It's August. Yay! School's starting! Most people are excited about that I know. I'm a little bit heartsick. My one and only baby is starting kindergarten today. So exciting in our house and also very bittersweet. He's really excited though and we're happy for him.

Let's look at the real estate market. As school typically starts we see the summer cool down ramp up a little bit, but nowhere like it was in the springtime. We'll start to see prices level off. That does make things a lot easier for our buyers out there. The market won't have that frenetic pace, that it did in the spring - where there are so many buyers trying to buy the same house, bidding wars bringing that price way above asking price. You might still compete sometimes on some particular houses in good neighborhoods that are priced well, but it won't feel as crazy. And you might see houses going for closer to that asking price or even maybe the buyers are going to gain a little bit of negotiating power. They might sometimes get houses for a little bit less - if you're lucky or have a really good agent.

I was speaking with one of my preferred lenders today. I've got a few of those that do a really great job. We were talking about interest rates. Right now for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage it's at 4% or slightly under. If you're going to do a 15 year we're looking at between 3-3.5% depending on your credit score. And if you're looking to do an FHA or a VA loan you're going to be probably about a quarter percent higher than those conventional rates.

To sum up, it's a great time for buyers out there right - the market has slowed down some - it's getting easier. We still have our seller's market. We've got about four months of inventory out there which definitely puts us in the seller's market arena. But, again, it's less crazy, it's less competitive and it's a good time to do it. So if you're ready to step out, stop renting, or make that next move to upsize or downsize from where you're at, it really is a good time and I'd be happy to help. Give me a call, I'll help you with any and all of your real estate needs.