Subject to or Wrap mortgages

As mortgage interest rates increase, we are seeing some creative transactions such as seller paying buy down rates for the buyer, buyers assuming seller's mortgage (if current mortgage allows) and subject to financing aka wrap mortgage. 

A real estate  lawyer, explains in the attached image why he advices against wrap mortgages. To explain, a wrap mortgage is when the buyer makes the payments in behalf of the seller without assuming the mortgage, which means the mortgage will remain under the sellers name though the deed has been transferred to the buyer.  The risk is that the buyer may stop making payments without the sellers knowledge,  hence, the property may go to foreclosure risking the sellers credit. In addition, the mortgage company may accelerate the balance of the mortgage once they find out a transfer of ownership occured. A brokerage I worked for will not allow wrap mortgages because of the risk of liabilities. Most of the time,  the sellers don't understand exactly what they're getting into though a lawyer is needed in writing the contract in this type of transaction.

This chart shows the relationship between the active single family residential property listings (in units) vs sold listings in the Austin Board of Realtor MLS.  In October, it shows 12,870 actives vs 2,585 units sold.  The supply is increasing rapidly as the demand slows especially in the cooler/winter months are here.  The current interest rate is at 7.92% (source: ABOR)

 

Here are the statistics for Austin's Real Estate Market. In October 2023, unit solds (for single family residential) in Austin were 4% higher than last October. In Lake Travis ISD, there was an increase of 10% compared to last October. This is great news as we have been seeing less sales since the beginning of this year except in May, where we saw a small increase. With the interest rates at 7.92% for 30 year conventional, mortgage companies have been creative and offering rate buy downs.
 

Inventory in Austin Increases as Mortgage Rates Increase to 8%

This graph goes all the way back to 2004, as far back as Austin Board of Realtors has the data.  As of September 2023, the active residential properties are at 13,027.  The average days on market of these active properties are 68.  In March 2021, we saw low inventory at 2,497 properties active with an average of 30 days on market.  The last time we had over 13,000 active listings was back in July 2016.  As the mortgage rates increase (currently at 8%), we will probably see more properties for sale.  Stay tuned for future blog posts.

 

September 2023 Austin Market Statistics

In Austin, TX, single family residential closed units in September 2023, were down 25% compared to last September.

In Lake Travis ISD, single family residential closed units in September 2023, were down 12% compared to last September.

As of today, 10/20/2023, there are 12,453 active single family properties in the market, 627 of these properties are in Lake Travis ISD.  As the interest rates increase (currently 8%), the number of homes for sale has increased.  

 

September Market Statistics

Reported by Austin Title:

Units Sold:

2,531 down 22.58% from Sept 2022

(This number is preliminary and may increase as sales are reported/updated in MLS)

Average Sales Price:

$571,970 down 1.95% from Sept 2022

Average Days on the Market:

41 days up 6.37 days from Sept 2022

Active Single Family Homes are on the rise

Looking at Austin's August statistics, the number of active single family homes are 12,808 units. This is relatively high considering just about 2 years ago, March 2021, we had a hot market at only under 2,500 active listings.

In retrospect, back in June/July 2010, we had over 14,000 active listings, the highest its been since the last recession. 

Why do you think Austin's inventory is so high? Could it be because our interest rates are currently averaging 7%? Let me know your thoughts.

Behavior of Home Buyers when rates are high

I obtained historical interest rate data from themortgagereports.com and the number of units single family residential sold from 2004-2022 in Austin, TX from Austin Board of Realtors; then I plotted the data (see graph below). We know that low interest rates tend to increase demand for property. We saw this in Austin in 2021 (per graph).

Currently in Austin, we have over 12,000 active homes in the market, thanks to the current 7% interest rate. Last week, I attended an economic forcast and the speaker shared that over 50% of today's buyers (nationally) are first time home buyers.

What is the market like in your area? Are you seeing high inventory or multiple offers? Please comment below and let me know.

I gave myself a Face Lift!

One thing I did not plan in my life is to back to school and re-learn coding.  Well, I wasn't really expecting to learn how to become a full stack developer, nor become a front end or back end developer.  Truthfully, I didn't like any of this in one bit.  I did learn how to program in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, learned node.js, bootstrap, MySQL, NoSQL, MongoDB, Insomia, Git, GitHub, Heroku and much more.  

While I was learning all this for 12 weeks, I decided to write my websites from scratch, hence, the face lift.  Here are my 2 websites:

www.PearlJonesHomes.com

www.ATXShortsale.com

Well, give it a look and let me know what you think.  I truly enjoyed coding my website but I would not want to be doing this every day.

Where did I go?

 I am back at Home Stars of Texas Realty. 

While I was a Real Estate Coach, COVID hit in 2020.  Life stopped, my mom passed away, and so did many close friends.  When travelling opened up, I decided to take my sons to Maui in July 2022.  After I got home, I decided to solo travel.  I backpacked to Bali, Phuket and Boracay.  During this time, I visited my mom's grave several times, stayed at my parent's home in Manila, grieved and wept.

Fast forward to 2023, I decided to go back to school.  I took coding classes at University of Texas in Austin, completed all 15 challenge homework, averaged 87.  I didn't care for the class I took so I opted as a non participatory student.

During coding class, I decided to look into Data Analysis and specialize in Real Estate.  That is what I have been doing, learning and building my profile as a Real Estate Data Analyst.  What this means is that I will still be a full time Real Estate Broker and do sales, but I am adding a new service which is Investment Analysis.  Stay tuned as I go through my learning.  I am very excited about this path.  I cannot wait to get started.