Happy holidays! It's that magical week between Christmas & New Year's Eve when there's NO traffic on Los Angeles freeways, and everyone is catching up with friends & family enjoying some down time from the daily grind marathon called life!
All of my trusted market analyst sources have been gearing up for 2014 and I'd like to share a few predictions with you....
1. The Real Estate market in 2014 will most likely be kinder to well qualified Buyers! More homes to choose from & more strict lending guidelines will thin out the competition some and all the Sellers looking to capitalize on the raise in pricing should help to loosen up the inventory creating a more favorable environment for the motivated qualified Buyer!
2. Uncertainty in the lending market is CERTAIN! With the whole "Qualified Mortgage" coming into play, there are a lot of unknown factors in the lending game. One of the biggest changes with "QM" is the qualifying debt to income ratios that will be lowered so folks who squeaked by in 2013 obtaining loans with 45% & even 50% debt to income ratios would no longer qualify for their loans. This is a big deal folks, effecting the entire middle class entry & mid level buyers. Loans that do not fit the "QM" guidelines will be limited to the very wealthy, not the masses.
3. Rates are going UP in 2014! I predict that we will see rates in the low to mid 5% range as early as the first quarter of 2014. As the Federal Government begins to taper back their billions in bond purchases each month, we will inevitably see rates begin to rise! The bright side of this is that rising rates are indicative of a healthier economy & come on folks, 5% is STILL HISTORICALLY a fabulous rate!!! Even my own home is financed at 5.2% for another 20 years & I was ELATED to get that low rate 8 years ago! We didn't want to add years to our loan just to take advantage of .75% on the rate earlier this year so we stayed put and remain thankful for our "low" rate!
Wishing you and yours health, wealth, happiness, love, good friendships, and laughter in 2014!!
This is my last post of 2013, see you all next year!!!