Melissa Walton - Metro Detroit Real Estate - www.melissawaltonhomes.com

It’s great to be back in the swing of real estate....expect to see regular Open House notifications and beautiful homes to explore. Contrary to popular belief, Sellers sell, and Buyers buy even in the winter months.... so keep the Dream alive. If it’s a home you seek, it’s a home you will have!

Even tho this is my business page. Still had to share! I’m so proud of my daughter, Allison Sharnowski!

Southeast Summer ID Showcase-TOP PERFORMERS “Pitching Velocity”:

▪️Allison Sharnowski (Novi HS, MI)-59mph
▪️Abigail Hoff (Bay City Western HS, MI)-58mph

Don’t forget!!!

Do you agree?

Not real estate related but remember this anyways...😁

Looking for a well-kept way out of your folks house?? Check this out!

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/274514713267234/

Purchasing a home as a journey and when you feel that it’s time to begin, I will happily be your guide.

Couldn’t resist posting this pic....

🎊🎉🍷HAPPY NEW YEAR 🎊🎉🍷

Mortgage Market Review
December 31, 2018

Even with a lot of financial trades on machine-generated autopilot these days, holiday-shortened trading weeks leave little to be learned about underlying directions for stocks and interest rates. Odds favor that our next fairly clear signals will start to show in the first full business week of the new year, which doesn't start until January 7.

In the interim, a period where economic data is typically thin is rather thinner this year, what with the partial government shutdown. For example, we were supposed to get a look at sales of new homes in November this week, but the Census Bureau simply has a large red announcement banner on its webpage: "NOTICE: Due to a lapse in federal funding this website is not being updated." You can't get any more blunt than that, and to the extent that the border-wall funding fight between President Trump and Congress persists, we may see all manner of delays in getting timely revelations of what's happening in the economy.

With all the turmoil in markets in recent weeks, the long-term Treasury yields that influence fixed mortgage rates have dropped a fair bit, and average offered rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have slumped back to early September levels. Lower rates are great, but that they've come during the holiday season isn't as useful as it might otherwise be in terms of supporting home sales; lots of potential shoppers are otherwise engaged and a percentage of potential home sellers will pull their listings for the season.

Also, lower mortgage rates might trigger more demand amid seasonally-lessened supply, but this disconnect means more home sales aren't likely to happen. We'll need these lower rates to hold for a while yet -- at least several more weeks -- to add much lift to home sales. Of course, adding to the existing market troubles of low supply and high prices is that the National Flood Insurance Program is temporarily suspended, too, so it may be impossible for some folks to get a mortgage closed right now.

That said, recently lower rates may kick refinancings up a bit, perhaps adding a little holiday cheer to at least some mortgage lenders. Higher interest rates for much of 2018 curtailed refinancing, and only modest levels of home sales have generally left them little to be happy about.

In theory, we're supposed to get the December employment report on Friday; however, the budget impasse in Washington may delay this. In the meanwhile, we may have to content ourselves with reviews of new claims for unemployment benefits; while certainly not the same thing by any means, they nonetheless do provide an inkling of what's happening in the labor markets... except seasonal adjustments this time of year, what with shifting official holidays for Christmas and New Years can make these figures less precise than one might hope. Regardless, after a seasonally-adjusted plummet a couple of weeks ago, initial claims have edged higher again, posting 217,000 new applications in the week ending December 15 and now 216,000 in the week ending December 22. November's weekly average was 224K; December is currently 218K, so from this 9and with a week of claims data yet to come) we might infer a slight pickup in job creation for the month. November saw 155,000 new hires take place and December may improve on that figure just a little (whenever the new data comes).

So 2018 comes to an end and 2019 looks to begin. Turbulent times lay behind and the immediate course ahead seems likely to be more of the same. The yield of the influential 10-year Treasury closed last week rather lower than where it began, but the stock market has been so erratic of late this may just be the result of safe-haven parking to get through the turn of the new year, and so may unwind somewhat when trading resumes this week. That having been said, it might be noted that the first week of 2018 featured the lowest average 30-year FRM rate for the year; certainly, it's possible that this will be the case again for 2019. We'll see about that, but for the moment it looks like another small decline for rates is on tap again for this week, probably a dip of a few basis points.

Call Melissa Walton
248.974.1550
Shain Park, REALTORS®
www.ShainPark.com

Mortgage Market information provided by Jon Aucutt, Main Street Bank
31780 Telegraph Road, Suite 100

Bingham Farms, Michigan 48025

[email protected]

Home Page | Shain Park Realtors® | 248-633-8520 | Contact us to request more information about our real estate company. | Birmingham MI Homes for Sale Home Page

Would you live in a home with a lazy river?

Now is the time to reflect on all that is good in this world and put the worries of the world on hold. Hug your kids, reconnect with an old friend, forgive someone and find Peace. Happy Holidays 🎁🎄🕎

Mortgage Market Review December 24, 2018

It's not exactly clear what the markets wanted the Fed to say last week, but the message they got didn't seem to be what they wanted.

As expected, the Federal Reserve again lifted the federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point, the fourth increase of 2018 and the ninth since this protracted period of rate hikes began back in 2015. The move was widely expected, well-telegraphed and, given still-solid U.S. economic data, unsurprising.

Even though the forecast for growth and inflation were only dimmed a little, it looks as though some investors were expecting a much more "dovish" outlook, one that more strongly reflected the now months-long turbulence in equity prices, slowing global growth, falling oil and commodity prices and recent and expected tempering of inflation. Perhaps some were hedged as though they expected the Fed to skip making a change at this meeting; certainly it would seem that at least some expected the change, but wanted an overt statement of "things are shaky, so we're halting all future rate increases" and even "and we're going to slow or stop our portfolio runoff" all until further notice.

The fact is that the markets cheered a programmed and predictable bond-buying process when the Fed was ballooning its balance sheet and should not complain when a well-structured and fairly predictable dismantling process is being adhered to. The Fed has expressed that it strongly prefers to utilize only the federal funds (and IOER payments) as monetary policy tools, most likely because using the balance sheet to help underpin growth or inflation may have unpredictable outcomes.

Still, equity markets are in a difficult period of adjustment. Softer domestic and global growth and higher interest rates are not good news for corporate profits on which high equity share valuations rely. The process of monetary policy "normalization" was never likely to be painless or easy, but it is necessary, and given the Fed's outlook, probably pretty close to being complete (at least in terms of a "neutral" federal funds rate).

Homebuilders are certainly becoming less optimistic at a rapid pace. The National Association of Home Builders remained in very optimistic, even robust territory for most of the year even as rising mortgage rates and soft sales of new homes were happening. The cold reality of a changed market seemed to hit them last month, when the trade group's Housing Market Index dropped by an outsized 8 points, but things didn't brighten in December when another four point decline happened, dropping the indicator to a value of 56, a three-and-a-half year low.

Sales of existing homes had been softening since spring, but have managed a mild rebound in the last couple of months. In November, sales of previously-owned homes rose by 1.9%, building on a 1.4% improvement in October. The 5.32 million annual rate of sale is on par with what we saw over the summer and is a modest level. Existing home sales are measured when the deed changes hands, and so may reflect conditions 45 to 60 days beforehand, so we are likely seeing some response to both the fall increase in mortgage rates nudging folks to get deals done before worse conditions occurred and both improved inventories of homes to buy and milder price increases. With the bump in sales, those components reversed a bit; inventories declined from 4.3 months of supply to a tight 3.9 months, and prices moved up from a 3.7% year-over-year increase to 4.2%. We don't expect to see the recent uptrend in sales continuing, what with a period of higher rates yet to be factored into December sales and typical seasonal slowness effects to consider.

Another turbulent week in financial markets has come to a close, with equity markets continuing their recent rout and bond yields declining somewhat. The next couple of weeks are filled with market holidays and light slates of new economic data, and it seems to us that markets could use the break. End of year holiday markets tend to be thinly traded, but today was the quarterly "quadruple witching" day for stocks, where market index futures, market index options, stock options and stock futures all expire, a happenstance that usually adds some additional volatility. Perhaps with this now behind us we'll get a modicum of stability to close out the year. We probably won't get it.

At the moment, it looks like another small decline is on tap for mortgage rates this week, probably something on the order of 2-3 basis points in the average conforming 30-year FRM that Freddie will report. That should give holiday homebuyers and potential refinancers the lowest rates in about 16 weeks -- not a bad little holiday gift.

Happy Holidays
Call Melissa Walton Realtor
248.974.1550
Shain Park, REALTORS®
www.ShainPark.com

Mortgage Market information provided by Jon Aucutt, Main Street Bank
31780 Telegraph Road, Suite 100

Bingham Farms, Michigan 48025

[email protected]

Home Page | Shain Park Realtors® | 248-633-8520 | Contact us to request more information about our real estate company. | Birmingham MI Homes for Sale Home Page

This may not be real estate related, but it’s about people. It’s one of the sweetest stories I have ever heard. Bless this man!

https://www.facebook.com/CBSNews/videos/522090731636900/

Melissa Walton - Metro Detroit Real Estate - www.melissawaltonhomes.com updated their address.

Melissa Walton - Metro Detroit Real Estate - www.melissawaltonhomes.com updated their website address.

4 Reasons Why Fall Is A Great Time to Buy A Home! Here are four great reasons to consider buying a home today instead of waiting.

Your car isn’t the only thing you own that needs a tune-up. Get your home ready for winter with this checklist. http://bit.ly/HLfb_10FallCheck

marketing.remaxdesigncenter.com

I will be hosting this open house this Saturday from 1-4. There will also be an estate sale. Fall is a great time to move and this home won’t last long!

165 MAPLEFIELD – $335,000 MLS # 218088077 – Great opportunity in northwest Pleasant Ridge. Spacious Cape Cod with so much potential. Large front porch and newer back patio. New roof on house and garage. Hardwood floors throu...

What an amazing summer! Sold homes in Ferndale, Clawson, Chesterfield, Commerce, Orion Twp, Novi, & Rochester Hills.... shout out to all my clients and my amazing team at ReMax Vision! Another shout out to Liberty Title Birmingham for all your help on the Shoreline deal.....Thank you!

Check out the May Housing Report for Metro Detroit

May Housing Report

Listing Agent: James Orr, Open House held by Melissa Walton

marketing.remaxdesigncenter.com

Couldn’t agree more....

For anyone that needs a boost...

Love this

This really makes you stop and think...

https://www.facebook.com/christina.stone.581/posts/2089320404418277

Dying woman's heartbreaking letter to the world Holly Butcher, a 27 year-old woman from Grafton, New South Wales, Australia, died on Thursday after she lost her battle with a rare form of cancer. Ms Butcher was suffering from Ewing’s sarcoma, a bone cancer. The young woman wrote a heartbreaking letter during his hard battle with the disease, an...

This is a cool story to share... gotta love the quick wit of children!

https://www.facebook.com/melissa.francissharnowski/posts/10211377556694801

Police Officers Notice Kids Laying In A Field, Suddenly Realize That They Are Sending A Crucial Message These kids just saved the day with their quick thinking!

Not related to real estate but too adorable not to share!

https://www.facebook.com/sheila.s.stephens/posts/10154854318636816

Great information!

Is the Color of My Home Ideal for Today's Buyers? Is the Color of My Home Ideal for Today's Buyers? Consumers come to a conclusion about a product within 90 seconds of viewing it-and up to 90% of that judgement is solely based on color. As your local real estate professional, I thought you'd be interested in this easily digestible infographic on ho...

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Pipe Problems? How to Avoid These Top 5 Plumbing Headaches Pipe Problems? How to Avoid These Top 5 Plumbing Headaches With just a little investigating inside and outside your home, you can stave off some serious plumbing problems, and save yourself unnecessary stress and expense. New York City-based Petri Plumbing & Heating, Inc., recommends taking the foll...