Knowing housing markets will help to keep your real estate investing business on top of your local area. With 2017 coming to a close, here are the 2018 housing market trends that your real estate investing business needs to keep an out for.
1. Demand & Prices Will Keep Going Up
One of the more clear 2018 housing market trends is that prices for properties will continue to go up. This, according to Forbes.com, is for two main reasons:
- Millennials
- Policy
In an attempt to stay politically neutral in this tense climate, we’re not going to make any assumptions on the effects of policy until there are facts. This is just a prediction for the 2018 housing market, remember. However, Millennials impacted the housing market in 2017 and will continue to do so in 2018.
In the same article, Forbes points out:
“The bulk of that generation [Millennials] sits in their mid-20’s somewhere, they are going to move into their 30s and want to buy homes.”
The National Association of Realtors saw that Millennials made made up 34% of recent home buyers, and 66% of first-time home buyers in 2017. That is by no means a small amount of buyers. Because Millennials are coming in to the housing market, the demand for homes is rising, which is making the price of houses rise with it.
One of the 2018 housing market trends to keep track of is the rising prices. When you’re looking at your comps in the neighborhoods that your investment properties are in, you’ll want to make sure that your properties match the prices of the other houses. Always, always, always double check your comps before you put it on the market!
2. Buyers Will Have Trouble Finding Affordable Houses
As a real estate investor, you buy houses cheap so that you can turn them for a profit later. Motivated sellers with distressed houses won’t have problem selling their properties to you, there’s always a need for cash buyers. Of course, with the prices predicted to rise in 2018, you might run into an issue selling them.
In a comparison of last year and the upcoming year, Realtor.com found:
“The price tags of all homes are expected to keep rising. NAR predicts prices will jump 5% in 2017 and an additional 3.5% in 2018.”
We saw the prices go up in 2017, so it looks like this 2018 housing market trend is an accurate one. To make sure you’ll be able to sell your investment properties, always compare your comps to the other houses in the neighborhoods. You don’t want to undersell your houses, but you don’t want to over price them either. The best thing you can do to push your inventory in 2018 is to to keep your houses affordable for your buyers.
3. Mortgage Rates Continue to Stay Low
Even though the overall prices of properties will be high, mortgage rates will continue to stay low to encourage home buyers to buy houses. The Mortgage Reports, and online mortgage journal, notes that:
“The 30-year fixed rate hit 4.30% in March [2017]…That represents nearly a $70-per-month savings on a $250,000 mortgage.”
This is a great thing! I know that some of the other predictions for the 2018 housing market were less than exciting, but this one should put a smile on your face. If mortgage rates continue to stay low, like they did last year, then homeowners are more inclined to buy houses.
Sure, the overall price of a house might be higher than usual, but if the monthly payments are manageable then it’s less intimidating to get into a 30-year mortgage (which is a great thing for someone selling houses, by the way).
4. Good Homes Will Move Fast
This is one of the best predictions to hit 2018. Of course, your houses will be great after you get the chance to rehab them. Because you’re an expert at making distressed houses into beautiful homes, you won’t have a problem moving inventory (as long as they’re priced affordably).
In fact, houses are going so fast in Seattle that a Pat Esswein, a writer at Keplinger, found that “buyers are driving up 30% over asking price in some cases.”Â
So, the good thing is the inventory you accumulate will be able to move quickly, depending on the market you’re in. Since real estate investors traditionally buy smaller houses to improve, the affordability and improvements made shouldn’t keep you from selling your houses.
5. More Sellers Are Going Online
We’ve talked about this before, but it’s worth mentioning again. One of the biggest 2018 housing market trends being predicted is that more and more sellers and buyers are going online when it comes to selling or buying houses. It’s no secret that, in today’s competitive market, your real estate investing business needs a website just to be able to compete. We’re not here to talk about the glory of a website. Instead, we’re here to show that online marketing isn’t going away any time soon.
The phrase “sell my house” has a Google search volume of 9,900 – which is a pretty good search volume. If you’re a real estate investor who’s marketing toward motivated sellers, you definitely want to have a website and blog articles that are targeting this phrase and related phrases. As we talked about in our SEO Guide article on keywords, your website alone isn’t enough. You need to be targeting the right keywords that motivated sellers are searching so that you show up in their search results on Google.
As far as selling your houses, that’s easy. As Contactually.com points out:
“80% of all home buyers are searching online…42% of buyer’s first step was looking online for a home.”
As long as you have a website for your real estate investing business, and a good agent, then selling houses won’t be difficult at all. With the affordability of your properties, consistent mortgage rates, and being optimized for online searches, your real estate investing business will be just fine in the 2018 housing market.
What Do These 2018 Housing Market Trends Mean for Real Estate Investors?
Honestly, these trend predictions for the 2018 housing market are a pretty good sign for real estate investors! If you take nothing else away from this article, at least know that going online is the best things you can do for your real estate investing business in the 2018 housing market.
Having a website is one thing, but marketing online is a different thing altogether. For the best online marketing strategy for real estate investors, check out our other articles here. Marketing online does take time, though. As a real estate investor, you’re already spending lots of time communicating with motivated sellers, agents, title companies, contractors, and more. You don’t have the time to spend obsessing over your online marketing.
That’s why we have professionally managed online marketing services made just for real estate investors. These are automated marketing bots. Our expert team of online marketers will work one-on-one with you so that your marketing strategy is customized to your real estate investing business, target market, and target audience. There are already so many investors going online to market to motivated sellers, don’t lose your leads to the competition. Let our professionals get leads for you. That way, all you have to do is relax and watch the leads come rolling in.
Have a question about our services, or want to get started? Give us a call at (210) 999 – 5187. Get your expertly managed online marketing services today!