Real Estate Market - St Louis Real Estate News

Mortgage Interest Rates Lower Today Than A Year Ago To The Surprise of Many

By Dennis Norman, on July 18th, 2014

Mortgage interest rates, in spite of predications to the contrary by many, are actually lower today than a year ago, according to the latest date available from Fredde Mac. According to Freddie Mac, the U.S. average interest rate for a 30 year mortgage was 4.15 percent on July 10, 2014, down significantly from July 11, 2013 when the average 30 year mortgage rate was 4.51 percent.

As the interactive chart below from the St Louis Fed Reserve shows, mortgage interest rates have definitely risen from the historic lows we say in 2012 and part of 2013 however are still lower Continue Reading →

St Louis’ HOTTEST Real Estate Markets This Month

By Dennis Norman, on July 16th, 2014

St Louis’ Hottest Real Estate Markets for this month has a new city at the top of the Hot Markets list, Glendale! Glendale, with a market action index of 50 (anything above a 30 is a sellers market, 60 is the highest it can go) is number 1 on the list followed closely by last month’s #1 neighborhood, the 63021 zip of Ballwin with a 49.

In terms of inventory of homes for sale, the list is pretty much the same as June, with the top 9 slots all the same as last month and the top 3 having only Continue Reading →

How To Buy Homes in St Louis at a Big Discount

By Dennis Norman, on July 15th, 2014

Looking to buy a home in St Louis at a BIG Discount?

Take it from someone that has been in the business over 30 years and during that time bought and sold over 2,000 homes; there is no silver bullet or magic formula to finding a great deal on a home or other piece of property. I wish it were that easy. You can however use information and resources that are available to help identify potential good deals and then, with a lot of driving and looking at homes, cull through the pile looking for the “deal”.

RealtyTrac just did Continue Reading →

Ten Best Buyers Markets In St Louis

By Dennis Norman, on July 14th, 2014

The St Louis housing market continues to improve however, as I always say, real estate is very local so markets vary widely from city to city and neighborhood to neighborhood. Not that long ago, most of the neighborhoods in St Louis were buyers markets, according to our Market Action Index however, over the past year or so, many have moved into seller’s market territory. This doesn’t mean there aren’t any buyers markets left however, and in the table below I bring you the Ten Best Buyers Markets In St Louis based upon our Market Action Index.

Search ALL St Louis Continue Reading →

Consumer Confidence In Housing Market Increasing But Normal Housing Market Still In The Distance

By Dennis Norman, on July 8th, 2014

Consumers continue to gain confidence in the housing market but not enough to return us to a “normal” housing market, according to the June 2014 Fannie Mae National Housing Survey. In the survey consumers are asked, among other things, what their expectations are with regard to home prices and, while the expectation is for home values to increase 2.4% in the next 12 months, this is slightly lower than indicated in the previous few months. When asked about the expectation with regard to mortgage interested rates, 55% of the consumers think interest rates will rise in the next year, this Continue Reading →

St Louis County Deadline for Property Assessment Appeals Is Soon

By Dennis Norman, on July 7th, 2014

If you are a property in St Louis county and do not agree with the value the St Louis County Assessor, the deadline for property assessment appeals to the St Louis County Board of Equalization is July 14, 2014. You can now file online by going to St Louis County’s website here or you can download the forms by clicking here. If you are “old school” and want to go pick up the forms you can do that at the board of equalization office at 41 South Central. This is not a reassessment year, however you can still appeal the assessment Continue Reading →

St Louis’ Coolest Lofts For Sale

By Dennis Norman, on July 2nd, 2014

As I wrote about recently, lofts in St Louis are making a comeback and the loft market is heating up. Lofts come in a lot of shapes and sizes and, given the challenge presented to developers to create great residential spaces in old buildings original built to be warehouses or for other commercial uses, not all are created equal. Below are 3 of what I think are the coolest loftscurrently on the market. (click the image to see all photos and complete details).

(click the image to see all photos and complete details)

Continue Reading →

Home Ownership By People Over 65 Years Old On The Rise

By Dennis Norman, on July 2nd, 2014

Home ownership rates have been on the decline and, in fact, reached a 19 year low the first quarto of this year when the home ownership rate in the U.S. fell to 64.8%. However, for people 65 years and older, the rate of home ownership has been on the rise. As the chart below shows, while the rate of home ownership declined for the U.S. overall, the rate for those persons aged 65 and over has continued to rise.

(We work hard on this and sure would appreciate a “Like”)[iframe http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FStLouisRealEstateNews&send=false&layout=standard&width=50&show_faces=false&font&colorscheme=light&action=like&height=35&appId=537283152977556 100 35 ]

Looking for Continue Reading →

City of Florissant Offering $6,000 To Out of Town Home Buyers

By Dennis Norman, on June 30th, 2014

The city of Florissant, through it’s “Homeownership Assistance Program” is offering home buyers up to $6,000 in matching funds for a down payment if they will buy a home in Florissant. To be eligible the buyer does NOT have to be a first-time buyer nor meet any income requirements or restrictions as many grant programs have, but they must not currently be a homeowner in Florissant.

The matching funds will actually be a loan, however the loan will be forgiven after the buyer lives in the home 5 years. For more information see the Homeownership Assistance Program Website.

(We work Continue Reading →

Pending Home Sales Rise In May But Lagging Behind Last Year

By Dennis Norman, on June 30th, 2014

Pending homes sales increased in May, up 6.1 percent from April, however was still 5.2 percent below the period a year ago, according to the report just released today from the National Association of REALTORS (NAR).

Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for NAR, said he expects home sales to continue improving throughout the balance of the year however still expects 2014 to see fewer home sales than 2013 due to the “ sluggish first quarter”.

St Louis Lofts Making Comeback

By Dennis Norman, on June 24th, 2014

St Louis Lofts are making a comeback both in popularity and price, according to the latest data available from Mid America Regional Information Systems (MARIS), the St Louis REALTOR® MLS. As the charts below show, loft sales in St Louis peaked in 2006 (when all real estate peaked) with sales of lofts hitting 218 for the year and the median price of lofts sold that year coming in at a record $215,700. After 2006 however, sales fell year after year finally hitting a low in 2010 when only 67 lofts were sold, a decline of almost 70% from the peak. Continue Reading →

Sunset Hills Most Expensive Homes for Sale (Slideshow)

By Dennis Norman, on June 23rd, 2014

Sunset Hills is certainly gaining in popularity as more people discover just how convenient the location is to many areas of St. Louis. Sunset Hills has easy access to both Interstate 270 as well as Interstate 44 making almost any St Louis destination a short trip. We opened an office in Sunset Hills last year that I have been working out of a lot, and since working from there I have myself discover the convenience of being located at 270 and 44.

Sunset Hills real estate consists of a variety of architectural styles and settings with something for almost everyone. Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Prices Increased Four Percent In Past Year on Fewer Sales

By Dennis Norman, on June 23rd, 2014

St Louis Home Prices rose 4 percent from May 2013’s median sales price of $150,000 to May 2014’s median price of $156,000 for the 5-county core St Louis housing market which consists of the City of St Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin, according to the latest data released by MORE, REALTORS. As the table below shows, the city of St Louis saw the biggest gain in median home prices with the median sales price increasing over 27% from May 2013 to May 2014.

St Louis Home Sales are still Continue Reading →

The St Louis Luxury Home Market

By Dennis Norman, on June 20th, 2014

The St Louis Luxury Home Market is concentrated within the central corridor of the St Louis area with the highest median home prices (of homes listed) currently being found in Frontenac, with a median price of $1,326,654, followed by Ladue, Town and Country, Clayton and Creve Coeur.

Like the rest of the St Louis real estate market, The St Louis Luxury Home Market suffered when the housing bubble burst a few years ago but is it on the road to recovery like the bulk of the St Louis housing market? To address this, I looked at the market from several Continue Reading →

Mortgage Default Rates Fall Almost 30 Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on June 17th, 2014

Mortgage default rates, as tracked by the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices, on first mortgages were at .92 in May 2014, down from 1.01 the month before and down almost 30% (29.7%) from May 2013 when the first mortgage default rate index was at 1.31. The default rate index on second mortgages is improving as well with the index for May 2014 at .57, down from .63 in April and from .60 in May 2013, according to the report.

This is good news for the housing market and consistent with the trend we have seen lately of lower delinquencies and Continue Reading →

St Louis’ Hottest Real Estate Markets In June

By Dennis Norman, on June 16th, 2014

St Louis’ Hottest Real Estate Markets for this month looks very similar to this time last month however the 63021 area of Ballwin has now moved to the top of list of hot markets based upon our “Market Action Index” scoring a 51 out of a possible 60. Valley Park came in second, followed by the 63011 area of Ballwin, Chesterfield and Glendale.

As the table below shows, all of the top 5 hot markets, with the exception of Valley Park, are also very low on the months supply of homes for sale with all of them just having a Continue Reading →

St Louis Inventory of Homes For Sale Drying Up In Many Areas

By Dennis Norman, on June 13th, 2014

The inventory of homes for sale in several St Louis neighborhoods is down to the lowest level we have seen in years. It would be great if that was the result of skyrocketing home sales however, it’s really a combination of home sales and a lack of sellers. While there are many different reasons people are not choosing to sell right now, I believe it is a lack of equity that is holding back many homeowners from selling, particularly in the lower price ranges. Last month I did an article about the fact that 40 percent of St Louis homeowners Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Prices and Sales Market Update VIDEO-June 2014

By Dennis Norman, on June 12th, 2014

St Louis home prices have, in some areas, recovered to around 95% of home prices during the peak of the housing bubble. Get the specifics on this as well as much more in our June 2014 5-Minute Market Update Video below.

Many areas of St Louis have become sellers markets due to increasing demand and lack of inventory. If you have considered selling, or perhaps tried and failed in the past year or so, now is the time to consider it again. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to let you know the value of your home in Continue Reading →

UMSL Biz College Dean Hoffman Puts Lake Manse on Market For $5.895 Million

By Dennis Norman, on June 11th, 2014

Charles Hoffman, dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Missouri in St Louis has listed his 11,000+ square foot home that sits on 1.5 acres in Sunrise Beach at Lake of the Ozarks for sale for $5,895,000. According to the listing agents description, this is the “Deal of the Century”. Mr. Hoffman, prior to becoming Dean at UMSL, was, according to Wikipedia, President and CEO of Covad Communication Group and is known as a turnaround artist for struggling companies.

Lake of the Ozarks (Camden County) Luxury Homes For Sale – $5,000,000+

Piqued your Continue Reading →

Nine Credit Score Myths

By Tyler Frank NMLS # 942420, on June 6th, 2014

Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420

We hear lots of advice these days about how to improve a credit score. However, not all advice is good advice. Here are nine credit score myths that could actually do more harm than good:

Myth #1 – Closing out old, inactive accounts will help your score. Thirty percent of your credit score is based on your utilization rate – your total balances versus the total amount of credit available to you. Canceling old accounts reduces the total amount of your available credit, changing that ratio. Any balance will Continue Reading →

St Louis Hills Most Expensive Homes for Sale – Slide Show

By Dennis Norman, on June 4th, 2014

St Louis Hills is arguably one of the most popular neighborhoods in South St Louis and is rich in history. According to the St Louis Hills Neighborhood association website, St Louis hills encompasses an area of 700 acres and was originally developed by Cyrus Crane Willmore. The street names in St Louis Hills, as well as much of the architecture of the older homes, reflects Willmore’s English heritage.

St. Louis Hills Homes For Sale – $300,000+

See ALL Homes for sale in St Louis Hills

Piqued your interest? If you would like more information on Continue Reading →

Where Are The Best Places To Flip Property?

By Dennis Norman, on June 3rd, 2014

The best places to flip property in the U.S. are, with the exception of Wright County Minnesota, all east of the Mississippi extending from as far north on the east coast as New York to as far south as Florida, according to a report just released by RealtyTrac. For this report, RealtyTrac looked at property that was “flipped” (bought and then resold within the same period…often times done by an investor for profit) during the one-year period from April 2013 through March 2014, and ranked the counties based upon the gross return on investment made in those flips. One thing to keep in mind, this is just a “gross margin” or simply the difference between what the house was bought for and then resold for during the period without taking into account the expenses involved in the acquisition and sale, cost of rehab and improvements that were done or carrying cost. Continue Reading →

Retired Rams QB Marc Bulger Puts House On Market For $7.5 Million

By Dennis Norman, on May 30th, 2014

Retired Rams quarter back Marc Bulger has listed his 11,587 square foot house that sits on over 6.5 acres at 2701 South Lindbergh in Huntleigh for sale for a cool $7,499,000. Mr. Bulger acquired the home for $3,550,000 in 2007 from it’s former owner, Marilyn Schnuck.

Known as the “Percy Orthwein House”, Mr Bulger’s house was designed by famed architects Maritz and Young. You can see this home, as well as other St Louis area homes on the market for $7,000,000+ in the slide show below.

St. Louis Luxury Homes For Sale – $7,000,000+

Piqued your Continue Reading →

Today Kicks Off The Start of Busiest Moving Season Of The Year

By Dennis Norman, on May 28th, 2014

According to the US Census Bureau data today, May 28th, kicks off the busiest moving season of the year. According to Census Bureau data, one of every eight people will change their address this year with almost two-thirds of the people moving staying within the same country. Fewer than 5% of movers move to another state.

Young people (in their 20’s) are most apt to move, usually driven by wanting a better place to live, marriage, the birth of a child or a job change. Not surprising is that renters are more likely to move than homeowners.

As for state Continue Reading →

St Louis Area Home Prices Rose Just Over 2 Percent in Past Year

By Dennis Norman, on May 27th, 2014

St. Louis area home prices (the five county “core” market consisting of St Louis city and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Franklin and Jefferson) increased 2.2% from April 2013 to April 2014. The median home sales price in April 2013 for the 5 county core St Louis housing market was $139,900 and in April 2014 the median sales price was $143,000.

When we drill down to the county level, as the table below shows, the city of St Louis fared the best in the past year with the median sales price of homes increasing 32.62% and Franklin County Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Lagging Behind Last Year

By Dennis Norman, on May 22nd, 2014

St Louis Home Sales this year continue to be at a slower pace than last year with a total of 7,946 homes sold through the end of April, a decline of 11.5% from the same period last year when there were 8,978 homes sold in the St Louis core market (city of St Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin). During April 2014, there were 22,457 homes sold in the St Louis core market, a decline of 9% from a year ago when there were 2,710 homes sold.

St Louis Home Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Prices and Sales Market Update VIDEO-May 2014

By Dennis Norman, on May 21st, 2014

The St Louis real estate market continues to show signs of improvement with lack of inventory begin the biggest problem in many markets. If you have considered selling, or perhaps tried and failed in the past year or so, now is the time to consider it again. Give us a call and we’ll be happy to let you know the value of your home in today’s market or, try our new online home valuation site and find your homes value in under a minute – go to StLouisHousePrices.com and find your home’s value now! Get complete information on the market Continue Reading →

Over 40 Percent Of St Louis Homeowners In Bottom Price Tier Underwater

By Dennis Norman, on May 20th, 2014

While the St Louis housing market is improving, unfortunately the homeowners that can afford it the least are the ones that are still the hardest hit with 41.5% of all homeowners with a mortgage on a home in the bottom price tier (the 25% lowest valued homes in St Louis) being underwater on their mortgage, meaning they owe more than their homes are worth. This is according to the newly released Zillow Negative Equity report which shows that, at the opposite end of the spectrum, in the top tier, only 11% of St Louis homeowners are underwater, or in a Continue Reading →

Mortgage Default Rate Hits Lowest Level In Almost Eight Years

By Dennis Norman, on May 20th, 2014

Indicating continued stabilization of the housing market, the first mortgage default rate dropped in April to 1.01%, the seventh-consecutive monthly decline and the lowest level seen since July 2006, according to the just-released S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indice report. In April, 2013, the first mortgage default rate was 1.31%.

St Louis’ Hottest Housing Markets

By Dennis Norman, on May 19th, 2014

St Louis’ Hottest Housing Markets are pretty well concentrated into an area within 3 zip codes and 3 municipalities, with the exception of Valley Park which is actually number on the list in terms of our Market Action Index. As the Hot Markets table below shows, after Valley Park, the next 4 markets are both zips in Ballwin, and then the 63122 zip area of Glendale and Kirkwood. The months inventory table gives a clue as to at least part of the reason these markets are hot as the inventory of homes is very low with all the aforementioned areas Continue Reading →