Yajnesh Rai

Wish You a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year! 2017! May the new year shower upon you all the deserved success, happiness and health!

Thank You, Yajnesh Rai – “Yaj”

Team Yaj, Keller Williams Silicon Valley

Real Estate Consultant, Broker Associate, CNE

 

2110 S Bascom Ave, #101, Campbell, CA

408-547-7845 | www.YajneshRai.com

www.Facebook.com/YRConsultant

CalBRE# 01924991

5 Home Design Fads That Are Out in 2017 | Realtor Magazine

Shiplap and white-on-white kitchens may finally be falling out of favor. The two trends have dominated home design in recent years, but realtor.com® says they’ll be fading fast in 2017. Here are some of the home design trends realtor.com® predicts will fall to the wayside in the new year.

Which Trends Are In?

1. Gray. Once the hottest color, gray is now looking gloomy. “It’s been overdone,” says Tanya Campbell of Denver-based Viridis Design Studio. “Diversity in the palette will strike a contrast. We may even see a transition from gray color palettes to warmer mochas and taupes.”
2. The glam look. This style’s signature is bold whites, bright silvers, and deep blacks, which have been popular in kitchen and bathroom designs. “We’re going to leave the glam era behind. That slick, stark, severe minimalism will be replaced with warmer elements,” says interior designer Bea Pila. “At the end of the day, we’re seeking a deeper comfort level in our personal spaces. That perfect showroom feel we were once into doesn’t make this possible.”
3. Shiplap. Shiplap surged to popularity as Joanna Gaines, host of HGTV’s “Fixer Upper,” turned to it as her go-to remodeling piece. But realtor.com® notes: “If you’ve ever wondered what 2016’s version of tacky wood paneling would be, look no further than this trend that seems to have overtaken TV design shows.” It’s difficult to remove, and designers now say it often makes little sense to use, particularly in a Colonial or Tudor home style.
4. White-on-white kitchens. White everything in the kitchen — from countertops to cabinetry and even the floor — is fading fast. “It’s just too much,” says Sara Chiarilli, a designer at Sarasota, Fla.-based Artful Conceptions. “This trend started to go in 2016, but you will find it completely gone in 2017.” That said, Chiarilli predicts that whites will stick around, but they will take on more depth and tones in kitchens in the new year.
5. Copper. Expect to see less of this heavy metal in 2017. Copper fixtures are another trend on the chopping block in the new year, realtor.com® notes.

3 New Year’s Resolutions for Buyers in 2017 | Realtor Magazine

New Year’s resolution: Buy a home.

You’ve heard that plenty from your contacts. So, now how do they get there with their savings?

There are plenty of preparations would-be home buyers can make to put homeownership more within their reach in 2017. Here are three New Year’s resolutions to adopt to get on the path:

I will automate my down payment savings.

Buyers who are trying to save up the often-recommended 20 percent down payment will need to get savvy at saving, stat. First off, you often don’t really need 20 percent down (read: 3% Loans a Game Changer?), but you do need to save. Here’s a way to commit: Automate your bank accounts so that you regularly set aside a small amount of your paycheck into a separate savings account dedicated as your “house fund.” “Amassing enough for a down payment takes discipline and perseverance, but setting up automatic savings can make it easier,” says Marcia Goodman, a real estate pro with RE/MAX Gateway in Gainesville, Va. “If you never see the cash, you won’t spend it.”

I will clean up my credit.

Pay your bills on time. Keep up on credit card, car, and college loans. Mortgage lenders want to see that you aren’t sloppy with credit. You don’t need to avoid credit altogether, however. “I had a client who made $250,000 a year and was denied a mortgage because his credit card payments were always late,” says Alexandra Axsen, a managing broker with Lake Okanagan Realty Ltd. In Kelowna, B.C. It’s also important to establish a credit history. Dean Sioukas, founder of Magilla Loans in Sacramento, Calif., told realtor.com® that he suggests not using more than 30 percent of your available credit.

I will budget wisely.

Downsize your budget now so you’ll be able to save more for your down payment and pay down any debts. Also, factor in added expenses that come with buying a new home, like furniture and accessories. If you know that a mortgage is going to take a bigger amount of your paycheck, create a budget that factors that in so you can get used to living on less disposable income

Survey: Higher Rates Don’t Scare Buyers | Realtor Magazine

Despite mortgage rates reaching a two-year high last week, home buyers say the increases aren’t scaring them away from their real estate search, according to a new Redfin survey. Only 2.6 percent of respondents to the survey say they have decided to postpone their search since rates rose above 4 percent.

Twenty-five percent of respondents say the rise in rates does not impact their homebuying decisions, and about 24 percent say they feel a greater sense of urgency to buy before rates go up further. However, 23 percent say the rate increases may prompt them to look in other areas or  buy a smaller home. About 26 percent of buyers say they might take more time with their search and see if rates go back down again.

Why are home buyers feeling resilient in the face of increasing mortgage rates? According to Redfin’s blog: “While there’s no definitive answer, often home buyers are searching for a new home because of a major life event, such as a birth or a marriage or a job relocation, which can’t easily be timed to the market — but which still motivates a purchase along its own timeline.”

First-Timers Aren’t Backing Down Yet | Realtor Magazine

Higher mortgage rates and home prices aren’t deterring first-time buyers yet. Those new to the home-purchase game comprised 32 percent of the market in November, up from a 30 percent share a year ago, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ latest housing report.

Overall, this has been a good year for this segment of the population. NAR’s 2016 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, released in November, showed that the annual share of first-time buyers was 35 percent in 2016, which is the highest since 2013 (38 percent).

Still, “first-time buyers in higher priced cities will be most affected by rising prices and mortgage rates next year and will likely have to stretch their budget or make compromises on home size, price, or location,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. They’ll also need to be prepared to face tighter inventories of homes for sale. Total housing inventory at the end of November was at 1.85 million existing homes available for sale, 9.3 percent lower than a year ago.

“Existing housing supply at the beginning of the year was inadequate and is now even worse heading into 2017,” Yun says. “Rental units are also seeing this shortage. As a result, both home prices and rents continue to far outstrip incomes in much of the country.”

Consumers looking to buy in 2017 should seek preapproval from a lender and start their home search early, suggests NAR President William E. Brown. 

“There are fewer available homes during the winter months but also fewer buyers,” says Brown. “With mortgage rates and prices expected to increase as the year goes on, the first few months of 2017 could be an opportune time close on a home.” 


Top 5 Reasons You Should Not For Sale By Owner | Keeping Current Matters

In today’s market, with home prices rising and a lack of inventory, some homeowners may consider trying to sell their home on their own, known in the industry as a For Sale by Owner (FSBO). There are several reasons why this might not be a good idea for the vast majority of sellers.

Here are the top five reasons:

1. Exposure to Prospective Buyers

Recent studies have shown that 94% of buyers search online for a home. That is in comparison to only 17% looking at print newspaper ads. Most real estate agents have an internet strategy to promote the sale of your home. Do you?

2. Results Come from the Internet

Where did buyers find the home they actually purchased?

• 51% on the internet
• 34% from a Real Estate Agent
• 9% from a yard sign
• 1% from newspapers

The days of selling your house by just putting up a sign and putting it in the paper are long gone. Having a strong internet strategy is crucial.

3. There Are Too Many People to Negotiate With

Here is a list of some of the people with whom you must be prepared to negotiate if you decide to For Sale By Owner:

• The buyer who wants the best deal possible
• The buyer’s agent who solely represents the best interest of the buyer
• The buyer’s attorney (in some parts of the country)
• The home inspection companies, which work for the buyer and will almost always find some problems with the house
• The appraiser if there is a question of value

4. FSBOing Has Become More And More Difficult

The paperwork involved in selling and buying a home has increased dramatically as industry disclosures and regulations have become mandatory. This is one of the reasons that the percentage of people FSBOing has dropped from 19% to 8% over the last 20+ years.

The 8% share represents the lowest recorded figure since NAR began collecting data in 1981.

5. You Net More Money When Using an Agent

Many homeowners believe that they will save the real estate commission by selling on their own. Realize that the main reason buyers look at FSBOs is because they also believe they can save the real estate agent’s commission. The seller and buyer can’t both save the commission.

Studies have shown that the typical house sold by the homeowner sells for $185,000, while the typical house sold by an agent sells for $245,000. This doesn’t mean that an agent can get $60,000 more for your home, as studies have shown that people are more likely to FSBO in markets with lower price points. However, it does show that selling on your own might not make sense.

Bottom Line

Before you decide to take on the challenges of selling your house on your own, sit with a real estate professional in your marketplace and see what they have to offer.

5 Furniture Must-Haves for First-Time Buyers | Realtor Magazine

While empty rooms are filled with potential, it might take your first-time buyer some time and mental energy to see what you see.

Potential buyers, especially those buying for the first time, can be intimidated by the amount of space a house has and don’t know where to begin when it comes to furnishing it and making it their own. However, it’s easy to customize an empty home to fit your personality. Help them focus on the five basic pieces of furniture they will need to feel settled and at home.

1. A Place to Lay Your Head

The bed is the largest item in the room, so it’s certainly a design focal point, not to mention a place where we spend a third of our lives. Homeowners should take time to select a great headboard and bedframe that they’ll enjoy for many years. Later, they can match the other pieces in the bedroom to the headboard style.

2. Pull Up a Seat

A house becomes a home based on the memories created there, many of which happen during meals. Nothing is more symbolic of together-time than the dining table, so a table and chair set is an important item to focus on for new homeowners. A good, high-quality set will allow for all-important family meals and provides a space to gather with family and friends for many years. Advise your homeowners to consider the following:

• Choose a set with more chairs than you need. This allows you to have guests and host gatherings.
• Choose chairs with an easily wiped surface, such as wood or leather seats. This will help ensure they look great for a long time, especially for families with young children.

3. It’s OK to Be a Couch Potato

Being a couch potato can be a good thing: It requires choosing your couch wisely. A couch can be a costly investment, and new homeowners will want to select one that will be comfortable for a good number of years. Here are some things for your buyers to keep in mind:

• Measure to see what size couch will fit.
• If you need extra sleeping room, look for a sleeper sofa.
• Like to put your feet up? Pick built-in recliners or an ottoman.
• Make sure to ask if it can be cleaned and check if there is a warranty.
• Going neutral means your couch will work in your decor for a long time. However, lighter colors may be difficult to keep clean with young children.

4. Snug as a Bug

The old saying about being as snug as a bug in a rug is a true one. Rugs bring in warmth and tie together a conversation area. Homebuyers should keep the following in mind when choosing rugs for their new home:  

• Measure to see what size rug you need.
• Regular vacuuming is the key to making a rug last and look great.
• If you have a high-traffic area, pets or small children, you might want to try an indoor-outdoor rug because they are easily cleaned.

5. A Place for Everything

Clutter doesn’t make for a peaceful or inviting home. New homeowners should consider storage pieces as a key first purchase when filling their new home. A dresser is a great investment, because over the years it can serve many purposes. Buying a new piece, refurbishing an old one or hunting for an antique can be just the ticket for the foyer, den, dining room or bedroom.

There are so many pieces of furniture to add to a new home. Instead of getting overwhelmed by a long list, homeowners can focus on these five basics to get a great start on making their new house a home.

Home Shopping Mistakes to Avoid in Winter | Realtor Magazine

Winter can be a great time to snag a deal in real estate. But there are several pitfalls your home buyers will want to watch for at this time of year. Here are a few:

Accumulating too much holiday debt.

The holidays can be an easy time to add on more debt. But if you’re in the process of buying a home, you need to make sure you don’t add on any more debt. “Even if your credit is in good standing, suddenly racking up a ton of holiday shopping debt will change your debt-to-income ratio and potentially negate your pre-approval,” warns Alicia Brison, a real estate professional in Sacramento, Calif.

Not seeing past all the winter blahs.

Homes don’t always look the best in the winter. Bare tree limbs and dead grass isn’t the best for curb appeal. But buyers need to think past the gray backdrops and envision what the home looks like at other times of year so they don’t miss out on a great house.

Oblivious to closing date delays.

The winter can pose several delays to closing, particularly for new builds or anything that needs to be fixed on the home. Be prepared. “While many trades will work through winter, there are certain processes that cannot be completed during heavy snowfall or dramatically low temperatures,” Luke Sahlani, the lead project manager and director of Sensus Design & Build, told realtor.com®. “This can be frustrating and particularly problematic if the home buyers’ closing date on their current home is coming up quickly.”

Making lowball offers.

Don’t assume you can always score a discount just because it’s the winter months, when the real estate market tends to slow. “A lot of buyers assume they can get a better deal in the winter because [fewer] people are competing,” Brison says. “That’s not usually the case. Inventory is lower, so the number of people who are competing is smaller.”

Avenues – unionleader.com – Manchester, NH

So you’ve been transferred and need to make the move now, or perhaps you’ve had a new addition to your family and need to sell your one-bedroom condo to move into a larger space. While buyers can have an advantage in the winter market, sellers also can be successful by avoiding a few common mistakes.

Here’s how:

• Make sure the interior is well-lighted: Outside it’s dark, cold, wet and dreary. Make sure the interior of your property stands in stark contrast. Obviously, we cannot control the weather and it’s more than likely the buyer just ran from the car to your front door through freezing temperatures and overcast skies.

Buying a home is an emotional experience. Our goal in the winter months is to create an incredible emotional experience for the buyers who tour your listing. Most houses lack natural light, and in the winter this can become incredibly obvious and work against you. By installing recessed lights throughout the dark “walk-through” rooms in your home, the goal of brightening the showing will go a long way. Perhaps add some lamps on a timer, too. Either way, brighten up everywhere possible. It’s simple yet effective.

In the summer you may get away with the lighting that nature gives you, but if you take this extra step in the winter months your property will sparkle in comparison to the competition.

• Do not turn off the heat: This especially applies to those who are selling a vacant property. Put your heating system on a timer if you want to reduce your costs, but whatever you do, make sure that when showings occur your property is adequately heated (68 degrees or above). I can’t tell you how many showings I’ve experienced where the house was overall a good fit but it was 50 degrees. Needless to say, the buyers didn’t want to spend more than a few short minutes exploring, and they overlooked all the good features while focusing on how cold they were. A classic wasted opportunity just because of temperature.

• Get the property professionally staged: Adding that lived-in home feeling to a well-lit and cozy property is a powerful tool for creating that emotional response that will compel a buyer to pick your property over the others.

Focus on staging the master bedroom and the rooms you spent the most time using and enjoying. If you want an idea, a small breakfast table in the kitchen staged with coffee cups can go a long way to transforming a kitchen space.

• Display pictures of the exterior when your plants and trees are in full bloom: You can do this by leaving an opened album on the dining room table showing off your foliage or garden. Don’t allow the buyer’s only impression of your yard or facade to be the barren and gray landscape of the winter months. This is a small and easy trick that can make a big difference and get you closer to winning over that eager buyer who can’t put off a home purchase until spring.

What Will a Rate Hike Mean for Housing Stocks in 2017?

A thought that has been plaguing investors of late is whether a rise in interest rates will affect the housing market. Here, we should not ignore the fact that a raise in rates is indicative of a solid economy which in turn spells increased demand for housing.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has raised the benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to the range of 0.50% to 0.75% from 0.25% to 0.50%, citing improvement in the labor market and a strengthening U.S. economy. This marks the first interest rate hike of 2016 and the second since the 2008-2009 financial crisis following a raise at the end of 2015.

But with the Federal Reserve announcing a hike in the benchmark Federal Funds target rate, mortgage rates will probably rise in 2017 or after that. High mortgage rates dilute the demand for new homes as mortgage loans become expensive. This lowers purchasing power of buyers and hurts volumes, revenues and profits of homebuilders.

Will a Hike Really Matter?

Clearly, rising interest rates make for a difficult borrowing environment. This may impede home sales, which affects new starts and thereby homebuilders.

Coming to the numbers, U.S. homebuilding fell more than expected in November, plummeting from a nine-year high as construction activity dropped substantially. Although groundbreaking on new housing projects, or housing starts in short, surged 25.5% in October, it plunged by 18.7% in November from the prior month.

Single-family starts, which account for the largest share of the residential housing market, also fell to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 828,999 in November, down from 869,000 units in October, as per the Census Bureau New Residential Construction report for Nov 2016. Single-family starts rose to a nine-year high in October. Notably, housing starts figures largely vary month-to-month.

Nonetheless, the housing market remains strong. Post the election of Donald Trump as the U.S. president, mortgage rates have scaled to a new high. Even after that, homebuilder confidence soared to a reading of 70 in December, marking the highest climb since Jul 2005.

Some analysts are of the opinion that the hike largely follows the euphoria of Trump’s election as U.S. president. Probably, builders are hopeful that Trump will follow through on his pledge to ease some regulations that are marring business for small enterprises and housing affordability.

Housing experts also believe that the rapid growth in the economy and wages is driving an interest rate hike. Following the modest 25-basis point hike, the Fed has expressed its confidence in the U.S. economy and forecasts three hikes in 2017, up from the two projected in September. Also, a booming economy boosts income as well. Thus, if the rise in income offsets the increase in mortgage payment, housing will do just fine.

The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF XHB and iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF ITB, the two largest exchange traded funds focusing on homebuilders and related fare, are up 2.5% and 4.4%, respectively, so far this year.

The year 2016 has been more or less good for the housing market since the housing recession in 2007.

Positives like an improving economy, modest wage growth, low unemployment levels, low interest rates, positive consumer confidence and a tight supply situation raise optimism about the sector’s performance for the whole of 2017.

Improving labor markets, falling unemployment rates and a limited home supply are supporting a continued rise in home prices, thereby booting homebuilders’ top line.

Concerns

Although homebuilder confidence soared to a 11-year high in December, it barely moved the needle for homebuilders’ shares, D.R. Horton, Inc. DHI, KB Home KBH, Lennar Corporation LEN, PulteGroup, Inc. PHM and Toll Brothers Inc. TOL). Looking for the Best Stocks for 2017? Be among the first to see our Top Ten Stocks for 2017 portfolio here.

We should keep in mind that homebuilding stocks could be vulnerable to some near-term downsides. Mortgage rates may continue to rise anticipating rapid economic growth and inflation, thanks to Trump’s policies.

Thus, we should keep an eye on how the housing sector, which is getting stronger buoyed by support from the job market, performs post another hike in interest rate.