The secret is out. Mortgage Interest Rates have dropped substantially below initial projections. Although the rates have now reached historic lows, buyers are still waiting in anticipation of them dropping further.

Why has the proverbial interest rate Santa Claus given buyers such a long-term affordable gift? The answer is multi-faceted. However, the main contributor is less inflation.

Oil prices are always a good marker for inflation. You may have noticed that filling up your gas tank has also become substantially less expensive in recent months. What’s the correlation? According to NAR, the Fed uses inflation indicators such as oil price fluctuations to arrive upon their weekly rates. By that logic, interest rates and gas prices are somewhat…

Every January, our brokerage, Decker Bullock Sotheby’s International Realty, releases a very thorough and comprehensive report detailing the past year’s statistics. The 2014 Marin Market Report is now available and ready to be sent off to interested parties.

Highlights from the 2014 Marin Market:

-       Single Family and Condo average sale price was $1.19 Million county-wide, just a hair under 2007 peak average of 1.2 Million. Average sales price for just Single Family Homes was $1,376,407.

-       Largest sale in 2014 occurred in Kentfield for $12,250,000, trailed closely by Belvedere’s $12,000,000 sale.

-       Average Days On Market was 59 county-wide. The most active markets included with Corte Madera, Fairfax, Larkspur, and Mill Valley, all…

After finishing 2014 with near historic lows at 3.7-3.9%, it’s hard to believe affordability for buyers could get much better.

However, the golden ages for buyers may be coming to an end. According to the website Investopedia, interest rates are expected to rise in the latter half of 2015.

“If they do jump to the 5% range it will be a modest hike when compared to historical averages. Rates will still be far below the approximately 8.5% 30-year fixed-rates mortgages have averaged since 1971 when Freddie Mac started tracking them.”

Projections are as follows:

So what does this mean for today’s buyers? I think it’s obvious what I’m about to say: If it’s been on your plate for the past few years, stop waiting. Buy now! Although we are still in a…