously-owned homes fell in July as tight inventory continued to weigh on the market and prices pushed higher.

Existing-home sales declined 3.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.39 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That was 1.6% lower compared to a year ago.

The July figures were lower than the 5.48 million pace forecast by economists surveyed by MarketWatch.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun attributed the decline to leaner inventory and higher prices. Inventory was 5.8% lower than a year ago, the 14th month in a row of yearly declines. There were 4.7 months’ worth of homes available at the current sales pace.

The median home price rose to $244,100. That’s 5.3% higher than a year ago, a faster pace of growth than wages and also much stronger than rental costs. Such strong price appreciation makes it harder for renters to become owners, Yun noted.

It also keeps a lid on the entry of first-time buyers into the market. First-timers accounted for 32% of all transactions in July, down a tick from 33% in June but still above the 29% threshold it had been stuck at for some time.

July’s decline followed a more-than 8-year high in June, so some pullback was expected, Yun said. “I believe demand is not going away, it’s just lack of excitement over inventory.”

Yun also noted that many realtors have complained of delays with appraisals. That may be in part due to a surge in refinancings since the U.K. Brexit referendum pushed mortgage rates lower, or it may have to do with the industry adjusting to higher home prices, Yun said. If those conditions ease, August sales figures could reflect some catch-up.

The 8 Fastest Growing Housing Markets | Realtor Magazine

Home prices are rising the most in the Western and Southern portions of the United States, while the Northeast is seeing more moderate growth or even some declines, according to data from the National Association of REALTORS®.

24/7 Wall St. recently crunched NAR’s data, which is based on the median single-family home price changes over the year, to identify the fastest growing housing markets.

Which market emerged on top? Boulder, Colo., where home prices rose a whopping 18.5 percent in the last year. That said, more than half of the 25 fastest-growing housing markets on 24/7 Wall St.’s list are located either in California or Florida.

The following are the fastest growing housing markets:

1. Boulder, Colo.

• Change in median sales price (from 2015 Q2 to 2016 Q2): 18.5%
• Median sales price (2016 Q2): $549,600

2. Elmira, N.Y.

• Change in median sales price: 17.6%
• Median sales price (2016 Q2):$115,600

3. Springfield, Ill.

• Change in median sales price: 17.1%
• Median sales price (2016 Q2): $143,100

4. Port St. Lucie, Fla.

• Change in median sales price: 16.1%
• Median sales price (2016 Q2): $209,000

5. Cumberland, Md.-W.Va.

• Change in median sales price: 15.2%
• Median sales price (2016 Q2): $94,900

6. Rockford, Ill.

• Change in median sales price: 15.1%
• Median sales price (2016 Q2): $109,000

7. Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Fla.

• Change in median sales price: 14.7%
• Median sales price (2016 Q2): $172,000

8. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.

• Change in median sales price: 14.2%
• Median sales price (2016 Q2): $199,900