Should I Buy a Starter Home in Today’s Market? A question about the viability of purchasing a starter home in today’s market was recently posed to us, and it boils down to this: Should you invest now in a starter home or would it be more prudent to wait and save for your forever home? Let’s […]
Lock In Your Interest Rate With This Great New Program Interest rates are on an upward trajectory, but not everyone can take advantage of the low rates we have now. I’m joined today by Mandi Henriod of Intercap Lending, who shared with us a great way buyers can lock in current interest rates. Let’s say rates […]
How to Buy Property Through a Partnership It’s always our goal to keep you educated about all things real estate so you can accomplish your buying, selling, and investment goals. Today we’ll be talking about how co-borrowers works in real estate. We’ve seen home values increase by over 30% in the last five years, and […]
A Wasatch Front Market Update What’s the latest news from our Wasatch Front market as we move further along into 2019? To answer that question, let’s first compare the statistics from the fourth quarter of 2018 with 2017’s fourth quarter. Home sales dropped 7% from just over 9,600 to 8,994. The average sale price, meanwhile, […]
A Guide to the Tax Benefits of Homeownership A quick note before we begin today’s topic: We’re not tax professionals here at the Stern Team, so please be sure to meet with a qualified CPA for more details. If you don’t know one, we’re happy to refer one whom we trust completely to you. Every four years, […]
Will I Pay Less Commission If I Find My Own Buyer? There’s a misconception among many sellers out there that any commission they pay to their Realtor will be reduced if they’re able to secure a buyer on their own. At the heart of the real estate transaction, the goal is to obviously find a […]
What Does Reduced Home Affordability Mean for You? Home affordability is shrinking rapidly, according to research by Arch Mortgage Insurance. In the first quarter, affordability (defined as the size of the monthly mortgage payment needed to buy a home) dropped by 5%. This was mainly due to the increase in mortgage rates. As a consequence, more people […]
The Benefits of Buying and Selling in Winter For today’s topic, we’re going to discuss the benefits of buying or selling in the winter. Contrary to what you might think, the passing of the summer season doesn’t necessarily equate to stagnation in the market now. There are great tax advantages to buying or selling […]
Why Do Deals Fall Apart? Unfortunately, real estate deals don’t always make it all the way through closing. There are a number of reasons they can fall apart, and today we’d like to share five such reasons: 1. The buyer and/or seller encountered pre-contract problems. This includes issues like a lowball offer, an extensive list of […]
Watch Out For These Real Estate Scams It can be a scary world out there—though a majority of people are good and honest, some like to try taking advantage of others. The real estate market is no exception, so today we’ll be looking at the scams we want to make sure you’re aware of: 1. […]
9 Reasons Our Real Estate Market Is Not Headed for Another Crash Despite some concern, a market crash isn’t imminent, and there are nine reasons why. 1. There are many differences between the market of 2005 and the market of today. In 2005, for example, subprime loans totaled more than $620 billion and comprised about 20% […]
How Does the Wasatch Front Market Look Right Now? Today we’re excited to share our third quarter market statistics for the Wasatch Front. These numbers are through October 4 of 2018 and we’ll be comparing them to the numbers that we saw through October 5 of 2017. As for home sales, they’re relatively stable and […]
3 Reasons to Sell Your Home This Fall Our goal is to keep you educated about all things real estate so that you have the ability to make great decisions when it comes to your own home buying, selling, or investing goals. Today’s topic is why fall is a great time to sell a property. […]
Key Facts About Home Inspections To understand how a home inspection benefits you as a buyer, you need to first understand what a home inspector does and what’s all included in a home inspection. First, although you can choose your own home inspector here in Utah, they aren’t actually required to be licensed in our […]
7 Signs You’re Ready to Sell How do you know if it’s the right time to sell? If this is something you’ve been wondering lately, we’ve got some good news: It’s a great market for sellers right now. Limited inventory continues to drive up home prices, and the latest data from the National Association of […]
5 Ways to Speed Up Your Home Selling Process So you’ve decided to sell your house, and you can’t wait to buy a new place. However, there’s just one thing standing in the way: You’ve got to close the deal on your current home first. You hope it doesn’t take months to get an offer, […]
How to Invest in Real Estate With a Self-Directed IRA Did you know that you can use self-directed IRAs to purchase investment property? It’s true. The IRS permits retirement accounts like IRAs to invest in real estate, among other options. There are a lot of advantages to using a self-directed IRA, or a solo 401(k) […]
Do Not Be Afraid to Disclose Everything When You Sell Your Home I want to talk to you today about the seller’s disclosure. First and foremost, do not be afraid of the seller’s disclosure. State and federal laws are strict in requiring sellers to disclose what they know about the condition of their homes, but […]
A Year-Over-Year Snapshot of Our 2nd Quarter Market What’s the latest news from our Wasatch Front market? Here are the latest year-over-year numbers from our second quarter through June 21. Over 11,000 homes have sold so far, which is nearly a 5% increase compared to the 10,500 that sold during 2017’s second quarter. We also saw […]
What 10 Maintenance Tips Should Every Utah Homeowner Know? There are 10 home repair and maintenance tips that every Utah homeowner should know, and I’d like to share this list with you today. 1. Change your furnace filter every three months. This will extend the lifespan of your furnace and will also keep it running more […]
How to Compete and Win as a Buyer in a Seller’s Market Sometimes, homebuyers wonder if it’s even worth trying to compete over homes in a hot seller’s market. When there is very little inventory in the market, it isn’t unusual for a single property to receive upwards of 20 offers. And only one buyer […]
How Has the Market Been Doing This Year? My goal is to keep you educated about all things real estate so that you have the ability to make great decisions when it comes to your own home selling, buying, and investing goals. With that in mind, I want to talk to you today about the […]
What’s Going on With Interest Rates? Today I want to tell you the truth about interest rates and how they affect home sellers and buyers in the current market. Interest rates have been on the rise over the last couple of months, and we shouldn’t be surprised by this. In fact, most experts have been predicting […]
Feeling Uncertain After Your Home Purchase? Here’s My Advice With each and every home that I’ve purchased, I’ve gone through this period of cold sweats that we in the industry call “homebuyer’s remorse.” It’s very likely that you may experience it too. So what can you do about it? First, create a list of your top […]
How Should You Prepare Before You List? If you plan on selling your home this year, there are a couple things you must do to prepare. Every market is different, but these tips will certainly apply regardless of your area. 1. Add a fresh coat of paint. Buyers these days begin their search online, so you […]
How to Freshen Your Home up After the Winter Months Spring’s nearly here and as a homeowner, it’s an exciting time to get your home ready. Many parts of the house might have been neglected or unused over the winter since you’re staying inside for most of the season, so it’s important to get out […]
7 Reasons to Invest in Real Estate in 2018 There are many reasons why 2018 is going to be a great market for real estate investing. Here are the top seven reasons to invest in the Wasatch Front real estate market: 1. Strong economic indicators. The 2018 economy looks sunny-side up. For all you novice and […]
What Makes Us Johnson and Johnson’s Preferred Real Estate Team? We’re proud to be able to share another great endorsement for The Josh Stern, this time from Tommy and Joe Johnson of the “Johnson & Johnson” morning radio show. Here’s a snippet of what they had to say: “Josh sells a home, on average, almost […]
The Science of Success and the 6 Steps of Mastery Recently, I had the opportunity to act as a guest speaker on the Salt Lake Community College program “Bruin Voices.” Cited below for your convenience are timestamps which will direct you to various subjects I go over in the video above. Feel free to watch […]
2017 Report Card for Wasatch Front Real Estate I’ve got a report card to share with you today for the Wasatch Front real estate market in 2017. Let’s start with some of the numbers for single-family homes. Single-family home sales were down slightly in 2017. They dropped 3.5% from where they were in 2016 and […]
Thank You for Coming! Check out some footage from the event right here. Don’t forget to visit sternteamutah.com for more upcoming events. May the force be with you!
Happy Holidays From the Stern Team The holiday season has officially arrived. We hope you enjoy this wonderful time of year and make some fantastic memories with your family and friends. We just wanted to take a moment to thank you for your continued support. We love helping people make their real estate dreams come […]
What Are the Biggest Issues Facing Buyers Today? Purchasing a home for the first time is no easy task. Today, I’d like to share a list of the six biggest obstacles facing first-time homebuyers: 1. Down payment. Unless you’ve won the lottery or are independently wealthy, you’re probably going to need a mortgage. If you happen […]
3 Costly Mistakes to Avoid This Winter It’s that time of year, folks — winter is coming. It’s going to get cold. Now is the time to harvest what is left of your garden, winterize your sprinklers, and cozy up at home with your friends and family. That said, there are three huge mistakes that […]
The Top 10 Tips for Selling Your Salt Lake City Condo What are 10 helpful tips you can use to sell your condo? First, learn about the process of selling a condo in Salt Lake City. One of the biggest mistakes condo owners make when selling is thinking it’s the same as selling a single-family home, […]
How Should You Deal With a Low Appraisal? A home appraisal is a part of every home that is bought with financing. Low appraisals can happen for many reasons, including: -Artificially inflated values because of multiple offers-Incorrect evaluation by the underwriter-An inexperienced appraiser who doesn’t understand influences on value-Market values rising due to limited inventory-Appraisers […]
