What’s Ahead for the 2024 Housing Market?

As we step into the new year, the real estate landscape is undergoing a shift. Economic experts anticipate a decline in rates, witnessed slightly in December 2023, signaling an upcoming surge of buyers and sellers entering the market.

Understanding that real estate is constantly evolving due to economic factors, generational trends, and societal shifts, let's delve into the key elements shaping the housing market in the coming years.

Many home owners consider selling their home without the help of a real estate professional but in reality very few sellers choose to attempt it. As a REALTOR® I am obviously biased. By working with a well-trained team of professionals to assist in the process, legal and transaction, the seller and their assets are better protected.

What do most Home Sellers do?

You are thinking about selling your home. And while, yes, you want to sell for the highest price, you also want it to sell in the shortest amount of time!

Here are 7 tips to help you sell your home quickly

As part of my first meeting with a prospective client (buyer or seller) I ask if they know how real estate agents get paid …. and they usually answer “YES, you get commission.” Ok then I ask if they know any more about that. …. I also hear “Real estate agents make a lot of money.”

So let’s get real and talk about money where it comes from and who receives it.

What happened in the Braintree real estate market in 2022? Are you hearing about the “shifting real estate market” in the national news and wondering if the Braintree Market is shifting?

Taking a look back at 2022 shows the market was very strong throughout the year - most properties listed sold quickly and sold at an excellent price. Let’s take a look at the numbers.

If you are selling a condominium or townhouse, assembling paperwork in advance is critical. Not only will potential buyers want to review the documents, a number of documents will be required by the buyer's lender for financing approval.

While preparing your home for sale, take a few minutes and gather the needed Condo Documents. Having these documents in advance will help make the transaction smoother in the long run.

Do not let your mortgage company end up with equity you have in your home!!!

Are you behind on your mortgage? Have you missed a mortgage payment during the last 2 years? Did you enter “mortgage forbearance” as part of the CARES Act? Are you making mortgage payments and struggling, or are you not paying your mortgage?

Now is the time to make a plan if you are in Mortgage Forbearance. When forbearance ends your lender expect you to a) start paying your mortgage, b) sell you home to settle the debt, or c) go into foreclosure.

What should you do if you have fallen behind on your mortgage, are in forbearance, or are struggling to make your payments?

Here are 7 things to consider doing soon rather than later.

Who is the most likely buyer for your home? It might not be who you think!

A home seller it inevitably talks about their ideas about the person who will purchase their home. It is important we talk about the target “buyer personas” for any particular property prior to putting it into the market.

Buyer Personas are part of my "7-step Process to Price a Home. The detailed personas include the buyers’ motivations, dreams, financial picture, experience in buying, and likely flexibility.

When we talk about the target selling price of a home I am looking to match the seller’s goals and motivation with the most likely buyer behaviors. The more closely the 2 are aligned, the more likely the home sale will meet the seller’s goals! And if these are not aligned, what could be done to match up the two ….

If you are looking to purchase a home for the outside of a city/metro or more urban setting, you may encounter homes that have a "septic system" and in Massachusetts you may see references to “Title V” or “Title 5” in the property descriptions.

What is a Septic System? A septic system is a private sewerage system located somewhere on the property.

“Should I hire a Home Stager?” This is something I’m frequently asked when working with new clients that will be selling their home. I usually rephrase the question as: How do I prepare my home for sale?

Home preparation is more broad than home staging and unfortunately a lot less sexy. Home preparation is about doing the hard work necessary to make a home absolutely ✨shine ✨ throughout the entire process from the professional photo shoot, to the first day prospective buyers and real estate agents walk through your home, and less visibly when a buyer’s home inspector starts poking at beams with a screwdriver.

Home Preparation includes repairs, refreshing, tidying and decluttering , cleaning, and finally setting the space (aka staging).

Is the lack of good homes to buy causing you to wait on selling your current home? You are not alone! A top concern for prospective home sellers is "Where will we move if our home sells quickly?"

People want to sell their current home but are concerned they won't find their new home in time! And no one wants to scramble into purchasing a home they will regret or be tied into a rental lease.

If you are in this situation, let’s talk!

If so, you are not alone!

8.9 Million People Relocated since the beginning of the pandemic according to the National Association of Realtors and USPS.

That is pretty amazing if you think about it! During a time where people were at home more, 8.93 million of those folks moved to another location between March and October 2020. Most people moved at the beginning of the pandemic and during the summer months. This is an increase of 94,000 people from the previous year!

So what makes a home “Smart?” The industry defines a Smart Home as having Internet connectivity, either home temperature controls or security and 2 additional smart connected devices

As a Realtor, I’d refine that only devices stay when the home sells. That is, things that are likely permanently attached to the home:

A client asked me this week to find a “home just like this with lower real estate taxes” which led me to a larger conversation about real estate taxes.

As a market preparation expert, I am obsessed with ways to maximize a property’s appeal to buyers. Ideally any significant repairs or improvements can take place over a period of time when a homeowner isn’t actively preparing to sell. But that isn’t always practical, possible, or may not even be advisable in today’s low-inventory market.

As of September 2020 the price of “framing lumber” has increased 150% year over year which means any home improvement projects are that much costing more than the start of 2020.

A friend asked for a referral to repair 2 bathroom ceilings which led into a discussion of why the ceiling was peeling in the first place. And also why it should be repaired the right way now.

After seeing the photo below I asked:

Does everyone using the showers run the fans? (yes)

Do you know if the exhaust fan is venting to outside? (vents to attic)

Does it have sufficient draw? (fans are not very powerful, so probably not)

People often ask me if they should make updates to their homes prior to putting their home on the market. It depends. As your real estate professional we’ll go over this in detail and talk about the plan to prepare your home for the market.

The following questions will be helpful as you determine who has the market knowledge, services and experience necessary to sell your home at the highest possible price and in the shortest amount of time for you.

Today’s home buyer is obsessively searching for homes online and making somewhat snap decisions on a property based on the photographs. It is more critical than ever for the photos of your property to give a buyer a reason to look deeper and choose to learn more before moving onto to the next home. This is why professional photography is part of my real estate marketing strategy regardless of a home’s price point.

September is REALTOR Safety Month which seems like a good time to chat about keeping you and your home safe when selling your home.

While your home is on the market you are allowing complete strangers to enter your home when you are not there - which is really quite crazy if you think about it! So it is important to talk about your, others and property safety with your real estate agent in advance.