Madisonville officials announced that the city will receive a $350,000 federal grant that will go towards improvements to the town park. Another $350,000 will also go towards the park from the Land and Water Conservation Fund grant. The park is located between Pine and Main Streets which is located in the heart of Madisonville.
Monday, October 31, 2022
Madisonville Gets a Grant For Park Improvements
Saturday, October 29, 2022
New Home Sales Are Bouncing Back This Fall
Even with the rising home prices and mortgage rates, new home sales have bounced back. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development along with the US Census Bureau reports that the sales of newly constructed homes have risen 28.8% from this summer. It was reported that 685,000 new homes were sold in August 2022 which was up from July’s report of 532,000 and down slightly from a year ago with 686,000 newly constructed homes.
New Home Construction Is Beginning To Pick Back Up
Good news for the housing market, the new home building is starting to pick back up but builders are still frustrated. This fall we have seen an uptick in new home building even with the slower demand from new home buyers. Builder sentiment is still down though due to things like the high cost of building materials.
According to the US Census Bureau, August home starts for new home construction rose 12.2% from the previous month. This is still 1% down from August 2021 just a year ago. The home starts are still trying to catch up this fall from the big drop that was seen this spring. The housing starts have been holding steady up until about a month ago when they began to increase.
The increase is a plus for the housing market due to the low inventory that has disrupted the market for the past two years. The rise in home prices and bidding wars are part of the direct outcome of this shortage. ” The latest month’s increase is implying that builders still see profit opportunities even as they concede on prices,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors.
Multi-family projects have seen the biggest gain which jumped 30% from July, single-family homes only rose 3.4% from a month ago. Even with these increases, builders are still shy about being too optimistic of what the future holds. Building permits dropped 10% from the beginning of the summer and were down 14.4% from the same time last year. Surveys are still showing that builder confidence is still falling.
This fall is partly to be blamed on higher mortgage rates, supply chain problems and high home prices. “Buyer traffic is weak in many markets as more consumers remain on the sidelines due to high mortgage rates and home prices that are putting a new home purchase out of financial reach for many households,” said Jerry Konter, NAHB Chairman.
The National Association of Home Builders reports show that builder sentiment has gone down every month since 2022 and shows no signs of rising anytime soon. “Builders continue to grapple with elevated construction costs and an aggressive monetary policy from the Federal Reserve that helped push mortgage rates above 6% last week, the highest level since 2008,” according to Robert Dietz, NAHB Chief Economist.
“In this soft market, more than half of the builders in our survey reported using incentives to bolster sales, including mortgage rate buy downs, free amenities and price reductions,” said Dietz.
This is still not pushing home buyers back into the market. The study also shows that the cycle of homeowners moving up from a starter home is stalling due to the high prices and rising mortgage rates. First-time home buyers are also stalling and choosing to rent instead.
“Many potential ‘move-up’ buyers who would be likely candidates for high-priced new construction homes may also be weighing the benefits of remaining in their current home, where they likely have a mortgage rate less than half of today’s going rate – all factors that are contributing to a decline in housing mobility,’ said Kelly Mangold of RCLCO Real Estate Consulting.
The huge increase in multi-family buildings is due to the record high rents around the country. “Apartment demand has been strong, with rents rising at a historically high pace. Those consumers unable to qualify for a mortgage at higher interest rates are renewing their rental leases. Job creation is also boosting the rental demand,” stated Yun.
Today’s Home Prices in the Current Market
There has been a lot of activity in the housing market when it comes to home prices. It seems that there is a trend of home price appreciation but with this same bit of news comes the fact the sellers are still reducing the price of their homes. So what is really happening with today’s home prices?
Industry leaders explain the differences between the terms used by the industry. Appreciation means when the home price increases, depreciation reflects a decrease in the home price and deceleration is when home prices continue to appreciate but at a slower and moderate pace. Today’s housing market industry leaders are seeing a deceleration. The home prices are still appreciating but not at a record-breaking pace as they have been in the past two years.
According to CoreLogic, in 2021 home prices appreciated by an average of 15% nationwide and at the beginning of 2022 appreciation was at 20%. Currently, it is predicted that prices will increase on average10% to 11%. On a year-over-year basis, home prices appreciated between 19% -20% from January to March of this year. The last few months, home prices have decelerated to 18%. They are still climbing but at a slower pace than compared to the same time last year.
“Annual home price growth dropped by nearly two percentage points….- the greatest single-moth slowdown on record since at least the early 1970s… While June’s slowdown was record-breaking, home price growth would need to decelerate at this pace for six more months to drive annual appreciation back to 5%, a rate more in line with long-run averages,” says Black Knight’s Monthly Mortgage Monitor.
So today’s home prices are not falling or depreciating, but decelerating or moderating nationwide. There are some pocket markets that are seeing declines because they are overheated. When looking at the country as a whole, prices will not depreciate or fall but will keep appreciating.
When you are in the market for a home and want to know about what the current market is doing, the best way to go about this is to hire a trusted real estate profession. A real estate professional can help you navigate the current market making sure you make the best decisions when it comes to your home.
natural Wisconsin quarried dolomitic limestone known for its durability. The neutral colored stone and large pieces lend themselves to large scale projects as this stately stone does not look busy on large walls. Each individual piece of stone that makes up Fond du Lac has been split with a hydraulic press on all four sides to create the clean rectangles. The split or cracked edges retain a rustic or natural element to the finished look as opposed to our sawed height or dimensional style stone.Tuesday, October 4, 2022
The Four Separate Parts of A Full Bath
There are several types of bathrooms that can be found in a home which include full, half, and three-quarters. What do these dimensions refer to when it comes to a bathroom? Here is what the professionals say when it comes to how determining the size of a bathroom.
Bathroom Components
When it comes to a full bathroom, there are four main parts, which include a shower, a bathtub and a toilet. If all four of these components are not there, then it cannot be officially called a full bath. When it comes to the description of the size of a bathroom it is not the square footage but the components that are included in the bathroom. Each component is a utility found in the bathroom and if a utility is not included, you would then deduct one-quarter for each utility missing.
If a bathroom has just a sink and toilet it is considered a half bath because it only has two of the four components. A bathroom with a sink, toilet and shower is considered a three-quarter bath because it only has three of the four components. Also, think twice about upgrades vs utility when it comes to the count. A nice rain shower head will not boost the bathroom in the count.
Importance of a Tub
Remember the utility count is what constitutes the description. Some master bathrooms today only have a shower and not a tub so does this mean it is only a three-quarter bath? According to Ginny Ollis, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker, it will not especially be if there is a tub in another bathroom in the home. “Many homebuilders put only a shower in the master now,” she says.
Other Realtors tend to disagree. “There must be a tub in the house,” says Kathryn Bishop of Keller Williams Realty. ” I’ve seen buyers walk away because only showers are available. Where do you wash your kids?”
A Home’s Bathroom Count
“Bathroom count and bathroom size-full, three-quarters or half-are extremely important to all my buyers. More family quarrels occur when the bathroom accommodations don’t fit the family’s needs, and my buyers are very aware of that,” Bishop says.
Sharing a bathroom with someone else, especially teenagers is not the ideal situation. The number of bathrooms in a home is very important to most buyers. In fact, the number of bathrooms are almost as important as the number of bedrooms in a home.
Whether you are planning to remodel or planning to sell your home, the amount and size of your bathroom does matter. If you are in the market to purchase or sell a home, contact your local real estate agent who can help you with the process.