Best countries to grow old...

I have found this fascinating article about what places are best, and worst for older people, and wanted to share it here on this real estate forum.  After all, a lot of people are looking into where to go to as they enter their "golden years", and this includes going to other countries in some

instances.  I think it can definitely trigger some more research down the line for some of us; many people purchase, or consider purchasing a secondary residence abroad to spend at least some of their retirement years in a different place.
In the US, about 13.3% is over age 65.

No denying older people are increasing in numbers throughout the world, although not in a uniform way at all.  A lot of the research is done here by an organization called HelpAge International which developed the Global AgeWatch Index, a series of reports available on this web site:  Global AgeWatch Index, for those who are interested in looking into the details.

Coming back to the article in question, from Shan Li at the LA times:
... and the winner is.....:

Sweden. 

Feel free to browse through the other pictures and Countries, showing the 2nd etc... best places to grow old, and the worst places to grow old.  Sobering article...  it can give us all a powerful reason to reflect...
Thanks for reading,
Francis

Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

Property for sale: holding off on offers, or not?

Property for sale: holding off on offers, or not?

As a seller, you and your agent prepare the house and the file carefully, you do everything right and the big day comes: it goes on MLS, you have a Realtor tour, and an open house during the week end.  The critical marketing exposure time has started, and between the paper advertising, the internet advertising and all the promotion, the world is starting to learn about your house.

The big question at that point is: do you hold off for offers until a certain date (hoping for multiple offers), or do you take offers as they come? 

Holding off for offers is a good strategy, if the house is well priced: it ensures that the house has been seen enough, and that potential buyers have had the time to review the file and decide what they want to do, after looking at all the disclosures and reports you carefully prepared upfront.  This way, when offers come in, chances are they are informed and well thought-out, and you can have a choice between good offers.  Odds are high the transaction will close without problems.

But the down side of this strategy is that some buyers are turned off by the process, and do not want to participate in this competition.  Also, if you hold off too long, other competing properties will come on the market and you will lose some potential buyers.  Finally, with this strategy comes the difficult choice to make if someone brings you a “preemptive offer”, which is likely much higher than the asking price.  If you take it you are not going to see what the other offers could have been (the ones that followed your instructions and waited for the “offer date”).  If you do not take it you could lose that high offer.  Hint: it is a gamble.

So the alternative is to “take offers as they come”.  But what do you do when one comes too fast, may be even higher than your asking price, and you have the feeling that either 1/ the buyers did not read the file carefully just to go faster or 2/ not enough people have seen the house? 
Could you have a higher or better offer by waiting for more people to have the time to see the property and work on an offer?  In real estate we say that the first offer is often the best one.  But this saying goes in a typical market, and our market is anything but typical.

Two key elements are in play here: 1/ the (pricing) strategy you prefer to use, and 2/ the quality of the advice you have with your Realtor and how good the information you get is.  I explain to my clients how important it is to have someone on your side during this critical period, to assess the real interest that exists out there for your property.  The tools your Realtor uses are critical too.  It is essential to know: - number of showings, and feed-back, - number of page views on the various web sites, - how many people are looking at the disclosures online, and what exactly they are looking at.  Not all tools get you this information, and not all agents take the care to sift through it. Finally, it is critical that your Realtor follow closely any interested party (agent or principal), and answers questions as best as possible; indeed any unanswered question has a dollar amount attached to it.  Better informed buyers will bring you an offer, and one additional offer may mean a big difference in your final sales price.

As always, thank you so much for reading, and if you like what you read, let your friends know!

Francis

Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

non-profit organization worth noting: Partners for New Generations.

Falling in Love, ... with a house

Why We Fall in Love—With Houses
Source: The Wall Street Journal

A survey by Realtor.com shows that 69% of respondents have had a home crush by falling head-over-heels for a house. A home crush is defined as being drawn to the same house again and again, in a study conducted between Jan 9 and Jan. 20, surveying 1,082 individuals.
House hunting can be like dating for many people: you check compatibility, and fit, and then, the crush may happen !

Find out some of the surprising finds of the study, from this article by Sanette Tanaka of the Wall Street Journal.

Have you had an experience like that?

Happy Valentine's Day!

As always, thank you so much for reading, and if you like what you read, let your friends know!

 

Francis

Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates
A place worth noting: Our Brother's Home in MountainView

US Cities Dominate Foreign Investors Picks

As a follow up on one of my previous blogs, I thought this was interesting information to keep in mind and to keep in perspective, when reflecting on prices nationwide.  Bottom line, the U.S. remain the destination of choice for foreign investors, after looking at all Cities on all 5 continents.

By a wide margin, foreign investors see the United States as the most "stable and secure" country for real-estate investment, according to a new survey ("Ranking of global Cities...".) from the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate. Overall, the United States was ranked as one of the hottest investment markets for industrial, office and multifamily real estate. The cities of New York, San Francisco, Houston, and Los Angeles were rated to be particularly appealing, but the survey found an increasing interest in cities beyond these major destinations.

• In the 12 months that ended March 2013, foreign buyers spent $68.2 billion on single-family homes in the United States, or about 7 percent of all home sales.
• According to the survey, the United States is seen as the best market in terms of capital appreciation and for real estate purchases in 2014.
• Thirty-nine percent of survey respondents have a more optimistic perspective than they did a year ago regarding the U.S. real estate market.
  
• More than 80 percent of respondents in the survey indicated they will increase their portfolio size in the United States. 31% are planning a “major net increase.”
• Multifamily units were the top property type preferred by foreign investors, followed by industrial property.

Read the full story from Trey Garrison at HousingWire. 

Thanks for reading,
Francis

Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

Great local Nonprofit in the Valley:  Community Services Agency.

Home Improvements - ROI

How much should you expect to get back on a given home improvement?

 

It turns out that it depends on where you are, as much as the type of improvement you are planning to make.  Below are two infographics - 1 showing projects with not such great returns, and one showing those that have the best returns; these are provided by the California Association of Realtors and therefore are more appropriate for California. 

 

However, my experience is that here in the Bay Area of San Francisco, the returns are better than what would be typical anywhere else in the US.  In fact, this is something that one can verify by going to the "cost vs Value" web site link from this page out of the online Realtor magazine , and looking for instance at the "Pacific zone" and in particular " San Francisco", where the return for a kitchen remodel or a 2nd bath remodel will indeed be in most cases over the cost of the improvement.

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

 

 

As always, thank you so much for reading, and if you like what you read, let your friends know!

 

Francis

Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates
A place worth noting: Our Brother's Home in MountainView

Adjustable-rate mortgages regain popularity as prices, rates rise

Adjustable-rate mortgages are again gaining in popularity despite practically vanishing during the housing bust. Since home prices and interest rates rose last year, more people have turned to adjustable mortgages to keep their monthly payments affordable, with such mortgages offering a lower initial rate. However, careful! - the rate can rise over time with market changes.

Read the article from the LA times by Andrew Khouri.

Also, Households saved just 4.2 percent of the after-tax income in November. The average was close to 6 percent from 2009 until 2011. Wealth gains from existing assets, such as rising home values, may explain why households are saving less, according to this blog from the Wall Street Journal.

Are we back to what I call "aggressive financial living"? Hum, a trend to keep an eye on...

Thanks for reading!
Francis


Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

non-profit organization worth noting: Partners for New Generations.

Effect of interest rates on affordability...

December 2013 U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook
Freddie Mac released its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for December showing that housing affordability is being challenged as the year comes to an end.

Highlights from the Freddie Mac Study show that:

• At a 4.4 percent interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage that prevailed in the third quarter of 2013, more than 70 percent of the country remained affordable. All of the North Central region remained affordable, while just 36 percent of the West remained affordable.
• At a 5 percent rate (and no change in prices/income) approximately 63 percent of the country would be affordable, at 6 percent mortgage rates 55 percent would be affordable, and at 7 percent mortgage rates only 35 percent of the country would be affordable.
• On the plus side, existing homeowners' housing payment-to-income ratio has fallen to an average of 7.9 percent, its lowest level since 1980, a positive sign for sustainable homeownership.

See an interactive map of housing affordability, depending on interest rates.

Thanks for reading,
Francis

Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

Great local Nonprofit in the Valley:  Community Services Agency.

New Homes Sales vs Interest Rates - opposite direction...

The rise in interest rates may be a challenge for the real estate market in 2014, (although I have to point out: this is nationwide):

• During 2013, increases in mortgage rates corresponded with declines in home buying, and in light of shifts in the Federal Reserve’s monetary stimulus effort, the trend is expected to continue.

• When the Fed first announced it would consider scaling back its bond-buying program, mortgage interest rates spiked in May. As a result, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of new home sales dropped by 4 percent from the prior month.
• In contrast, mortgage rates dropped by three-tenths of a percentage point during October just as new home sales surged 18 percent.
• In mid-December, the Fed announced that it will begin tapering its asset purchase program, but the Fed is only reducing its monthly buys of mortgage securities and Treasuries by just $10 billion.

-  If mortgage interest rates increase a little, some analysts have stressed that any such rate increases will see the recovery slow rather than reverse.

• The interest rate on U.S. Treasury notes is also increasing, which could signal higher interest rates ahead because it is used as a reference point for the cost of borrowed money for U.S. consumers and businesses.

See the corresponding graphs on this page of the Wall Street Journal.

Thanks for reading,
Francis

Silicon Valley real estate specialist
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates

non-profit organization worth noting: Partners for New Generations.