Will We Close the Gap?

 

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a Fantastic 2023 !

       Cathy & Jim Higgins along with Dixie Lily.

What makes a House a Home?

 

Question: As a Realtor What do you think is the difference between a house and a home?

Answer: How many times have you thought about all the places you have lived over your lifetime? Christmas at home with your parents when you were allowed to open one present before Christmas eve dinner and the excitement that brought? You remember the living room with the tree you decorated with your parents, which looked so warm and festive in that cozy room. The memory of that home is still special to you today.

Maybe it was that attic apartment above the corner grocery store, where every time the milk cooler door closed, you could hear it loud and clear.

How about your first home where the Kitchen was so small that you and your spouse took turns when you needed to enter it?

So many memories that put a smile on your face. That’s why memories are so special. Whether it’s remembering a loved one that has passed or the memory of living in a home that brought back happy feelings of an earlier part of your life.

Those special memories of our past are part of the process for keeping us happy. Although, we should never live in the past, it will always be a part of who we are.

Maybe driving past a previous home and remembering when your daughter fell off the bike on that driveway, skinning her knee and wanting a hug from you so the hurt would go away.                                                              

The basketball hoop on your garage where you taught your son or daughter to do layups.

Remembering the home where you read, “Twas the night before Christmas” to your children and that priceless look in their eyes.

It’s really not the act that you remember, it’s the feeling of that moment that you will never forget.

So, when you are at your home with those special people in your life, drinking your spiced coffee and hot chocolate, turn off that TV and talk about those special moments in your life that are etched in your mind.          

I guarantee there will be laughs and some happy tears!

This is what makes a house, a home.

After all, Tis the season to remember, that we're never far from home.

Local Market Conditions

Mortgage rates have fallen a bit to around 6.5- 7%. 

We just sold 2 homes in Lansing rather quickly, so there are still buyers out there.

Home prices have stabilized but the homes that need more work have actually dropped in value.

The mortgage market is showing signs of stability, according to the mortgage banker association.  (MBA).

• Mortgage applications plunged through the first 11 months of the year as rising interest rates cooled off the housing market — but they've stabilized in recent weeks.

By the numbers: Mortgage Applications rose 3.2% last week, compared with a week earlier, the MBA reported today.

What the MBA is saying: “The ongoing moderation in home-price growth, along with further declines in mortgage rates, may encourage more buyers to return to the market in the coming months.

There are 3 scenarios we are watching:

1. If interest rates rise further, there will be less qualified buyers and home prices will fall as a result.

2. Sellers panicking about the market will try to sell and create a high supply of inventory.

This will lead to high supply and low demand which is the formula for falling prices.

3. If interest rates are low enough for an ample amount of qualified buyers, it will keep the real estate market healthy.

Based on our experience we believe that option 3 will prevail.

The key to having your home sell before your competition in a normal real estate market is to keep your home looking attractive and well cared for. These are the homes that sell first.

Official Winner of the Best Pizza in the area!

 Top 5 Area Pizza's according to Cathy & Jim:

5. Langel's thin crust.

4.  Doreen's thin crust.

3.  Sanfratello's thin crust.

2.  Arrenello's

1.  Lou Malnati's deep dish.

 Question: Have you had any haunted experiences showing vacant homes?

Answer: A colleague of mine told us this story of what happened to him earlier in his career. He was doing an open house in a vacant home built in the 1940’s. The previous owner had recently died. The family was selling the estate. At the conclusion of the open house, he began shutting off the lights. He was alone — or so he thought. As reached the main level, he saw a dark figure walking towards the main bedroom. 

A chill ran down his spine because he only had two people show up to the open house, and he saw both drive away. He went into the main bedroom, and no one was there. He checked every room in the house. There was nothing.

He said he was a bit shaken because he knew he saw something. As he went to the door to leave, it was locked, and it would not open. By this time, he was very concerned. As he went to the other door, the dark figure of that slumped man walking away reappeared. The dark man disappeared down the hall. 

He attempted to open the other door and it too was locked. He said he never locked any doors because it was an open house. He tried windows and they would not open.

He said he then heard a crash from the other bedroom. His fear made him follow the noise that sounded like a vase had fallen and broken. 

When he reached the bedroom, he felt a cold chill in the air. Written on the wall of the bedroom in a very eerie looking print, was the sentence: “This is my house.”                                                                       

He said he did not see these words on the wall when he walked through the home many times previous.

As he went back downstairs, he checked the door again. This time it opened. He went to the other door, and it too was now open. He left the home quickly and saw that black figure of a slumped man walking outside towards an outbuilding.

The owners said they did not come to the open house. There was something wrong and he wanted no part of it. He eventually dropped the listing. He said the home never sold and still stands vacant and in badly deteriorating condition.

Lansing Median Sales Price

 Another indication of a market slowdown.