Advice for Home Buyers in Anchorage

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today I'm going to be speaking about the buyer's side of the market here in Anchorage. Hopefully this information will make your home purchase easier and also more efficient.

Across the board inventory is fairly low. We're sitting below three months of inventory right now, so homes are not all that plentiful right now. When you get into $0-$400K range those inventory levels dip even lower.

As a buyer, you will have less to pick from. This means you'll need to be decisive and ready to jump on a home when you find one that you like.

One thing that you should do immediately if you want to buy a home is speak with a local lender. This will help to figure out what you can afford, and this will make your home search much easier. You won't waste time looking at homes that you cannot afford.

Once this is done you can begin looking at homes. However, you need to remember that inventory is low and that you'll need to make decisions quickly. There just aren't a lot of homes around, so the good ones are being bought up quickly.

This is where we can come in and assist you with writing a compelling offer, especially if there are multiple offers on the home. There are many ways to grab the attention of a seller, and we can do that for you.


If you have any questions about this information, please don't hesitate to contact me. I'd be happy to help you!

How Will Our Inventory Affect Your Buying Power?

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today I'd like to update you on the inventory levels here in Anchorage and Eagle River. Overall, inventory is relatively low, and we're under a three month level. This means that we're in a seller's market because there are less homes available.

• Anywhere under $400K there is about a 1-2 month supply of homes, so sellers can reap big benefits if they have a home of this value for sale.
• From $400K to $600K we have more inventory and homes are sitting on the market for a little bit longer. The key to selling these homes is pricing them right and making sure that they are in good condition.
• From $600K to $750K we have about six months of inventory, which means that the market is balanced between buyers and sellers. Buyers will have an easier time buying these homes.
• If your home is worth more than $1 million, we have roughly 23 months of inventory, which means that you're in a buyer's market. 

Overall, the real estate market is very good here for buyers and sellers. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you're looking to buy or sell a home in Anchorage.

Ready to Visit Resolution Pointe?

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Hey everyone, thanks for joining us today. We are excited to talk a little bit about the Resolution Pointe subdivision here in Anchorage. If you check out the video above, we will actually take you on a virtual tour of the subdivision, where you'll get to see what everyone has been talking about.

This subdivision is being developed by the Hickel Investment Team and there are currently 99 available lots. The prices of the lots start at $130,000 and go up from there. We have all different sizes of lots as well, all the way up to a 120,000 sq ft. lot. As you can see in the video above, this is a heavily wooded, secluded area with some truly breathtaking views. An added bonus is that you also get to pick your own builder to construct the home for you. 

If you have any questions for us, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. If you're looking to build a new home, give us a call as well. We look forward to speaking with you!

Are Rates on the Rise in Anchorage?

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Are you curious about what's going on in Anchorage real estate? If so, you've come to the right place!

Recently, interest rates have dropped. Over the last year or so, rates have hovered around the 4.3% mark. However, a few weeks ago 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to about 3.9% and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 3.25%! 

It really doesn't get much better than this...

What do these great rates mean to you as a buyer? For starters, it means you can buy more house - you get more value for your dollar. As a seller, it also means that the prices of homes have stabilized and remain high. Whether you're buying or selling, now is the time to get real estate to work for you! 

With oil dropping below $60 a barrel, it's inevitable that we'll eventually see some changes in interest  rates will go up somewhere between 5% and 7%. If rates jump 1% for a home that's $250,000, you will have to pay more than $200 a month more for the same house. Over the life of a 30-year loan, you will pay over $73,000 more than you would if you were to lock in today's low rates.
rates. It's predicted that, between the next 6-18 months,

As you can see, waiting to make your move could cost you a whole lot of money down the road. If you have been on the fence about buying, now is the time to make your decision. If you're thinking about selling, now would be the time to put it on the market if you want to get great value from it.

Give us a call or shoot us an email for real estate help of any kind, we would love to make the process as smooth and stress-free as possible. Thanks, and have a great day! 

Get a Leg-up on Your Competition: Become Pre-approved

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today I wanted to talk about the importance of buyers becoming pre-approved to purchase a home. The reason why it’s so important to be a pre-approved buyer is because it actually gives the agent you are working with the guidelines on how to help you hunt for a home. Being pre-approved is the first step of the house hunting process. This allows you to have your credit in line because if for some reason it isn’t, your lender will be able to give you advice on how to get things corrected. Often it’s just taking a little bit of time to shuffle around paperwork and get it straightened up.

If you are preapproved and you have presented all your documentation to the lender, they will give you a value and some loan options. Once you’ve received the value from your lender, you will give the information to your agent so they know what to work with. The key points are that you do not want to go over the value my much; $10,000 over would be maximum because there are properties that do price reductions and you can’t get a heads up to watch them. If you’re agent is looking to go higher than that, you need to have a conversation and ask why that is.

The next piece will be the type of loan you qualify for. If you’re a veteran and have veterans’ preferences, you can obtain a V.A. loan. You could also qualify for an F.H.A. loan; these are important factors and a good lender will help you pick the best loan. Don’t be afraid to ask questions! You need to know what the expectation of that loan is.

Another reason for why you should be pre-approved is when you are ready to make an offer, you’re ready to go at that point. You don’t have to find a house, then run to the bank to get pre-approved and lose the house to another buyer. Also, when an offer has been presented, the seller wants to see that you’ve been pre-approved.

Sellers won’t take your word for it; you need to show proof that you’ve taken in the necessary documents to qualify for purchasing their home. Most sellers require you to be pre-approved before they even take you into their homes. Once you’ve come to an agreement on a contract, a pre-approval letter does not mean that the loan has been fully approved.

Once you are under contract, you have been very cognizant of what you spend; you must refrain from spending $20,000 on furniture or a new car. You don’t want to do anything to change your credit because that could disqualify you from a loan. Loans have debt-to-income ratios that are required and if you change your debt ratio, it may disqualify you from that property.

If you’re looking start the purchasing process, give me a call at (907) 240-2804 or email me at dar@darwalden.com. Thanks and have a great day!

What Did You See in 2013?

Welcome back to my video blog! Today I wanted to do a short video on what we saw in 2013 and also what you can expect to see in 2014. My year for the Dar Walden Team was a great year! Consumer confidence seemed to be up and properties were selling as soon as they hit the market with multiple offers. This is the first time we’ve seen multiple offers in 6-7 years.

In the first half of 2013, the market started in February and went strong through June and then began to slow down. In all my years in the business, 2013 was a very different year. The market was a bit of a stop and start process going from being very hot, to cooling down for a month and then picking back up again. The Dar Walden Team ended the year with about 140 homes sold; the average realtor across the country sells about six.

After a busy year, we’re hoping 2014 proves to be a better year! With both interest rates and inventory being low, now is the time to think about getting your home on the market! With the inventory remaining low, it is keeping the demand price up. We hope 2014 will be as prosperous as 2013 was!

If you’re looking to buy or sell home in 2014, please visit our website at www.alaskatopagent.com, give us a call at (907) 240-2804 or email me at dar@darwalden.com. Thanks and have a great day!