How Some States Are Helping First-Time Home Buyers Nice work Minnesota!

How Some States Are Helping First-Time Home Buyers

Nice work Minnesota!

Efforts to help potential first-time home buyers save for down payments using special tax-favored accounts have been gaining traction in state legislatures.

Three states passed legislation this year authorizing the accounts: Iowa, Minnesota and Mississippi. Three other states had previously approved them: Colorado, Montana and Virginia.

Down payment accounts may be helpful, said Adriann Murawski, state and local government affairs representative with the National Association of Realtors, because rising home prices have made it harder for buyers to come up with the money for them. The association and its state counterparts have actively promoted legislation creating the accounts as a way to help spur home buying.

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The #1 Reason to List Your House Today!

The #1 Reason to List Your House Today!

Many people believe that selling their house during “the spring buyers’ market” is the best thing to do. Their reasoning is that there will be more buyers than there are during the winter months and, therefore, their house will sell quicker and for a higher price.

Historically, this made sense. However, today’s real estate market is not following the rules of the past.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) measures buyer “foot traffic” each month. It receives data on the number of properties shown to a prospective purchaser by a Realtor® (based on the number of lockboxes used). The data reveals the number of buyers out actively looking for a home, not just window shopping on the internet. NAR explains:

“Foot traffic has a strong correlation with future contracts and home sales, so it can be viewed as a peek ahead at sales trends two to three months into the future.”

According to the latest Foot Traffic Report, buyer traffic is greater now than it was during this year’s spring market and there are more buyers out now than at any other time in the last five years (March of 2012).

The chart alongside shows that buyer activity over the last three months (blue bars) was greater than it was during this past spring market (green bars).

Bottom Line

If you are waiting for next spring to list your home because you think that’s when the buyers will be out in force, perhaps you should reconsider. Buyers are out right now!

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