Florida Home Finder Real Estate Blog - July, 2022

Why Home Loans Today Aren't What They Were In The Past

In today's housing market, many are beginning to wonder if we're returning to the riskier lending habits and borrowing options that led to the housing crash 15 years ago. Let's ease those concerns. Several times a year, the Mortgage Bankers Association releases an index titled the Mortgage Credit Availability Index. Basically, the index determines how easy it is to get a mortgage. The higher the index, the more available mortgage credit becomes. As the graph shows, the index stood at about 400 in 2004. Mortgage credit became more available as the housing market heated up. And then the index passed 850 in 2006.

When the real estate market crashed, mortgages became impossible to secure. Thankfully, lending standards had eased somewhat since then…

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Things To Avoid After Applying For A Home Loan

Once you've applied for a mortgage to buy a home, there are some key things to keep in mind. While it's an exciting time to start thinking about moving in and decorating, be careful when it comes to making any big purchases. Hey, I'm Andy with the Mandel team at RE/MAX. Here's my list of things not to do when getting a mortgage.

Number one don't deposit, large sums of cash. Lenders need to source your money, and cash isn't easily traceable. Your money needs to be vested in your account for 60 days before buying, otherwise you'll likely have to provide letters stating where the money came from and the bank might have to trace it.

Number two, don't make any large purchases or apply for new credit. It's not just home related purchases that could…

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Can You Still Get 4% Interest Rates In 2022?

Are you a buyer who wants to buy a house here in 2022, but you don't wanna pay these crazy high interest rates that you're seeing today in the sixes? What if I told you that there was a way to get an interest rate in the 4% range still in 2022? What if you're a seller? And you're thinking about putting your home on the market and you're worried about, "Well, is this market shifting and am I gonna be able to sell?" Or maybe your home is on the market and you're having a hard time selling it with these new higher interest rates. Hey, I'm Andy Mandel with the Mandel Team at RE/MAX. And today I want to talk to you about a loan product called a 2/1 buydown, what it means for buyers, what it means for sellers, how it differs from an adjustable rate…

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Home Price Deceleration Doesn't Mean Home Price Depreciation

Experts in the real estate industry use a number of terms when they talk about what's happening with home prices. And some of those words sound a bit similar but mean very different things. Hey, it's Andy with The Mandel Team at RE/MAX. And to help you clarify what's happening with home prices and where experts say they're going, let's look at a few terms that you may hear. Appreciation is when home prices increase, depreciation is when home prices decrease but deceleration is when prices continue to appreciate but at a slower pace, you've probably seen that home prices have skyrocketed in the past two years but homes were actually appreciating long before that.

Home prices over the long term have only gone up and inflation usually increases…

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Is the housing market correcting?

If you're following the news, all of the headlines about conditions in the current housing market today may leave you with more questions than answers. Is the boom over? Is the market crashing or correcting? Hey, it's Andy Mandel with the Mandel Team at RE/MAX. And here's what you need to know. The housing market is moderating compared to the last two years. But what everyone needs to remember is that the past two years were record breaking in nearly every way: record low mortgage rates, millennials reaching peak home buying years, and the mass work-from-home opportunities that became normal led to an influx of buyer demand.

At the same time, there weren't enough homes available to purchase thanks to many years of underbuilding and sellers were…

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South Florida Housing Market Update [July 2022]

Hey, it's Andy with the Mandel team at RE/MAX. I'm here to give you your July 2022 Housing Market Update. As always for the purposes of these videos, we're gonna be going over the leading indicators of where the real estate market is headed, not where it's been. And when we do these videos, we're specifically focusing on Boca, Parkland and Coral Springs. Those are the areas where our team does the predominant amount of our business. And we're gonna be talking about single family homes only. No condos, no townhouses, no 55 and overs, and no country clubs. So let's get into it.

The first stat we like to look at is the number of new listings hitting the market. Now there's a big divergence. The number of new listings was up 36% in Boca, but it was…

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Get To Know Us!

Hi, I'm Andy Mandel with the Mandel Team at Remax. And I work with buyers, sellers, investors, landlords, and tenants. Our team has over 50 years of combined real estate experience and we sell over 200 homes per year. We are experts in navigating, the sometimes tricky, real estate sales process and we can help overcome any potential issues that might happen during your home buying or selling process.

Whether you're a first time buyer or seller or a seasoned real estate investor, we've got your back. Our reputation in the business will help you get your offer accepted in multiple offer situations. And our marketing plan is second to none. Helping sellers consistently set neighborhood record prices in any market condition. If you're looking to buy…

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What Are the Best Options for Today’s First-Time Homebuyers?

If you're looking to buy your first home, you're likely balancing several factors, because both mortgage rates are up almost 3% in 2022, and home prices have continued to rise this year. It costs more to buy a house now, than it did even just a few months ago. But that doesn't mean you have to put your plans on hold. We can help you put together a plan to navigate this real estate market and find the home you're looking for. Here are two tips to help you get started.

Number one. Be open to homes that need some updating. Most buyers want turnkey, move in-ready homes, but those are not as common as you might like. Even when you find one, the competition will still likely be higher and you're paying more money for the house. Just because the…

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Cash Guarantee!

Have you been looking for a home and wanna have the ability to buy a house all cash? Fairway Mortgage, as one of our preferred lenders, has a new program called the Fairway Cash Guarantee. Hi, I'm Andy Mandel with The Mandel Team at RE/MAX, and I'm excited to announce a new solution to a common problem in the real estate industry today. Here's Scott to explain how the Fairway program works.

The Fairway Cash Guarantee will enable you to compete with cash offers, and it'll also put your offer ahead of other financed offers. Here's how it works. We start off by completing the Fairway Advantage pre-approval, in which we do a full underwrite on you upfront before you go out and start looking at homes and making offers. We will review all of your…

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