“I have observed that not the man who hopes when others despair, but the man who despairs when others hope, is admired by a large class of persons as a sage.” – John Stuart Mill (1840s)
Our founder, Steve Harney, occasionally asks to do a personal post on what he sees as important to our industry. Today is one of those days. Enjoy! – The KCM Crew Yesterday, Zillow announced the acquisition of Trulia. Some industry experts are predicting the end of the real estate business as we know it. They […]
Some housing experts are concerned that the housing recovery seems to be stalling. Some are blaming the one percent increase in mortgage interest rates since the first quarter of last year. Others are pointing at an economy that is improving but only at a snail’s pace. Still, others are questioning whether homeownership is even considered […]
National Homeownership Month actually started as a week-long celebration of homeownership during the Clinton administration in 1995. In 2002, President George W. Bush proclaimed June as the National Homeownership Month. Here is an excerpt from his proclamation: “Homeownership is an important part of the American Dream…A home provides shelter and a safe place where families […]
Just like May flowers, every spring the housing market blossoms as buyers come out ready to purchase their dream house. This spring, we believe we are going to see the strongest purchasing market we have seen in a decade. Why are we so bullish on the housing market this spring? Here are a few reasons: […]
“Real estate sales have changed more in the last year than the prior 100 years. I needed a real estate agent in 1997. I didn’t have the password to the MLS.” – Daniel Pink, bestselling author of the book Drive at a real estate conference February 2014 There was a time when both buyers and sellers […]
The KCM Crew is happy to have Nikki Buckelew as our guest blogger again today. Nikki was inspired by KCM’s free eGuide, Unlocking the Secrets of Real Estate’s New Market Reality. Isn’t it cool when all the actions you have been taking begin to align and the dots connect in precisely the right way, leading […]
The members of the KCM Crew are big fans of branding guru Seth Godin. We are looking forward to seeing Seth deliver his Keynote address at the InfusionCon marketing conference in April in Arizona. Today, we want to share some of his thoughts on the real estate profession. In a blog post last week, Quality […]
There has been much speculation about what is causing the falling sales numbers in the most recent Existing Home Sales Reports (EHS) from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Some have claimed that rising interest rates have scared buyers out of the market. Others have claimed that consumers are just losing confidence in the housing […]
We are pleased to welcome Phil Georgiades as our guest blogger today. Phil is the Chief Loan Steward for VA Home Loan Centers, a veteran and active duty military services organization. – The KCM Crew VA loans are the most misunderstood mortgage program in America. Industry professionals and consumers often receive incorrect data when they inquire […]
There are many naysayers declaring that the housing market is still challenged. Young adults are burdened with too much student debt. Interest rate increases are killing demand. Homeownership is no longer seen as part of the American Dream. We just want to let these naysayers know three things: 13,945 houses sold yesterday, 13,945 will sell […]
Today we are pleased to welcome back Nikki Buckelew as our guest blogger. Nikki is the Founder and CEO of the Seniors Real Estate Institute. We already know from NAR that 1 in 4 home sales in 2012 involved a seller over the age of 65. It’s also no secret that the aging population is growing […]
There is no doubt that the consumer’s desire to access housing information through the internet will continue to increase throughout 2014. However, that doesn’t mean the value of the real estate agent has diminished. Inman News recently cited a NAR survey when they reported: “Use of the Internet among consumers in the home buying process […]
Home search will become a given to the real estate consumer in 2014. In order to differentiate themselves from other agents, real agents will need to bring strong, meaningful content to the table in all their offerings. And we are not talking just about more information. There’s a large gap between information and actionable knowledge. […]
Most experts are calling for an increase in mortgage interest rates in 2014. However, we believe the increase will be more dramatic than is being projected. We believe rates will be closer to 6% than 5% by year’s end. The Fed announced last month that they would be pulling back some of their stimulus package […]
With a dramatic increase in demand for housing expected this year, it will be up to real estate professionals and builders to make sure there is the necessary inventory to satisfy this demand. This will be a challenge for much of 2014. For a balanced real estate market, there should be approximately 5-6 months of […]
Many housing pundits are calling for home sales to do slightly better in 2014 than they did in 2013. To the contrary, we strongly believe that home sales will skyrocket with increases of 10-15% in 2014. Here are the three categories of buyers we believe will create this strong demand. The First Time Buyer The […]
Making predictions in what is still a somewhat volatile housing market can be tricky. That being said, we are going to give you what we believe will be the five biggest headlines for housing in 2014. Home Sales Will Surge Many housing pundits are calling for home sales to do slightly better in 2014 than […]
Today we are pleased to have Nikki Buckelew back as our guest blogger. Nikki is considered a leading authority on seniors real estate and housing. This past week I was reminded again about the visualization of the baby boomer generation looking much like a basketball making it’s way through a garden hose. With the first baby […]
The Fed announced they would be pulling back some of their stimulus package which has helped the housing market by keeping long term mortgage rates at historic lows for the last few years. This should come as no surprise as the KCM Blog has been warning of this likelihood over the last several months. We […]
Experts across the country are projecting that buyer demand will remain strong for the foreseeable future. Frank E. Nothaft, Chief Economist at Freddie Mac recently proclaimed: “We expect single-family home sales and housing starts to be at the highest level since 2007.” Due to this demand, taking quality listings will continue to be extremely important […]
