Tag: shreveport

Take Note Sellers—This Is What First-Time Home Buyers Are Looking For

Shreveport-Bossier City Homes and Lifestyle

First-time buyers are out in the market and ready to buy homes—and many of them are willing to go above asking in order to successfully purchase their dream property. According to a recent survey from realtor.com, a whopping 76 percent of first-time home buyers are willing to pay more than the asking price for a home.

But what, exactly, are they looking for in a property? According to the survey, some of the top priorities for first-time buyers in today’s market include:

  • A large backyard (35 percent)
  • A garage (30 percent)
  • An updated kitchen (30 percent)
  • A quiet location (26 percent)
  • Updated bathrooms (22 percent)
  • A finished basement (20 percent)

The Takeaway:

So, what does this mean for you? If you’re selling your home, it’s important to know what buyers are looking for. That way, you can bring attention to the features of your property that are most likely to attract buyers—and (hopefully!) fetch top dollar for your home in the process.

**Ryan Wheeler is an expert real estate agent and military veteran serving buyers and sellers of homes in the Shreveport-Bossier City area.  Connect With Me Here

Racing the Rates—Should You Sell Your House Now?

Shreveport-Bossier City Homes and Lifestyle

Typically it’s buyers who are most concerned about rising mortgage interest rates, and for good reason. A small jump in rates will cost them a few more bucks per month for the same house than it would’ve if they hadn’t waited to make an offer and lock in a rate. Add a few of those rate hikes together before they buy, and the added cost can be really aggravating.

Mortgage rates constantly go up and down, which is why they’re almost always in the news. It’s something to write about. Right now they happen to be going up again, as CNBC pointed out in this article about how rates jumped again and how it affects buyers. To summarize the big news, rates went up 0.35% in a week. Overall, not a huge deal. At least not enough to really change home values overnight.

But then they dig in a little more and added, “For a median-priced home, currently about $350,000, buyers putting down 20% will now see a monthly payment $125 higher than they would have just three weeks ago.” They’re going back three weeks to basically say that the monthly payment would be $125 more per month for the average buyer. That isn’t due to the one-week bump; that’s due to a few bumps over time. But it starts to add up, and buyers start to notice and feel it a little more.

Does this mean there’s going to be an absolute halt to the buying frenzy? No, at least not overnight. The market (and your home’s value) won’t turn on a dime and turn your dollars into dimes. But if the trend continues, and the news continues to point it out and alarm buyers, it could cause them to at least be less aggressive in how much they’re willing to pay in the near future. Or, perhaps they’ll just be less willing to get involved in a bidding war. Also worth noting: it could also come to a point, if rates rise significantly, where buyers simply won’t be willing to pay the prices they have been for a house.

After all, the value of homes is in large part based upon how much buyers can afford to pay per month, and what they want and will agree to buy for that much per month. So, if they get to a point where the rates are increasing their monthly payment too much, it will likely cause them to lower the amount they are willing to pay for your house.

There’s really no crystal ball to say whether or not rates are on an upward trend for good, or how high they’ll go. All you can deal with is the here and now, along with a little “what-if” assessing.

So, to sum up, if you’re even remotely thinking about selling, here’s a good two-step game plan:

  1. Get a firm grasp on what your house is currently worth in the market right now.
  2. Assess whether or not it makes sense for you to capitalize on the current value and sell now, or let it ride and see if the rates keep hovering and values continue to rise (or at least stay about the same).

**Ryan Wheeler is an expert real estate agent and military veteran serving buyers and sellers of homes in the Shreveport-Bossier City area.  Connect With Me Here

Renting a House Is Getting Way More Expensive. Is It Time to Buy?

Shreveport-Bossier City Homes and Lifestyle

Prices for everything have been going up—from food, to gas, to services, and people are getting less for the dollar. Rents are no exception.

After an unprecedented period of time where renters could more or less just cite COVID as a reason to not pay rent, the moratoriums on evictions are gone and rents are roaring higher—particularly with single-family rental houses.

People rent single-family homes for many different reasons, and it often makes sense to do so. If you’re relocating to a new area and aren’t sure if you’ll stay in the area for long, or want to get to know the area before buying a house, renting certainly makes sense. Or, perhaps it’s the only option due to credit issues, or the inability to obtain a mortgage for other reasons.

But one reason for renting that may need to be questioned is the notion that it’s more affordable to rent than buy, especially if you’re trying to rent a single-family house.

CNBC recently reported that single-family rents are up 10.9% year over year, which is three times the 3.2% annual growth seen in October 2020. At the most basic level, this is due to the simplest of economic laws, which is supply and demand. Vacancy rates are at a 25-year low, so there are less homes to rent and demand for them is high, so landlords can easily demand higher rents.

Much of this demand reportedly roots back to people who would otherwise buy a house, but decide to rent because they feel home prices are high, and the competition to buy houses on the market has been fierce. Valid reasoning…until and unless renting actually costs more than buying. With rent prices increasing, and the competition getting as fierce for rental homes as it is in the buyers’ market, it does beg the question whether it makes more sense to rent if you can qualify to buy a house.

While home prices have certainly risen in recent years, buying a house can hedge against inflation, especially when rates are low, according to this Forbes article. Locking in a low, fixed mortgage rate with even a low down payment is possible. So, it may make more sense to take advantage of the historically low interest rates (before they jump up), brave the competition, and spend the security deposit (and first and last month’s rent) on a downpayment to purchase a home rather than rent one.

Renting might end up being your best (or only) option, but it certainly can’t hurt to weigh which makes more financial sense. Just running on the assumption that renting is your best or only option could actually be costing you more than you think.

**Ryan Wheeler is an expert real estate agent and military veteran serving buyers and sellers of homes in the Shreveport-Bossier City area.  Connect With Me Here

Bossier home house photo Shreveport Bossier Expert Real Estate Agent Realtor Military veteran buy home sell house Ryan Wheeler

Are We in a Buyer or Seller’s Market?

Shreveport-Bossier City Homes and Lifestyle

I hear this all the time when working with my buyers and sellers.  “So who has the advantage in the Shreveport/Bossier area market?  The buyer or the seller?”  And that is such a fantastic question but it is more complicated than that.  At least it used to be.

First, we need to define terms.  A Seller’s Market is one where the supply of homes for sale is low as compared to the available buyers … so the demand is higher than what is actually available.  A Buyer’s Market is the inverse of that.  It is one where the supply of homes for sale is high compared to the available buyers … so the supply of property is higher than demand.  Got that?  Good!!  🙂

Since 2021 all throughout the country most markets are collectively classified as “Sellers’ Markets”.  Certain places of the country that traditionally have a lot of turn-over and influx include: Layton, Utah; Frisco, Texas; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Lakeland, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia to name a few.  These places have become Hyper-Competitive where the Seller absolutely has the advantage.

So what about the Shreveport/Bossier City area?  Well, as each city (whether small or large) can attest, there are sub-groups or microcosms that exist in all area.  While a metropolitan area as a whole might be classified as a “buyer or seller’s market” there are always pockets within a city that defy the statistics.

Our area is no different.

Overall the Shreveport/Bossier area has been very stable for many, many years.  The economy is doing very well which is anchored by Barksdale AFB, Industry and Gaming with more of the same coming to our location annually.  Inventory and supply here has followed the National trend and our market is no doubt a “Sellers Market”.  Inventory has fluctuated between .5 and 2 months supply of homes on the market whereas the norm is 6-8 months supply.

There will always be pockets of places that more people want to live in which demand outweighs supply and there will always be places people don’t want to live which keeps supply high but demand low.  The better schools, some land, gated neighborhoods and better roads.  These tend to be the locations that are doing very well.  And why is that?  Because this is a free country and people want to live where they are financially capable of living.

In our market sellers are generally getting full asking price and, some even higher, for their homes.  Why?  Because the market allows for it.  The days of making a full price offer and getting the buyer to pay all closing costs is somewhat in the past until the market settles back down.

**Ryan Wheeler is an expert real estate agent and military veteran serving buyers and sellers of homes in the Shreveport-Bossier City area.  Connect With Me Here

Shreveport Bossier Expert Real Estate Agent Realtor Military veteran buy home sell house Ryan Wheeler

Are You a Hoarder?

Shreveport-Bossier City Homes and Lifestyle

What Are You Afraid to Throw Away?

So how many of you are scared to throw things away?  Or maybe your spouse might be (no don’t throw your spouse away!)

This is a serious questions because many of us struggle with not being able to dispose of items for various reasons.  Either sentimental in value, an emotional, physical or even nostalgic reasons.  Whatever the reason have you recently taken an inventory into what you hold on to?

You probably should!

I was looking through some clutter and thought “how long has this been here?”  It really needed to go, but the emotional pull wouldn’t allow me to take the next step I needed and throw it away.  I’m sure I will when my wife yells at me loud enough but not quite yet!

My favorite item are all the 25 year food items I keep “just in case” because lets face it anything can happen at ANY time, right?  (Just 23 years to go, Honey!)

Recently, I was with clients showing them a run-down property they wanted to fix up and restore but that all came to a screeching halt when we walked in and the place was a hoarders nightmare.  I had never seen a place so terrible before!  It ended up being sold but only for the value of the land.

Now, that’s a very rare example but it does beg the question:  When you are trying to sell your home are following your agent’s advice and minimizing clutter?  Are you boxing up those items you just can’t seem to part with but no one else wants to see?

If you are serious about selling your home that’s exactly what you better be doing.  A potential buyer always envisions themselves in the home they are looking at.

So make sure when the time comes to sell you clear out the clutter, open up the blinds and drapes, and get the house smelling nice.

You’ll be surprised at how much a difference that will make!

**Ryan Wheeler is an expert real estate agent and military veteran serving buyers and sellers of homes in the Shreveport-Bossier City area.  Connect With Me Here