If you are thinking about buying a Knoxville home, or possibly selling your Knoxville home to buy a different one, waiting until next year will most likely cost you quite a bit more money.  Sure, it’s normal to think that going into the winter months would not be a good time to buy or sell, but where the Knoxville real estate market stands right now tells a different story.

Here are the top reasons why waiting to buy a Knoxville home will cost you more in the future:

• Mortgage rates will likely rise.  This will happen sooner than later and we can expect 5% rates in 2014. (SEE GRAPHIC BELOW)
• The Federal Reserve will begin “tapering” quantitative easing which will effect mortgage rates negatively.
• Knoxville home values are rising (while this may seem like a good reason for sellers to wait, the homes they will purchase after they sell are rising as well, along with the cost of borrowing money).
• There is typically less competition in the winter months for both buyers and sellers giving you a better chance at a deal.
• Buyers and sellers in the Knoxville real estate market in the winter months are typically more motivated.  They need to buy or sell a house or they might have put it off until after the holidays.

Contact Troy Stavros with Gables & Gates, REALTORS at 865-999-0925 to discuss the steps necessary to take advantage of the market before it becomes less affordable.

When buying a home, a Knoxville home search can be a different experience for each buyer depending on various factors, however there are many similarities.  Whether you are just starting your Knoxville home search, in the middle of one, or just closing on your dream home, take a look below and see how you compare to the averages.  The following data regarding the home search process was compiled in the recently released 2013 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers completed by the National Association of REALTORS.

• 42% of home buyers said their first step in the home-buying process was looking online for properties.
• 14% of home buyers first looked online for information about the home buying process.
• 92% of home buyers used the Internet in their home search process.
• 87% of buyers who used an agent while searching for a home, found them to be a useful source of information.
• The typical home buyer searched for 12 weeks and viewed 10 homes.
• For more than half of buyers, finding the right home was the most difficult step in the home buying process.
• Approximately nine in 10 recent buyers were at least somewhat satisfied with the home buying process.

How do you stack up to these numbers when you look at your Knoxville home search experience?  Comment below and let us know!  Also let us know if you can think of any ways to improve the experience. Thanks!

When buying a home today, with the current stringent lending guidelines, a client’s credit score plays a pivotal role in whether or not they will be approved for a loan. One error on a client’s credit report can be the difference between being approved or denied a loan. That is why it is so important that each person obtain and review a copy of their report each year, giving them to ability to find and correct errors effecting their credit score.

The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau released a report revealing only one in five people actually obtain a copy of their credit report each year. The report also stated that consumers reached out to credit reporting companies about 8 million times to challenge information on their report. Overall, the actions led to 32 to 38 million disputed items.

The instances of being able to get a mortgage with less than stellar credit are behind us.  A recent report by Ellie Mae, which represents 20 percent of all U.S. mortgage originations, found the average FICO score for a closed loan was 732, while the average denied loan had a score of 696.

Once approved, the effect your score has on your loan doesn’t stop. A loan savings calculator provided by myFICO, the consumer division of FICO, shows how credit scores can effect the interest rate one would receive on a mortgage. As of October 28th, 2013, a person with an average FICO score of 760-850 would receive a 3.765% rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. However, if one had a score of 620-639, the rate would be 5.354%.

Just because you aren’t planning on purchasing any Knoxville real estate this year, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be reviewing your credit report. Oftentimes it could take months to get an error off your report. With your credit score being one of the most important tools in getting a loan approval, it’s best to always keep it sharp. For current homeowners, it also is a major part of refinancing. Not a homeowner? More and more employers are looking at a prospective employees credit report before hiring. Yearly review is just good practice all around.