Tuesday, December 10, 2013

The 1% = 10% Rule



Let's say that you are getting a $200,000 mortgage.  A few months ago, a 30 year mortgage at 3.5% would have been $985.48 (principle & interest only, not including property taxes & insurance).  To get the same payment today, at 4.5% you would only be able to get a $178,000 mortgage, or about 10% less.  Do you think that this would tend to slow down activity some?  Well, it has.

A lot of people I talk to will ask me "How's the real estate market, Greg?"  They watch mostly national news and hear that the home values have increased 20% over the last year.  Yes, but only in those places where values dropped more than 50% during the "mortgage meltdown" years (2007-2001), like Phoenix, Las Vegas and California.  They still have a way to go before catching up.  So do we, but on a smaller scale.  While we lost about 15% during those "meltdown" years, we've gained back approximately 5% since. 

Question to the Reader: How has rising interest rates affected your approach to the housing market?

www.GregLobb.com


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