The Lawhead Team would like to share the latest “One Cool Thing” from California Association of Realtors® about going from renting a home to buying a home:

The majority of renters who plan to purchase a home soon don’t expect to move far when they do. More than half will stay in the same county, if not the same neighborhood.

So, where will they live?

• 41% of new home buyers will live in the same county they currently reside.
• 23% don’t know where their home they buy will be.
• 14% will buy a home in the same neighborhood as their current rental residence.
• 11% will live in another county in California.
• 10% will move to another state to buy their home.
• 1% will buy a home in another country.

Do renters plan to use a REALTOR® when they buy a home?

• 56% said YES
• 36% said they don’t know
• 8% said NO

It is very important to know what is included in the sale of your new home. The Lawhead Team came across a great article for buyers to know exactly what should and will be included in the sale of their home.

Buyers: Know what items are included in the home sale. By Coldwell Banker’s “Buyer Resources”.

There are few events during the home buying process that are better than walking into a beautiful property and seeing crystal chandeliers, top-of-the-line appliances and updated, energy-efficient fixtures. For buyers who are on the fence about the purchase, these small features may be enough to steer them toward buying a home. However, buyers should be aware of one of the most common misunderstandings that can occur when viewing a home: what they see is not always what they get.

In many cases, certain items that may be on display are not included when they actually buy the home. This can be disappointing for new owners, making it important to clarify what will stay and what will go after they have closed on the property.

Common features that are not included:

There are several types of home features that sellers may forget to remove and store before showing a home. These include kitchen and bathroom fixtures, such as faucets, light coverings and even handles and door knobs, according to the Boston Globe. Most wall mounts and materials that are used to bolt other fixtures to a wall are also not included. In addition, most sellers do not plan to leave major appliances than they purchased, such as refrigerators, ovens, washers and dryers. Lastly, buyers should not assume that window coverings will remain in the home after the previous owner has sold the property.

All items should be included in a contract:

Most sellers will remove items they don’t plan to include in the home sale prior to an open house. However, this is not always the case and if buyers have questions about what will remain in the home after the sale, they should not hesitate to ask their real estate agent. After these points have been clarified, they should also be listed in a contract to avoid confusion or disputes down the line.

Negotiations for items:

It’s not uncommon for buyers to try to negotiate with sellers to leave certain items in the home. Buyers who are interested in the new kitchen fixtures that match the granite countertops perfectly should not hesitate to at least throw out an offer to the seller. Buyers may also simply ask sellers where they purchased certain items and price them separately to determine if it would be more affordable to negotiate with the owners or purchase the features after the home sale.

Read entire article here: Buyers: Know what items are included in the home sale

The Lawhead Team has come across a recent article from Chief Economist, Jed Kolko at Trulia’s Blog about the recent trends for buyers in today’s sellers’ market.

Worried Buyers Would Take Desperate Measures in Today’s Sellers’ Market

Rising prices and tight inventory stoke worries and inspire aggressive home buying tactics. As housing becomes less affordable, Americans are downsizing their housing dreams but expecting a bigger financial payoff from homeownership.

This year’s home-buying season looks nothing like last year’s. With mortgage rates and home prices rising, the best deals are long gone. Furthermore, there are fewer homes for sale now than one year ago. To what lengths will desperate house hunters go to snag the house of their dreams, and what are they most worried about? To get the answers to these questions, Trulia worked with Harris Interactive to conduct an online survey of 2,029 U.S. adults between June 24-26, 2013. For the full methodology, see below.

What Prospective Home Buyers Worry About – Prospective home buyers are feeling the pain of a booming real estate market. The top worry among all survey respondents who might buy a home someday is that mortgage rates will rise further before they buy (41%), followed by rising prices (37%).

In the hottest markets – those where asking home prices rose more than 15% year-over-year like Las Vegas and Oakland – buyers’ worries are even more intense. In those areas, potential house hunters have heightened concerns about continued price increases, competition from other buyers, and having to decide quickly on a home before it gets snapped up. The only thing that people in the hottest markets worry about less than people in the rest of the country is qualifying for a mortgage.

While rising mortgage rates are the top concern for people if they were to buy a home within the next year, people actually planning to buy within the next year have another main worry: finding a home they like. Tight inventory means slim pickings for buyers. Even though inventory is starting to expand, and rising home prices should bring more for-sale homes onto the market, people who actually want to buy within the next year are feeling the pressure of competing buyers and limited inventory.

Continue reading article here: http://trends.truliablog.com/2013/07/american-dream-survey-summer-2013/

The Lawhead Team came across a great article from USA TODAY about the recent inventory of homes for sale growing – a plus for home buyers!

More homes being listed for sale expand buyers‘ choices and may help to moderate price increases.

Julie Schmit, USA TODAY 9:04 a.m. EDT August 13, 2013

More homes are coming on the market, which is a good sign for buyers.

In July, the inventory of homes for sale nationwide was only down 5.2% from a year ago, Realtor.com says.

That’s an improvement from January, when for sale inventories were down 16% from the year before, according to Realtor.com.

More markets are also seeing inventories grow.

The for-sale inventory for buyers was up year-over-year in 25 markets in July, compared to just seven in April, Realtor.com says.

Three of those were Riverside, Calif., where inventories were up 26% year over year; Atlanta, up almost 18%; and Sacramento, Calif., up almost 17%.

All three cities have seen rapid price appreciation in the past year, in part because of super tight inventories.

“Larger inventories, especially in the hotter markets that experienced rapid price increases in the spring, are expanding buyers‘ choices and helping to moderate price increases,” says Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Move, which operates Realtor.com.

The national median list price increased 5.3% in July year over year, Realtor.com says.

Home prices were up 11.9% in June year over year, according to the latest data from market researcher CoreLogic.

The supply of homes for sale in June changed only a little.

In June, the supply stood at 5.2 months, the National Association of Realtors says, up from 5 months in May.

That means at June’s sales pace, all homes would sell in that time frame if no new inventory was added.

Inventory conditions will continue to broadly favor sellers for months and contribute to above normal price growth, the National Association of Realtors has said.

Check out complete article here:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/08/13/july-for-sale-home-inventory/2645411/