Today’s Monrovia Mortgage Rates in Perspective
Last Wednesday and Thursday’s stock market nosedive had analysts debating whether the Fed’s hike in interest rates was to blame. Since Monrovia mortgage rates are likely to also be affected, local selling-minded homeowners might well have begun to wonder whether we are headed into a less-than-favorable selling environment.
If so, would listing your home now make sense? Would holding out until lower Monrovia mortgage rates reappear be worth the wait? The benefit to potential buyers would be immediate: more affordable monthly payments for the same asking price.
Ultimately, the answer to that timing question will always be uncertain, but one clue can be found in the history of mortgage rates in recent decades. According to the Freddie Mac’s mortgage rate archive, that history leads to an unambiguous conclusion:
30-YEAR MORTGAGE INTEREST RATE AVERAGES
2000s: 6.29%
1990s: 8.12%
1980s: 12.7%
1970s: 8.86%
Putting it all together, the previous 40 years produced average mortgage interest rates just shy of double digits: 9.9%, to be precise! Even after the latest Federal Reserve action, last week’s national 30-year rate “jump” was to only 4.9%. With Monrovia mortgage interest rates currently at less than half of what U.S. home buyers have been willing to pay in past eras, it turns out that we are still in the midst of a decidedly friendly environment for buyers—which makes it seller-friendly territory, too.
There can be many reasons why a homeowner may decide to put off listing their home, but today’s Monrovia mortgage rates shouldn’t be one of them. I’m happy to offer a no-obligation rundown on the outlook for this fall’s market—and how your property might fit into that picture. Call me if you’d like to chat!
Could Selling Your Monrovia Home Involve a Smart Bathroom?
When it comes to selling your Monrovia home, kitchens get the Grand Prize for being the room that gets the most attention. But it’s increasingly possible for bathrooms to give them a run for the money.
Kitchens take first place because so much of a typical Monrovia family’s “together” time is spent there. Preparing and serving meals is, for most of us, a positive part of the day we look forward to. As a result, the quality and practical layout of a kitchen get a lot thorough going-over during showings and open houses. It’s amazing how frequently prospective buyers stop to chat with the showing agent right there in the kitchen. People just like kitchens—so having one that’s especially appealing is an indisputable plus for selling any Monrovia home.
On the other hand, Monrovia bathrooms might or might not get more than a perfunctory walk-through, depending on which of two categories it falls into:
TYPE A: This is an ordinary Monrovia bathroom. It is run-of-the-mill; functionally adequate; perfectly okay. It should be (actually, as a practical selling-your-home matter, must be) sparkly clean, fluffy-towel laden, altogether presentable—and unmemorable. It is what prospective buyers expect and demand—and if they don’t remember anything about it, that’s perfectly okay. It won’t present a barrier to selling your home.
TYPE Z: A memorable bathroom, on the other hand, can be an unexpected difference-maker. Grand, marble-emblazoned master bathrooms have always presented that possibility—but at enormous cost. Enter a new, less costly category: the “smart bathroom.” A few weeks back, The Wall Street Journal examined some of the products now emerging in what the WSJ expects within four years to become a $10 billion industry.
One example is the multi-valve shower controlled by Echo’s voice-activated personal assistant. When you can simply say, “Alexa, prepare my shower at 103 degrees” or “Alexa, pause the shower while I answer the phone”), it’s undeniably a memorable talking point.
Likewise the new smart toilets and bidets. They can have heated seats, auto-closing lids, and Bluetooth technology to control a host of other intelligent features. Over the bathtub can be a wall-mounted waterproof TV featuring an extra-practical add-on: a floating rubber ducky remote. The bathroom cabinet can now be refrigerated for cold-storing cosmetics and medications.
Another possibility: electric towel bars which heat terry cloth towels “to make every shower a posh spa experience”—a claim that comes closer to reality when the bathroom has one of Kohler’s PerfectFill bathtubs. These tubs plug the drain once the water reaches your specified temperature, then stop the flow at the desired depth (so no more babysitting the tub). Flashier and at the same time environmentally proactive is the Hydrao Aloe shower head. Its glowing faceplate uses color LEDs to monitor how many gallons of water you’re using in real time. Less altruistic is Kohler’s shower head with a detachable speaker that can “stream” music from any digital device.
Smart bathrooms have a new capacity to intrigue and make themselves memorable. For selling your own Monrovia home, memorability is a factor that can even determine whether a second visit (and subsequent offer) is forthcoming. I hope you’ll call me when the time nears to think about selling your own place!
What are the Most Common Questions Homebuyers Ask?
A couple of years ago, the National Association of Realtors® sent out a compilation of answers to the most-often posed questions home buyers have for their agents. Monrovia home buyers do sometimes come up with these. Here’s the NAR list, its answers—and a few brief observations:
- “How much can I afford?” The answer depends on your personal financial details, which are easy to determine—just search for “house affordability calculator.” Avoid the “ad” entries at the top of the screen; most of them make you surrender your personal info before they will display the answer.
- “Can I buy a home and sell mine simultaneously?” Yes, there are several ways to do this via offer contingencies. Alternatively, some sellers decide to rent while finding and securing a new home.
- “What do you think the seller will accept?” The NAR’s suggestion is “knocking 5% off the list price.” Since every situation is different, I think a more precise recommendation would be to take the seller’s profile and recent market comps into account (and don’t forget your agent’s input)!
- “Should I demand a home inspection?” Simply, ‘yes.’ When a property seems for all the world to have been perfectly maintained, it can be tempting to just speed past that inspection “technicality.” But don’t do it: the report your seasoned Monrovia inspector produces will be well worth the cost and time invested. You might find yourself reviewing its details for years to come.
- “How late in the process can I back out?” If you change your mind without a reason, you’ll probably lose your deposit money. But a well-constructed offer should contain provisions covering the reasonable grounds for abandoning a purchase—usually relating to inspection findings or loan terms.
If I know one thing about serious Monrovia homebuyers, it’s that they’ll have a lot more questions before they’ve zeroed in on their new home. Fortunately, I’m here to field all questions as they arise. Call me anytime!