The Savvy Synopsis

Are you thinking about buying or selling your home in 2020? What trends should you be aware of and what kind of options do you have when working with Angie Cole and her team?

As we enter the new year, you may be wondering--what should you know about buying or selling a home in 2020? Any trends when it comes to mortgage rates or home features? What neighborhoods are worth checking out? Angie answers all of these questions from the mailbag as well as sharing an exciting announcement of her own!

If you are considering buying a home in 2020, you’re probably wondering what kind of mortgage rate you might get. While it’s impossible to predict, especially in an election year, right now mortgage rates are at an all time low. This gives homebuyers more buying power and options when it comes to the homes you can afford.

When it comes to trends to look for in the new year, Angie considers what was popular in 2019. A lot of people were thinking about next steps. Perhaps that means a ranch style home with a master bedroom on the first floor or room for a guest suite. One more prominent feature is a maintenance-free lifestyle through homes with an HOA or a townhouse that requires less upkeep. What kind of home features are you most interested in?

If you’re looking for a neighborhood with good amenities like Shauna is in Clayton, Angie recommends Flowers Plantation. Other good options include Riverwood Athletic Club and Riverwood Golf Club. For those looking for an active retirement community, the Walk at East Village is a great option in Clayton.

Finally, Angie Cole and her team have some exciting news this year! They will be offering instant offers for their sellers, which Angie hopes will give clients more options. Instant offers will mean a cash offer, choosing your own closing date, and no extra requirements for repairs after the offer. Sellers can determine what works best for them, whether that means selling their home through the traditional way with showings and staging their home or with an instant offer for added convenience.

Listen to the full episode or click on the timestamps below to hear Angie’s answer to this week’s questions.

0:38 - Mailbag: What direction are the mortgage rates going in 2020?

4:01 - Mailbag: What types of homes and home features are most in demand?

5:39 - Mailbag: Where are some of the hottest neighborhoods to look at in Clayton?

8:05 - What are some of the big things ahead for Angie Cole in 2020?

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Show Transcription:

Note: This is an automated transcription. Please forgive the robots as they tend to make some (a lot of) mistakes...

Speaker 1: (00:02)
It's time for the savvy real tour podcast. I'm Walter Storholt alongside Angie Cole, the owner and broker in charge of a Cole Realty serving you throughout the triangle, teaching you about the ins and outs when it comes to buying or selling a home. You can find the team online by going to eight Cole realty.com. That's a C O L E realty.com or by calling (919) 578-3128 that's (919) 578-3128 and now it's time for one of the top realtors in the triangle, Angie Cole and the savvy real tour podcast. Our first question of the week comes to us from Joel in Raleigh. Joel says, what are your mortgage partners telling you about the direction of mortgage rates through 2020?

Speaker 2: (00:47)
Yeah, Joel, great question. Um, and you know, of course this is always something that's hard to really track or, or I guess be ahead of, especially in a going in 2020 of course we have the election. You know, I feel like that can really throw a wrench in things sometimes, but uh, not to talk about politics. Let's go back to talking about rates. So first of all, the beds did not decrease the rate just recently. So the rates currently are stay in steady and if anything, I think going into 20, 20, um, I would expect for them to maybe increase just a little bit. But I think it's important to remember that even if interest rates were to increase some, they are still at an all time low. The buyer, you know, who was out searching for homes right now has so much buying power because the interest rates are still very, very low.

Speaker 2: (01:34)
So it's one of those win-win situations where sellers are definitely getting, you know, a lot more for their home because we're in a strong seller's market. But then on the flip side, if you then go to buy with interest rates being low, it allows you to have more buying power and be able to afford more home versus that interest rate being higher. So I would again expect maybe for those to creep up just a little bit, so be on the lookout and you know, don't drag your feet too long if you know that you plan on buying a home in 2020.

Speaker 1: (02:03)
Yeah. And you know, we, uh, we do a lot of radio shows with financial advisors as well, Joel and uh, and work with them across the country and have talked to them about this kind of thing as well. Now they're not necessarily mortgage experts but have a good handle on the larger financial markets as well. And so there's a lot of uncertainty in that realm, just like, I think there's going to be in the mortgage side and the real estate side, anytime there's an election year, Angie, we always just see that uncertainty and yet

Speaker 2: (02:29)
exactly correct. It is. It is,

Speaker 1: (02:31)
yeah. Yeah. Well, I think, uh, and we saw it even earlier this year where the mortgage rates were starting to tick up and then the feds cut that, those interest rates a little bit. And so mortgage rates ticked a right back down kind of unexpectedly. And I think then they were saying it was going to continue to tick down and now they've held it steady. So again, you can kind of make guesses and predictions at these things, but you just don't know which direction it's going to go in. But at least it seems to me Angie, like the mortgage rates move somewhat slowly. It's not like overnight. I think that would be quite traumatic to the economy if overnight all of a sudden they were just jumping wildly. So these things are kind of like a kind of like the ocean, you know, the, the tides move in and now maybe slowly so you've got some time to react and adapt.

Speaker 1: (03:13)
So nothing to be too concerned about Joel, but uh, definitely mortgage rates are still really, really low compared to historically. So it's still a great situation for buyers out there. So even if we see a few ticks up in the new year, but that remains to be seen. Great question, Joel. Thanks for submitting that one to us. If you've got any other mortgage questions, you can always get in touch with Angie and her team. They can hook you up with a mortgage lender in the area and one of their partners who will kind of give you really good education and background on all that information that you need. 919-5386TY-47TY-7 is the number call or text? (919) 538-6477 if you've got questions for Angie, the theme of today's show is going to be a lot of looking back at 2019 and looking forward to 2020 as well. And so we've got another question here from Becky. Becky is in Fayetteville and says what types of homes do you think will be in most demand in 2020 Angie?

Speaker 2: (04:09)
So I can only foresee that as going to be similar to 2019 and we were finding that so many people are looking for more of a ranch towel master on the main floor. We are just seeing that a lot of people are thinking about next steps and so maybe they don't need the master bedroom on the first floor now, but you know in the future they might. So they are going ahead and making that a requirement. So more of that first floor living has definitely been important. I'm also seeing more of the generational homes. So that means that maybe I purchased a home, but then we had the intentions for maybe our parents to move into the home and live with that. Uh, so a private guest suite, maybe those double masters. Um, I've also seen other people who are looking for a home with the option of building, almost like a guest home beside.

Speaker 2: (05:01)
Um, so those have been really popular in our area. And then I would also say more of the maintenance free lifestyle. We all I know live busy lives and I feel like as you know, as we advanced as years go on, you know, just the daily livelihood of individuals just is busy. And so how can we cut down on those everyday tasks of maintaining our home. So I would say a lot of people are looking for more of the, maybe the townhome route, uh, or there's a lot of neighborhoods with single families, which still have the yards being maintained by the HOA. So I say those are the trends that we are, we're definitely seeing in our market here.

Speaker 1: (05:39)
I've got a question here, Angie from Shawna and Shawna is in Clayton and says, what do you think will be some of the hottest neighborhoods for buyers to watch out for in 2020?

Speaker 2: (05:49)
Yeah, so great question. So I'm Shawna with you being in Clayton, one of the number one neighborhoods, which I mean they'd been building for quite some and they are still actively building. Is flowers plantation, be on the lookout for them. I mean they are just booming and that's a great neighborhood with you know, amazing amenities. Um, all different styles and price points. So definitely flowers plantation is one to watch. Also Riverwood athletic club in Riverwood golf club once again, they've been actively building in these neighborhoods for quite some time, but they are, uh, they had been super, super successful and I can only see that that is going to continue. So, and then the last one to be on the lookout for is the walk at East village. So, um, we have a lot of active adults, you know, maybe 50 plus 55 plus that or move into North Carolina for, you know, retirement to settle.

Speaker 2: (06:44)
Um, I feel like, or I know North Carolina has a best of both worlds. We have, you know, all of the seasons, we have the warm months, we have the cooler months, we have beautiful sceneries, we have mountains, we have the beaches, you know, so this is really a hot spot for retirees. And finding a neighborhood that is strictly designated towards active adults can be tough. And I would only assume that, you know, active adults prefer to be surrounded with other people that are in similar age, like-minded and like to do similar activities. So the walk at East village is strictly an active adult neighborhood and of course they have that ranch style living with low maintenance, with all of the fun activities. So that's another neighborhood to watch the walk at East village.

Speaker 1: (07:27)
Very cool. Yeah, great. Uh, insight into some of the cool neighborhoods they are in the area. Shawna, thank you for that question. If you've got questions about what are some great neighborhoods that you'd like to maybe check out or explore in the new year in your community. If you're thinking about a move, Angie and her team are happy to tell you about those areas and even go with you to some homes that might be for sale in those areas and show you a, we know exactly what they look like. 919-5386TY-47TY-7 your number to call or text to get in touch. Nine one nine five three eight six four, seven, seven. You can call or text, uh, not just during the week, but over the weekend as well. You want to get in touch with Angie, that's the way to do it. And the last question of the week here, Angie comes to a, from a listener, a very dedicated listener I'd say is listen to every single one of your shows. A Walter MI in Raleigh has a practical way I feel really popular. So, yeah, absolutely. Uh, so my question for you, what are some of the big things that you're planning to bring to the table as a company in 2020. I know you're always innovating and kind of prepping for new things and trying to be different. So how are you seeking to serve your clients better in the year ahead and a big changes for you guys? I know just recently you had the big expansion into the greater Fayetteville area. So what else do you have on tap?

Speaker 2: (08:44)
Right? Yep. Yep. So that's been a biggie, which we are still, you know, growing but already, I mean we just, we've been helping and servicing a lot of clients already into that Fayetteville, Don Benson market. But I'm so happy you asked because I haven't even, I haven't even discussed this with you, but something new going into 20, 20 is our team. Uh, we are now doing instant offers. You hear of these companies like Zillow, Opendoor and whatnot where they are coming in and making an offer and it's a cash offer. A course. You can choose your closing date within reason. Super seamless. I'm, the big thing with our team is throughout the contract to close process, we will not be asking for you to make any repairs with working with some of these, you know, other companies, they often they give you a set price and then they go in there and they do their inspections and then they start nickling and diming you.

Speaker 2: (09:34)
So although you thought you were getting a certain number, you know, when it's time to close, you're getting much less. So it's going to be definitely different with working with our team. So it's really creating options for our sellers. So of course we have our traditional sale where you will net the most of course. And that's where you of course will, you know, get the home show ready with our advice. You know, we will Mark your home and just really get you top dollar for your home. But of course you might have some of the inconveniences of allowing showings. But we are also offering this new option where we will come in and we will make an offer to you and yes, will you net last 100%. Um, but for some people, you know, there can be nuances of not worrying about random people coming to their home at all hours of the day. And being able to choose their closing date is really, really important. So be on the lookout. We will do a larger announcement for this, but going into 2020, we're going to have so many options for our sellers

Speaker 1: (10:34)
based on their needs. You've been listening to the savvy real tour podcast. I'm Walter [inaudible] alongside Angie Cole. She's the owner and broker in charge of Aiko Realty here in the triangle. And if you have questions for Angie, we invite you to go online to a Cole realty.com. Listen to past podcast episodes on the website, read the blog and all the great information, including the option to find a home right there on the website. That's a Cole realty.com. And you can also call Angie with your questions. (919) 578-3128