Over the Fence News: South County
The one place to go for everything that is happening in South County real estate. Get market updates, home inventory, and tips for buying and selling your home.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
How is the market?
I get asked daily: how is the real estate market? Here is your monthly market snapshot for south county. There is an extreme shortage of inventory on the market right now. Active listings are down while closed sales and prices are climbing. As you can see in the graphs below the south county market and the real estate market as a whole is coming back very strong and with each month prices are steadily increasing. If you are thinking about selling a home NOW is the time. Once Spring gets here the market will be flooded with inventory and prices will plateau with simple supply and demand. Right now though inventory is very low so you have little to no competition on the market. If you have questions or want to know how much your home value has increased call me today at 314-277-2633 or email at Brinkmannrealestate@gmail.com with the subject Home Value.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
What direction is the market going?
The market is south St. Louis county is steadily improving. Buyers are out looking and interest rates are still low. That combined with the fact that inventory is still relatively low has caused prices to increase and homes to sell faster. Homes are selling on average about twice as fast as they did 3 years ago and prices are up almost $15,000 on average. The graph below shows the decline in average days on market for homes to sell and the increase is median sales price. If you are thinking of buying, selling or just want a free no obligation home valuation call me at 314-277-2633 or email me at Brinkmannrealestate@gmail.com.
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https://www.facebook.com/JBrinkmannRE-Like my business for market updates
Monday, January 19, 2015
Zillow Zestimate said my house was worth....
I know a lot of you love Zillow and also love to go and see what the
Zestimate says your home is worth. I get people everyday that say well I
already know what my home is worth because Zillow said it is valued at
"insert price". The problem with this is not only is real estate a very
localized industry where prices can vary from neighborhood to
neighborhood but to be honest Zillow is pretty far off a good percentage
of the time. The pictures below are directly off of Zillow's website
and if you wish you can pull them up yourself at the bottom of
Zillow.com under Zestimates.
If you look at the picture here you can see St. Louis does not have percentages listed here and the reason for that is that Zillow pulls straight from the tax assessor they do not use their own calculations in St. Louis. If you look above at the other cities though Zillow tells you that the median error is 10%. That means on a home worth $200,000 they are off by $20,000 on average. So half of the time they are more than $20,000 off of the sale price of your home. If we price your home more than $20,000 off you will not even get a buyer to come look at it. I know you are thinking that's true but that is in other cities St. Louis is not listed in that data. You are correct but look below and you will see the one star that Zillow gives St. Louis means they are using the tax assessor's records which Zillow, will tell you if you click on it and you can see from the picture, are less accurate than their calculations are.
So if Zillow is more than 10% off on your home's value half of the time and the records they provide for St. Louis are even more inaccurate you can see that a zestimate does not give you a good representation of your homes value. I hope you found this helpful and informational. Have a great week and feel free to email me at: Brinkmannrealestate@gmail.com or call me direct at 314-277-2633
If you look at the picture here you can see St. Louis does not have percentages listed here and the reason for that is that Zillow pulls straight from the tax assessor they do not use their own calculations in St. Louis. If you look above at the other cities though Zillow tells you that the median error is 10%. That means on a home worth $200,000 they are off by $20,000 on average. So half of the time they are more than $20,000 off of the sale price of your home. If we price your home more than $20,000 off you will not even get a buyer to come look at it. I know you are thinking that's true but that is in other cities St. Louis is not listed in that data. You are correct but look below and you will see the one star that Zillow gives St. Louis means they are using the tax assessor's records which Zillow, will tell you if you click on it and you can see from the picture, are less accurate than their calculations are.
So if Zillow is more than 10% off on your home's value half of the time and the records they provide for St. Louis are even more inaccurate you can see that a zestimate does not give you a good representation of your homes value. I hope you found this helpful and informational. Have a great week and feel free to email me at: Brinkmannrealestate@gmail.com or call me direct at 314-277-2633
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Are You Thinking of Selling?
If you are thinking of selling your home in 63128 now is the perfect time. Inventory levels continue to decline and home sales in 63128 have steadily increased. The lack of inventory and rise in sales has created steady increases in home values. If you are thinking of selling your home or just want a free no obligation home valuation call me today at 314-277-2633. Do something great today!
Inventory Levels vs. Number of Home Sales
Inventory Levels vs. Number of Home Sales
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Tuesday Market Update: Homes Sold Last Week
Here is the homes that have sold in the last week in the South County area. If you are curious what your neighbors home sold for you can find out here every week or go to jbrinkmann.buyrealestatestlouis.com. As always have a great week and let me help you with all of your South County real estate needs.
Monday Market Update: New Inventory
Here is the Monday morning market update. For our newer followers we do this every Monday and it consist of the homes that have come onto the market in the last week. If you need more information on any of these homes you can get more information at jbrinkmann.buyrealestatestlouis.com or call me at 314-277-2633. Have a great week!
Monday, February 24, 2014
Tax Time Tips
These days few things start a fight on Capitol Hill faster than taxes. Despite the fact that three important tax benefits used by millions of American homeowners are days from expiring, Congress is unlikely to do anything to re-up them any time soon.
So if you’re eligible, tax year 2013 is possibly the last time to claim the private mortgage insurance (PMI) deduction, the energy tax credit, and debt forgiveness benefit, all of which all expire on Dec. 31, 2013.
At least there’s one piece of good news for homeowners: If you have a home office, there’s a new, simpler option for calculating the home office deduction for which you may qualify on your 2013 taxes.
Meanwhile, here’s what you need to know about those expiring benefits as you ready your taxes:
PMI Deduction
This tax rule lets you deduct the cost of private mortgage insurance, which is what you pay your lender each month if you put down less than 20% on a home. PMI protects the lender if you default on the home loan. Your deduction could amount to a couple hundred dollars depending on your tax bracket and other factors.
Find out if you qualify for and how to take the PMI deduction.
Energy-Efficiency Upgrades
This sweet little tax credit lets you offset what you owe the IRS dollar-for-dollar for up to 10% of the amount you spent on certain home energy-efficiency upgrades, from insulation to water heaters. On the downside, the credit is capped at $500 (less in some cases). But on the bright side, the right improvement could lower your utility bills indefinitely.
Debt Forgiveness
When you go through a short sale, foreclosure, or deed-in-lieu, your lender typically lets you off the hook for some or all of what you owe on your mortgage.
That forgiven mortgage debt is income, on which you’d typically have to pay income tax.
Suppose you’re in financial distress and your lender agrees to let you short-sell your home, say for $50,000 less than you owe on the mortgage, and forgive you for the balance. Without the protection of the Mortgage Debt Forgiveness Act, you’ll owe income tax on that $50,000.
It’s likely if you had the money to pay income tax on $50,000, you’d have used it to pay your mortgage in the first place.
New Simplified Option for the Home Office Deduction
This may be the last year for the benefits above, but a new one kicks in for the 2013 tax year. If you work from home, you may qualify to use a new, simplified option for claiming the home office deduction when you file your 2013 taxes.
How much simpler is it? It lets you claim $5 per sq. ft. for up to 300 sq. ft. instead of having to compute the actual expenses of your home office using a 43-line form. To calculate the square footage of your office, just multiply the length of two walls. For example, an 8-by-10-foot room is 80 sq. ft. And at $5 per, that’s $400.
Although using the simplified option is obviously easier, the basic requirements for claiming the home office deduction haven’t changed. Your home office still must be used for business purposes:
· Exclusively, and
· On a regular basis
Why Might the Tax Benefits Not Be Renewed?
Although the expiring tax benefits were renewed retroactively in past years, that may not happen in 2014 because many in Congress would like to see comprehensive tax reform rather than scattershot renewals of individual provisions. This could delay a decision on the homeownership tax benefits until the big picture budget and tax issues are resolved.
So if you can, enjoy them now!
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