As another recession looms, those in the mortgage lending community are absorbing the data and working with buyers and investors as they plot their financial courses.
Mary Littleton, a senior mortgage broker with Accurate Mortgage, notes “Bond pricing is worse this week as the 10-year Treasury yield opened at 3.028 last week and moved to 2.842 Monday morning.” She adds: “Treasury yield spread continues to show inversion, a typical sign of impending recession.”
Mortgage applications decreased by 6.3% in the week ending July 15, she says, marking the third consecutive decline and the lowest level since 2000.”
Littleton says there will be “an ever-so-slight easing of rates toward the close of the fall.”
Historically, fall market tis the strongest season of the year in Nashville, meaning there could be an uptick in prices even with the recession upon us.
Shawn Kaplan, a licensed mortgage banker with Legacy Mutual Mortgage, says educating buyers is the most important factor in the homebuying process. It is unfortunate, he adds, when buyers are dissuaded from buying based on negative news stories or, even worse, advice from family members.
Well-meaning family members, some of whom have bought one or maybe two houses in their lives, understandably worry about their children, nieces or nephews becoming overburdened with debt. Their advice almost always is to wait.
Experts say that is bad advice.
Kaplan and even financially conservative talk show host Dave Ramsey say now is still a good a time to buy a home. Ramsey has released videos on social media espousing the values of home ownership in today’s financial market, stating in that many are waiting for house prices to go down before buying.
“That’s not going to happen,” he states emphatically.
Since 1971, Kaplan says, the average interest rate is 5.43%. The average car loan payment, he adds, is $647 per month, and 13% of all automobile loans are for more than $1,000 monthly with no deductible interest.
He suggests that there are “counter measures” to car notes such as including them in the home mortgage.
Kaplan says he remains bullish on real estate and has numbers to support his case.
An example he uses is a case in which a buyer purchased a home for $740,000 and invested another $80,000 in the house. The buyer sold the house in three years for $1.5 million.
Kaplan reminds buyers that the first $500,000 of profit are tax free and that the gain was $760,000 on the $80,000 investment since he would have been paying rent somewhere rather than his tax-deductible house payment.
One reason Kaplan says he sees more opportunities for financial reward like the above example is that there is more demand than supply. That’s backed up by Greater Nashville Realtors statistics showing there is less than a two-month supply of inventory. The National Association of Realtors has stated that a six-month supply is considered a balanced market.
Sale of the Week
The house at 240 Haverford Drive is even a better example that the Kaplan story. Purchased in 2018 for $1.675 million, the owners invested approximately $100,000 in improvements, reports listing broker David Taylor of Zeitlin Sotheby’s International Realty.
Last week, the house sold for $3.25 million when Amy Jackson Smith of Engel and Voelkers Nashville helped her buyer snag the house after only a few hours on the market.
David Taylor, the listing agent, described the property thusly: “When a local boutique builder (Chandelier Development), a renowned designer (Lindsay Lyons) and a stylish client collaborate to create a large one-of-a-kind home?”
Taylor suggests the buyer could “enjoy a drink in the chic lounge or sip tea on the double-covered patio where the only sounds are the crackle of the fireplace and the whispering of the fans turning.”
The house sold for $557 per square foot and includes five bedrooms, five full bathrooms and two half bathrooms within its 5,623 square feet.
In a home as expansive as this one, energy saving features are invaluable. This home as tankless Energy Star water heaters, Energy Star windows and spray foam insulation.
Marilyn Denney Blankenship
The residential real estate world lost one of its esteemed leaders last weekend with the death of Marilyn Denney Blankenship.
Blankenship
Marilyn spent her real estate career with Fridrich and Clark Realty and was a past president of the Tennessee Certified Residential Specialists, as well as serving as a trustee with the Tennessee Realtors Education Foundation.
She was a graduate of both Leadership Greater Nashville Realtors and Leadership Tennessee Realtors while holding the designations of Certified Residential Broker, e-Pro and held a master designation in the Graduate Realtor Institute.
In addition to her leadership roles, she was a top-producing Realtor and was a recipient of the lifetime Award of Excellence from the Greater Nashville Realtors, all the while serving dozens of real estate clients each year.
Of equal importance is that she was a joy to work with and an ever-glowing positive person. Marilyn brightened a room upon her entrance and allows had something of importance to impart upon every meeting or discussion.
Richard Courtney is a licensed real estate broker with Fridrich and Clark Realty and can be reached at [email protected].