May 13, 2020 During this week’s Real Estate Roundup, Steve spoke with Terry Story, a 31-year veteran at Keller Williams, about how the real estate industry is adjusting to innovatively conduct business during the coronavirus pandemic. Realtors Getting Innovative Steve first asked Terry to talk about one big change in the real estate industry—big co…

May 6, 2020 During this week’s Real Estate Roundup, Steve spoke with Terry Story, a 31-year veteran at Keller Williams in Boca Raton, about what the process of buying and closing on a home sale looks like in the coronavirus environment. How Home Buying All right, so we start with a listed property. Terry explains, “I would have already made videos …

4/15/20 During this week’s Real Estate Roundup, Steve spoke with Terry Story, a 31-year veteran at Keller Williams, about the state of the real estate industry and how agents are being affected during a time when most states are under mandatory quarantine. The Rules Have Changed With the majority of the country in quarantine, the rules have changed…

During this week’s Real Estate Roundup, Steve spoke with Terry Story, a 31-year veteran at Keller Williams, about how overwhelming buying a home can feel for millennials. The two discussed some of the things that millennials need to know before buying a home. Buying A Home As A Millennial With the current state of the real estate marketplace being …

Door Terry Story

Door Terry Story

Door Terry Story

Door Terry Story

Door Terry Story

Door Terry Story

In this week’s Real Estate Roundup, Steve and Terry Story, who’s now got 31 years of experience with Keller Williams Realty in Boca Raton, had a conversation about selling your house quickly for cash. They also talked about the effects of aging baby boomers on the housing market. Sell Your House For Cash Today You’ve seen the signs on billboards or…

During this week’s Real Estate Roundup, Steve spoke with Terry Story, a 31-year veteran at Keller Williams about the rise in popularity of Airbnb, a company that allows people to open their homes like a hotel or bed and breakfast. The two discussed where in the country the most Airbnbs exist and the rules regulating them. They then talked about the…

During this week’s Real Estate Roundup, Steve spoke with Terry Story, a 31-year veteran at Keller Williams, about why it’s so important for real estate agents to look at the big picture to understand how the market is moving. They discussed how each realtor needs to examine their own inventory and how it’s selling in order to get a better understan…

During this week’s Real Estate Roundup, Steve spoke with Terry Story, a 31-year veteran at Keller Williams about the cyclical nature of the housing market. Just like the stock market, the real estate industry is cyclical, with housing prices oscillating back and forth between periods of rising prices and falling prices. Terry and Steve talked about…

During this week’s Real Estate Roundup, Steve spoke with Terry Story, a 31-year veteran at Keller Williams about some important and interesting terms in the real estate industry. These terms are often simplified into acronyms to make them easier to remember. Understanding what these terms mean is important for you if you’re buying or thinking about…

In this week’s Real Estate Roundup, Steve and Terry Story, a 31-year veteran at Keller Williams, looked closely at what types of repairs homes often need when they go up for sale. It’s important for you, as a home buyer, to understand what is reasonable to ask the seller to fix and which repairs might be easier and less expensive to fix on your own…

In this week’s Real Estate Roundup, Steve spoke with Terry Story, 31-year veteran at Keller Williams Realty, about how low-interest rates are significantly shrinking the already dwindling home inventory, creating upward pressure on home prices. Steve and Terry talked about what this all means for home buyers and how to avoid unnecessary problems th…

Steve spoke with Terry Story, a 30-year veteran at Keller Williams. During this week’s Real Estate Roundup, Terry and Steve talked about permits that homeowners have, what open and expired permits are, and why they can cause problems for homeowners looking to sell their home and for realtors assisting them. Open Permits Can Sneak Up On Homeowners W…

Terry Story, 30-year Keller Williams veteran and all-around fun person to talk to, had some thoughts on recouping a remodeling investment. Remodel Now Or Later? When considering a remodel, Terry advised thinking ahead. Will a remodel allow the current owners to sell the house to new owners? Not if the remodelers go nuts. Remodeling for resale also …

In this week’s real estate roundup, Steve spoke with Terry Story, 30-year veteran at Keller Williams, about the importance of real estate agents building relationships with builders and construction companies and what these relationships mean for homebuyers. Having Someone On Your Side There are a ton of builders and major companies constructing en…

Steve talked with Terry Story, a 30-year veteran at Keller Williams, about the current state of the larger (macro) real estate market. They discussed prices and how prices affect the market and vice versa. Terry also noted the key factors that help to explain whether the real estate market favors home buyers, home sellers, or both. Home Sales Are O…

Steve spoke with Terry Story, a 30-year veteran at Keller Williams. In this installment of the weekly Real Estate Roundup, Steve and Terry talked about why now is a great time to buy a home. The big takeaway is there are several future advantages to buying your dream home now. Fixed Mortgage Rates One of the biggest advantages to buying your home n…

Terry Story joined us once more for our weekly round-up of everything related to the real estate market. The section began with a talk about rising water levels and how these have been impacting on real estate prices in some parts of the country. Terry noted that the biggest falls have been Ocean City, New Jersey, followed by Miami Beach. She comme…

Millennials Are Dominating The Market Today, more first-time buyers are millennials than ever before. Millennials are now essentially dominating the market, playing a very important role in real estate sales. The biggest reason for this? The majority of them are of the age where they are beginning to form households, getting married, and having chi…

Emotional Support Animals The discussion then moved on to emotional support animals These supportive pets are an extremely important part of many disabled person’s lives, but Terry believes that many people are abusing the system and disturbing other homeowners with an animal that isn’t really justified. Steve and Terry had a good laugh about the p…

A Softening Of The Market The share of homes sold at or above listed price dropped to 31% in March, from a peak that was around 40%. Many agents were pricing a little lower in order to get multiple offers. The market has continued to retract, to soften, since March which is a sign of the shift to more of a buyers’ market. However, less than being a…

We were delighted to welcome Terry Story on to the show again to discuss the latest news in the world of real estate. And there were some positive signs in the market once again this week with real evidence that housing prices continue to experience an upturn. Nationwide Upturn A recent article noted that prices of homes have increased by nearly $5…

Lowball Offer On House Today’s talk with Boca Raton real estate agent Terry Story begins with a question from Steve about the wisdom of making a lowball offer on a home you’re interested in buying. Terry states unequivocally that lowball offers are a bad idea all the way around, particularly in today’s seller’s market when a majority of listed prop…

Remodel Now Or Later? When considering a remodel, Terry advised thinking ahead. Will a remodel allow the current owners to sell the house to new owners? Not if the remodelers go nuts. Remodeling for resale also has to take time as a factor. Enhancing the kitchen now and putting the home up for sale? Good idea. Enhancing the kitchen now and putting …

What Can You Do About Difficult Neighbors Speaking of condos, Terry stated that an association had the ability to stop an owner’s plans for home renovations while a neighbor did not. If a neighbor one story above a condo wanted to replace carpet floors with laminate tiles, for example, an association could halt their plans while the annoyed neighbo…

The Price Is… Right? Terry then considered the fine art of ideally pricing a home. Since 60 percent of homes sell for less than the asking price, Terry argued that the right listing can lead to interested buyers paying above that asking price. The trick rests with finding that right amount; ask too much and people will wonder why a house has been o…

When The Final Offer Really Is Final A new rule states that a buyer making an offer can request confirmation from the seller’s broker that the seller has actually seen the offer. Terry confirmed that that can be done only if the offer was done in writing and if it has, the listing agent must then provide written documentation to the cooperating bro…

First Offer Is Usually The Best In closing, Terry says the first offer is usually the best offer. If the home is priced right, especially in this softening housing market, motivated buyers will pay fair price, barring the few who come in with ridiculous low-ball offers. (019)Door Terry Story

#1 Interest Rates And The Economy In its last meeting of the year, the Federal Reserve bumped up interest rates and projected two more rate hikes in 2019. Slightly higher interest rates and talk of a slowing economy could make mortgages less affordable and increase the financial burden on those who qualify. (012)…

Home Affordability Math Steve notes that for the 2018 housing market, mortgage rates were near historic lows. In the early 2000s, mortgage rates were close to 8%. Now they are under 5%. While lower rates help, higher home prices bite into affordability. (1226)Door Terry Story

Luxury Homeowners Are Downsizing Changing gears, Steve refers to a Business Insider article about a Palm Beach real estate agent who is surprised by her multimillionaire clients’ requests to downsize their homes. (1219)Door Terry Story

Shutdown And The For Sale Sign Terry considered some of the ongoing partial government shutdown’s effects on real estate, noting that while flood insurance presented no concern, loans with the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) would be affected due to employee furloughs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD contingency pl…

2019 Housing Forecast As 2018 draws to a close, Real Estate Round-Up looks at the 2019 housing forecast, the outlook for mortgage rates, and millennial home buying, and answers a listener’s question on what to do with a real estate inheritance. (1212)Door Terry Story

Fixer-Uppers To keep mortgage expenses down, consider buying a fixer-upper home. But don’t do so blindly. First, figure out what the home needs to be habitable, safe, and comfortable. Examine the home’s structural needs. For instance, does it need new plumbing, a new roof, or other must-haves? In addition, look at cosmetic changes such as a new pai…

Rise In Sales Of Million-Dollar Homes While home sales are flattening, Terry notes that sales of homes priced at or above $1 million have risen by 400,000 across the U.S., to a total of about three million nationally. This represents close to 4% of the overall market. (1121)Door Terry Story

Why Homeowners Think Their Homes Are Worth More Than The Market Price It amuses Terry no end that homeowners believe their homes are worth more than recent comps. So she always makes it a point to ask them what they think their home is worth and why. Inevitably, they cite the research they’ve done at various websites and how much they’ve spent on m…

Mortgage Rates Still Low By Historical Standards Steve kicks off Real Estate Round-Up with a focus on mortgage rates. He notes, with significant satisfaction, that he bought a house five years ago with a 3.75% rate on a 30-y mortgage. Terry adds that mortgage rates are currently in the 4.5% range, so they are still low by historical standards. That…

Rising Sea Levels Wallop Property Prices Where once beachfront property was considered prime real estate, rising sea levels are changing things dramatically. Homes in eight U.S. states have lost $14.1 billion in market value due to rising sea levels, rising river levels, floods, etc. Florida leads the pack in almost every category. The other states…

Non-Bank Mortgage Lenders In the past, if you wanted a mortgage, you’d go to a bank. But today, non-banking financial institutions have entered the mortgage-lending business. As a result, it’s much easier to get a mortgage loan today. In her own experience, Terry Story finds that getting loans from non-bank mortgage lenders is far easier, quicker, …

Home Buyers Want Property Photos Removed Some home buyers are concerned that pictures of their homes and properties continue to stay on real estate websites long after the sale has closed. They cite privacy and security issues. Often, homeowners’ requests for removal go unheeded. (919)Door Terry Story

Single-Family Homes We are familiar with the term, single-family homes. Yet, only a few know what that means. Terry defines single family homes as ones that: share no walls with neighboring homes have their own dedicated kitchen, not shared with any other home own the land that they sit on have private direct access to a street or a thoroughfare ha…

Mortgage Fraud Up 12.4% A recent report from CoreLogic shows a 12.4 percent year-over-year increase in mortgage fraud risk for the second quarter of 2018. The report notes that the fraud risk index has steadily climbed over the past seven quarters and that those states with heavy outside investment are at risk for significantly higher mortgage frau…

A recent CoreLogic report on April 2018 home prices, highlights 12 markets with the largest annual increases. This distinction could mean there is a danger of a housing bubble. CoreLogic defines an overvalued market as one where home prices are at least 10% above long-term sustainable levels. Conversely, an undervalued market is one where home pric…

Here’s how you can protect yourself. Before you go to see a property for sale or rent, do an online search on its owner. If you meet someone at the house, ask the person you’re meeting for a copy of their driver’s license. If they claim to be an agent, ask them for the owner’s name and number. This way, you’ll know if you’re dealing with the owner …

Recent tariffs on lumber imports from Canada will increase construction costs by $9,000 per home. Additionally, tariffs on steel, aluminum, and other raw materials, will add to cost. Overall, Trump’s tariffs could increase construction costs by about $10,000 per home, on average. (718)Door Terry Story