Housing News
Homeowner regrets: most wish they’d gone bigger
With current housing conditions, buyers are forced into making quick decisions, which can lead to homeowner regrets. What regrets do current homeowners have? Trulia has the answer.
Homeowner regrets and other sentiments
As with any major purchase, there is typically something different most people would do if they had another shot at their investment. Trulia surveyed thousands of Americans to discover their regrets and note that with tight inventory levels, buyer regrets may increase as home shoppers are having to “scramble in order to try to win tough bidding wars” in most major cities, “putting them at risk of making real estate mistakes they will regret.”
A common theme of the top regrets is Americans not investing enough in their home. Top regrets include choosing a home that’s too small, renters wishing they had bought instead of renting, homeowners regretting not remodeling more, and not being financially secure.
When comparing homeowners to renters, renters are more likely to have housing regrets, as were Millennial homeowners who are far more likely to have housing regrets than homeowners age 55 or older – 75 percent versus 36 percent.
Homeowner regrets vs. renter regrets
Main housing regret is lack of investment
Trulia’s Chief Economist, Dr. Jed Kolko said, “Although the recession, tight credit, and foreclosures have lowered homeownership in America, people would still buy – and buy big – if they could. Many current renters wish they had bought, but very few current homeowners wish they had rented.”
“Furthermore,” Dr. Kolko added, “homeowners are three times more likely to wish they had purchased a larger home than a smaller home. Even after the housing crisis, Americans’ main housing regrets are that they didn’t invest more in their homes.”
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Housing News
Average age of houses on the rise, so is it now better or worse to buy new?
With aging housing in America, are first-time buyers better off buying new or existing homes? The average age of a home is rising, as is the price of new housing, so a shift could be upon us.
The average home age is higher than ever
(REALUOSO.COM) – In a survey from the Department of Housing and Urban Development American Housing Survey (AHS), the median age of homes in the United States was 35 years old. In Texas, homes are a bit younger with the median age between 19 – 29 years. The northeast has the oldest homes, with the median age between 50 – 61 years. In 1985, the median age of a home was only 23 years.
With more houses around 40 years old, the National Association of Realtors asserts that homeowners will have to undertake remodeling and renovation projects before selling unless the home is sold as-is, in which case the buyer will be responsible to update their new residence. Even homeowners who aren’t selling will need to consider remodeling for structural and aesthetic reasons.
Prices of new homes on the rise
Newer homes cost more than they used to. The price differential between new homes and older homes has increased from 10 percent traditionally to around 37 percent in 2014. This is due to rising construction costs, scarcity of lots, and a low inventory of new homes that doesn’t meet the demand.
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Housing News
Are Realtors the real loser in the fight between Zillow Group and Move, Inc.?
The last year has been one of dramatic and rapid change in the real estate tech sector, but Realtors are vulnerable, and we’re worried.
Why Realtors are vulnerable to these rapid changes
(REALUOSO.COM) – Corporate warfare demands headlines in every industry, but in the real estate tech sector, a storm has been brewing for years, which in the last year has come to a head. Zillow Group and Move, Inc. (which is owned by News Corp. and operates ListHub, Realtor.com, TopProducer, and other brands) have been competing for a decade now, and the race has appeared to be an aggressive yet polite boxing match. Last year, the gloves came off, and now, they’ve drawn swords and appear to want blood.
Note: We’ll let you decide which company plays which role in the image above.
So how then, does any of this make Realtors the victims of this sword fight? Let’s get everyone up to speed, and then we’ll discuss.
1. Zillow poaches top talent, Move/NAR sues
It all started last year when the gloves came off – Move’s Chief Strategy Officer (who was also Realtor.com’s President), Errol Samuelson jumped ship and joined Zillow on the same day he phoned in his resignation without notice. He left under questionable circumstances, which has led to a lengthy legal battle (wherein Move and NAR have sued Zillow and Samuelson over allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of trade secrets), with the most recent motion being for contempt, which a judge granted to Move/NAR after the mysterious “Samuelson Memo” surfaced.
Salt was added to the wound when Move awarded Samuelson’s job to Move veteran, Curt Beardsley, who days after Samuelson left, also defected to Zillow. This too led to a lawsuit, with allegations including breach of contract, violation of corporations code, illegal dumping of stocks, and Move has sought restitution. These charges are extremely serious, but demanded slightly less attention than the ongoing lawsuit against Samuelson.
2. Two major media brands emerge
Last fall, the News Corp. acquisition of Move, Inc. was given the green light by the feds, and this month, Zillow finalized their acquisition of Trulia.
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Brian Hickey
April 17, 2013 at 10:23 am
According to my calculator, that means 61% of the homeowners surveyed prefer bigger with new(er) amenities…..thought the trend was for smaller and more modest? Lot’s of mixed messages in the market…
JoeLoomer
April 19, 2013 at 7:50 am
Inventory levels here – although slightly tighter than the same time last year – are still at Buyers Market levels. I suspect that 42% of tenants who wish they’d bought is hyper-local.
Navy Chief, Navy Pride