The sky isn’t falling, but with the price of housing continuing to rise, it’s possible they’ll break through a ceiling and cause debris to come cascading down. Sorry – that sounded far more melodramatic than I had intended.

As the Federal Reserve works to tackle elevated inflation through higher interest rates, would-be homebuyers will likely feel the strain of more expensive borrowing costs. Meanwhile, the housing market is likely to return to more normal pre-COVID conditions with fewer transactions and home prices increasing at a slower rate.

As property values in Utah have been skyrocketing over the past 4 years most home owners have seen their homes increase in value anywhere between 24% to as much as 125%. As such, there are many people who are contemplating the sale of their home to cash out and reinvest. With that in mind, I have been approached about the topic of Capital Gains Taxes in many conversations, and in almost every occasion, I see a blank look as their eyes slowly glaze over and they wait for the answer. Is it fear, is it the memory of the 10th grade Algebra/Trigonometry class or is it simply anger over the tax man taking a piece of your hard-earned money and profits on your great investment?

In part 1 of the Breaking Down the New Construction Process from November 2021, I talked about the questions you should ask before building, and provided a checklist for building your custom home. In this article, I will discuss the most exciting portion of the construction process - once you have inked the contract with your builder and you actually see your home rise from the foundation.

For some people, the term “Fractional Ownership” may bring nightmares of late nights trying to learn the “new math” being taught to their kids in school, but my hope is that after reading this article you will understand how this strategy for purchasing Real Estate can make your vacation dreams come true.

In almost every conversation I have had about the housing market over the past 3 months, I have been asked in one form or another, “How is the housing market is going?”, “Do you see it cooling off anytime soon?”, or “How can anyone afford to buy a home today?”. Although I would love to be able to use a fortune teller like Zoltar from the movie Big with Tom Hanks, the truth is that the Utah housing market has not shown signs of slowing down.

Outside of beginning your life with your spouse or holding your newborn baby for the first time, there are very few lifetime events that rank as high as finding your dream home so you can create memories for your family. This dream of homeownership has evolved over the past few years as the existing home market has boomed and home prices have surged. New opportunities to work from home have yielded a wave of home construction in areas where people never thought would be possible to live.

The future of real estate is more than just buying and selling homes. As I have discussed in previous articles about The Housing Market and Inflation and Lessons I Have Learned While Working with Successful Real Estate Investors the opportunity to invest in real estate has never been more appealing.

As the housing market has yielded significant gains for sellers over the past 3 years, many people have listened to and heeded the advice of experts such as Andrew Carnegie who said, “Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate,” or Russell Sage who added, “Real estate is an imperishable asset, ever increasing in value. It is the most solid security that human ingenuity has devised. It is the basis of all security and about the only indestructible security”.

The housing market in Utah has had over 14 months of low inventory and previously unseen buyer demand. Even throughout the pandemic, Utah’s majestic mountains, outdoor recreation availability, and focus on technology and business diversity has fueled high demand from home buyers coming from all over the country. This shortage of supply and high demand has created the definition of a “FOMO” market.

When you hear the phrase home price appreciation. what does it mean to you? Through context clues alone, chances are you know it has to do with rising home prices. And as a seller. you know rising home prices are good news for your potential sale. But let's look past the dollar signs and dive deeper into the concept. To truly understand home price appreciation, you need to know how it works and why it matters to you.

According to the linked June 10, 2021, Washington Post article, inflation jumped 5 percent in the past year, the fastest pace in 13 years. Few are panicking yet, but there’s a big debate about how long prices will stay high. So, what exactly is inflation and how does it affect you?

I clearly remember the moment I first became interested in Cryptocurrency. It was June 8, 2015, and I had just finished presenting a financial course at the Disneyland Resort in California. One of the attendees approached me and asked, “Do you think that eventually, you will be able to purchase a house with Bitcoin?”. I said, “Bitcoin is a currency, consumers have forced the hand of change, when people embrace something, it seems to find its way into any industry and as long as a buyer and seller are willing to make the exchange, I don’t see why it could not be used to purchase a home.”

In the game of real estate, most people believe that there are only two main players – the buyer and the seller with their coaches being their Realtors. In reality, there is another major player – the lender. They are such a significant player in this game (unless the transaction is handled 100% in cash) that if you don’t play by their rules, they are going to, “take their ball and go home,” and no one can play at all. The appraiser is the eyes of the lender in the field. If you are the potential buyer or seller, you need to be aware of the role of the appraiser in the transaction.

Over the past year, housing in Utah has seen one of the strongest seller’s markets this state has ever experienced. Historically, markets cycle from buyer to seller markets every 7-10 years. I have a theory that with the speed of technology that the time between cycles will become much shorter – perhaps even as short as 5 years. With this in mind, chances are that you will be selling your home within the next 10 years, thus you need to be knowledgeable on what your costs will be so you can accurately calculate the bottom line and not be surprised as you prepare to close on your home.

I have seen seller’s markets, buyer’s markets, and every market in-between over the past 15 years of selling real estate. After participating in hundreds of transactions, I still laugh when I think of the creativity of some home sellers when they try to cover up problems that will certainly be found by a licensed inspector or the future homeowner. In this article, I will point out the most common seller cover-ups that you should be aware of when searching for your new home.

Owning a home is not as easy as you dreamed it would be while growing up. Homeowners are constantly searching for ways to make their lives easier – especially when it comes to maintenance. The well-coined phrase, “It’s not WHAT you know, it’s WHO you know,” is often the truth when it comes to making a homeowner’s life simpler. Below I have a list of “WHO’s” that every homeowner should have easily accessible in their contact list in their phones

As a young boy, amidst the dreams of traveling the globe, winning the World Series, and flying in a rocket to the moon, I always had the goal of owning a home and giving my family a place of peace and security to enjoy being together and making memories that could be passed on for generations. Housing and real estate are an integral part of the “American Dream” and the biggest purchase we will make in our lives. Part of the dream of home ownership is that your home can not only be your place for memories, but also an investment. As with any investment, we need to be able to rely on and partner with professionals to help us to understand how to protect it from losses.

2020 has been an extraordinary year that will not be forgotten. Home sales in Utah are more competitive than I have seen in my 14 years in the industry.As of the writing of this article, UtahRealEstate.com states that there are 3,974 homes for sale in Utah, but there are currently 9,780 homes under contract/or accepting backup offers!Let’s put that into perspective – there are 2.5 times more houses that are in the process of changing hands than are currently up for sale.

Whenever you formally make an offer to purchase a home, it is customary to pay an earnest money deposit. This is a sum of money showing the seller your good faith that you are going to adhere to the terms of the contract and purchase the property.

It is important to understand exactly how your earnest money is handled between you and the seller. I will answer the most common questions I receive from my clients in order to help you to be better informed as to:

• What is the purpose of your earnest money and what does it represents in the process of purchasing your next property?

• Who should you pay your earnest money to?

• How do you protect your earnest money deposit?

• Under what conditions and when do you get your earnest money back?

Let me set the scene… you have gone through all the preparations to declutter your home, patch the walls, paint over the crayon marks from the kids, replace the carpet where your puppy first experimented with what the difference is between tile, carpet, and grass, and you followed your Realtor’s advice and placed half of your possessions into storage - which felt like moving, but ended up being a relief in the end. Your Realtor hosted an open house, you left the home 9 times for your home to be shown, and finally you accepted the offer. Whew! And, just as you wipe your brow and pat yourself on the back, your Realtor calls to tell you that the buyers have scheduled the home inspection for this coming Thursday. Thoughts like, “What will the inspector find that I don’t know about?” enter your mind. You wake up at 2:00 in the morning thinking about all the things you need to do to make sure your home passes the inspection.