The Gellman Team Real Estate Blog

Welcome to another edition of Mark’s Market update. Great news, interest rates down to 4.75% from a high water mark of approximately 5.4% a month ago. This positively impacts buyer's buying power For simplicity purposes, a $2,000 payment per month at 4.75% interest rates approximates a $390,000 home. While at 5.25%, the same $2,000 payment would equate to a $360,000 home. Simply the interest rate going down .5% would increase buying power by approximately $30,000 - which is great for buyers! What is happening in St. Louis and St. Charles County, when reviewing Months of Inventory, Unit Sales and Sales Prices? In St. Louis County, all price points; Months of Inventory has increased Nov 2018 vs Nov 2017 by 8%, Unit Sales decreased 9%, while good news

Order your pie today - Click here! 

Our Annual Thanksgiving Pie Giveaway is almost here. Have you signed up yet?

As we mentioned in a recent update, the Gellman Team would like to take some of the Turkey Day baking off of your plate by offering our friends and clients free apple and pumpkin pies. 

To reserve yours, all you need to do is register at www.thegellmanteamevents.com by November 14.

The pies will be ready for pickup on November 19 and November 20 between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. at our office, so be sure to come out for complimentary coffee, treats, and, of course, free pie. 

"For what is now our third consecutive year, the Gellman Team would like to take some of the Turkey Day baking off of your plate."

Welcome to another edition of Mark’s market update. Well the weather is definitely changing, and so is the real estate market. Over the last few months we’ve been continuing to discuss interest rates, inventory levels, and sales. As an update, interests rates are over 5%, and it looks like they're here to stay. Depending on what the Federal Reserve does in December (expect another rate increase), it looks like these rates could rise to 5 1/4 to 5 1/2 over the next 3-5 months. This is something we definitely have to pay attention to, as the increase in rates will continue to impact buying power. Regarding inventory levels and sales; disappointingly, homes over $1 Million in St. Louis County and St. Charles County saw the highest Inventory levels

           This Thanksgiving, let us at The Gellman Team do the baking for you.

We’re excited to announce our third annual client appreciation event this year. We’d like to thank all of our clients for their business, referrals, loyalty and friendship by inviting all of you to The Gellman Team’s Pie Day Giveaway.

On November 19th and November 20th, stop by our office between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. to pick up your free apple pie or pumpkin pie, enjoy Coffee, Hot Chocolate and Treats! Simply visit www.TheGellmanTeamEvents.com to register and tell us which kind of pie you’d like.

“Register at

www.TheGellmanTeamEvents.com

and tell us which pie you’d like. ”

We’re thrilled to be able to offer this opportunity to say hello in person. 

Welcome to another edition of Mark's Market update. As you can see in the back ground, I just filmed a video for our 3rd annual Client Appreciation pie giveaway. November 19th and November 20th, Let The Gellman Team Do the Baking This Thanksgiving. You can register at www.TheGellmanTeamEvents.com and select Apple or Pumpkin Pie. Back to Mark's Market Update. September 2018 vs September 2017 was very interesting. As we have consistently discussed over the last few months, we have been watching interest rates and inventory levels. Just in the last month, interest rates have risen approximately .75%+. More importantly, when comparing September 2018 vs September 2017, we began to see a "Market Shift", with # of sold homes and Median Sales Prices down

Now that summer is over, many are wondering about what’s going on in our market. So let’s take a look at the latest developments.

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Now that summer is over and school is back in session, what is happening in the St. Louis real estate market?

As is typical of this time of year, there was a lull in our market toward the end of July and into the beginning of August. Since then, though, conditions have begun to pick up once again.

With this in mind, we’ve been getting a lot of questions from buyers and sellers about how to proceed through the rest of the year. Is it a good time to make a move or would waiting be a better option?

"Buyers and

Welcome to another edition of Mark's Market update. Now that school is back in session, kids are out of the house, what is happening in real estate? Like traditional years, we saw the lull at end of July and beginning of August, and now seeing the seasonal pick up. However, we are getting numerous questions from prospective buyers and sellers, as to what to do now that the fall is upon us. Should a seller take their home off the market, if it did not yet sell? Should buyers wait until Spring to begin their home search again? We are recommending to sellers - Keep Your Home on The Market, as there is pent up buyer demand, from those buyers that were unable to purchase in the Spring market, due to "tight inventory levels", as previously discussed. We

Welcome to another edition of Mark's Market Update. I was reading a couple of articles today that I wanted to discuss with you. CNBC had an article titled "Southern California Home Sales Crash. Warning Sign for Nation??" It discussed how sales plummeted by 12%, but we still saw record sales prices. It appears that in Southern California, a lot of people getting out of the market due to rising home prices.

Now let's move on to St. Louis and the indicators we are seeing in the luxury market. When evaluating the luxury market over $1 million in St. Louis County, we looked at the top six municipalities that have the most luxury home sales; Ladue, Clayton, Town & Country, Creve Coeur, Frontenac, and Chesterfield. For the first seven months of 2018,

Welcome to another edition of Mark's Market Update. The first half of the year is over. When evaluating statistics for the first half of the year, we reviewed YTD 2017 vs 2018. For this update, we reviewed the entire MLS. Other week's we have just looked at St. Louis County, St. Charles, Northern Jefferson County and St. Louis City. 1st Half 2017 vs 2018 - Overall Inventory was flat. Pending sales down 1%. Available listings (current inventory) down 3.5%. Expired listings down 10% (good news, showing the sell through of current homes). New listings up 1%. 5 years appreciation: 2014=5.4% 2015=5.4% 2016=3.1% 2017=3.4% 2018=3.8% Note: over the last 5 years, total appreciation has been in the range of 16-18%. However, appreciation over that time period

Welcome to another edition of Mark's Market update. The summer is definitely here. 102 degrees, 93% humidity. If you're in St. Louis, you understand what I am talking about and if you are not in St. Louis, you are not missing anything, Now back to real estate: We are still seeing soft inventory levels and single digit inventory growth over the last month and consistent with last year. Interest rates this week are still 4.6% to 4.65%, which is consistent with prior week and over last month they have dropped. However, I am concerned about "loose lending" that is occurring and reminds me of 2008 and prior. We are seeing Stated Income Loans coming back, Loans to Borrowers with credit scores under 600, 3% or less down on Jumbo Loans and other risky