This $300 Million Mansion in London Is Now the World’s Most Expensive Home for Sale-The trophy property was built in 1818 and includes 40 bedrooms and 29,000 square feet of living space.

fun article from RobbReport.com

A 205-year-old mega-mansion in London’s Regent’s Park has taken the title of the most expensive home in the UK—and the world. The lakefront trophy residence dubbed the Holme can be yours for an eye-watering £250 million ($298.5 million), the Financial Times first reported. Previously, the highest-priced pad to hit the market in Britain was a Knightsbridge property known as 2-8a Rutland Gate, which was listed for $221 million in October 2022. (It also sold for a whopping $232 million in 2020.) And until now, the $250 million penthouse atop Central Power Tower claimed the top spot for the most expensive abode on the planet. The two-story estate dates all the way back to the 19th century when it was built by English architect James Burton and designed by his son, Decimus Burton, in 1818. The massive spread sits on four acres and comprises 40 bedrooms and an impressive 29,000 square feet of living space. It also includes eight garages, a tennis court, a library, a sauna and a grand dining room. “It’s the White House in Regent’s Park,” a source told The Evening Standard. “It’s very special, because you’ve got the ornamental lake, sweeping lawns and this magnificent rear façade which looks like the rear façade of the White House. It’s the most incredible property.” According to records, the Saudi royal family have owned The Holme for over three decades since they bought it in 1998. However, the manse is now in the hands of receivers along with a plane and an additional New York residence after it was repossessed due to an expired loan. Since The Holme is considered the highest-valued asset in the family’s real estate portfolio, putting it up for sale is the fastest and easiest way to pay off the $180 million loan. Agents at Beauchamp Estates and Knight Frank are reportedly handling the listing. fun article from RobbReport.com

In tough housing market, mortgage rate buydowns gain momentum

more helpful buyer info from bankrate.com..... Amid higher mortgage rates and a cooling housing market, some home sellers are wooing buyers with a freshly popular incentive: paying for a temporary reduction to the buyer’s mortgage interest rate. Why are buydowns popular now? In one common scenario, known as a 2/1 buydown, the seller pays to cut the buyer’s mortgage rate by 2 percentage points for the first year of the loan and by 1 percentage point for the second year. As rates have surged to 7 percent, that buydown helps reduce some of the sticker shock buyers are experiencing. “Temporary rate buydowns have been around for a long time, but they’re really only relevant in a market like this, where rates are flying off the handle,” says Dan Catinella, chief lending officer at Total Expert, a company that sells marketing software to mortgage companies. Some of the nation’s largest lenders, including Rocket Mortgage, United Wholesale Mortgage and Guaranteed Rate, have begun marketing the tactic. Rocket Mortgage advertises its buydown program as an “Inflation Buster.” True to the name, the buydown could reduce the buyer’s monthly mortgage payment by hundreds of dollars. “A buydown is a way for buyers to feel a little more comfortable,” says Eric Hamilton, senior vice president of mortgage lending at Guaranteed Rate. During the pandemic-driven housing boom, sellers hardly needed to do anything to unload their homes quickly and for a hefty premium. This year, the housing market has slowed sharply, and sellers face a new reality. “Bidding wars are starting to go away,” says Catinella. “Sellers are starting to have open houses. Homes are sitting on the market longer.” As the market starts to reset, buyers are asking for concessions, feel less pressure to bid aggressively and have more time to weigh their options — and negotiate for a better deal. “Buyers don’t have to go through all these crazy inspection waivers and appraisal waivers,” says Elena Sarantidis, a mortgage broker with Prime Plus Loans in Wellington, Florida. How do rate buydowns work? Say a buyer plans to pay $375,000 for a home, make a 20 percent down payment and finance the remaining $300,000 with a mortgage. The monthly payment on a $300,000 loan at 7 percent is $1,996. With a 2/1 buydown, the interest rate would fall to 5 percent for the first year, and the buyer’s payment would drop to $1,610 — a savings of $386 a month, or $4,632 that first year. The buyer still must qualify for the loan at the higher rate. For the seller, the cost of a 2/1 buydown varies, but typically is a bit more than 2 percent of the amount of the loan. For a $300,000 mortgage, the seller would pay $6,000 to $7,000 into a buydown account that belongs to the buyer. A portion of that sum would be released each month to reduce the buyer’s monthly mortgage payments. If the buyer decides to refinance while there’s still money left in the account, the remaining balance would be applied to the new loan, Hamilton and Sarantidis say. Mortgage lenders offer a variety of buydown options, including: 2/1 buydown: The borrower’s rate drops by 2 percentage points in the first year of the mortgage and by 1 point in the second year. 1/0 buydown: The borrower’s rate drops by 1 percentage point in the first year of the mortgage. 3/2/1 buydown: The borrower’s rate drops by 3 percentage points in the first year of the mortgage, 2 percentage points in the second year and 1 point in the third year. This option is costlier for the seller. Rate buydowns have become a popular option for homebuilders, but others, like Realtors and lenders, can offer them too, says Sarantidis. Why not just cut the sale price? The most common way for sellers to close a deal with a reluctant buyer is to simply cut the price. Proponents of buydowns, however, say both sellers and buyers get more bang for their buck with a temporary rate buydown. In the example of the $375,000 home and $300,000 mortgage, the buyer’s monthly payment would be $1,996. If the seller cut their price to $365,000 and the buyer financed $292,000 instead, the monthly payment would be $1,943. That savings of $53 a month might not look as attractive as the $386 savings with the 2/1 rate buydown. Loan amount Mortgage rate Monthly payment No concession $300,000 7% $1,996 Price cut $292,000 7% $1,943 Rate buydown $300,000 5% $1,610 “On a 30-year mortgage, the price cut is not going to make a big difference,” says Sarantidis. “In the short term, the buydown is a better savings.” For builders, the appeal of a rate buydown is clear: If they cut the price now, they’ll feel pressure to do so for future buyers. The temporary buydown is a way to protect their pricing while also giving the buyer something of value. How is a buydown different from paying points? Some borrowers opt to pay discount points to lower their mortgage interest rate. Unlike a rate buydown that expires in a year or two or three, paying points permanently reduces the rate. With points, however, the rate cut is less steep. Paying one discount point — 1 percent of the loan amount — reduces the rate by about a quarter of a percentage point. Basically, points are a long-term play. If you plan to be in the home for a long time and not refinance, paying points — or asking the seller to pay them on your behalf — could be a better bet. If you expect rates to reverse course in the near future and therefore to refinance your loan, the short-term savings of a buydown could be a better deal. How is a buydown different from an ARM? A temporary buydown has some of the same characteristics of an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM): The borrower begins making payments at one interest rate, then the rate adjusts at a predetermined time down the road. An ARM carries a fixed interest rate for a period of time, typically five years. After that, the interest rate and monthly payments can change every six months or year. With a buydown, on the other hand, the interest rate is technically fixed — it’s just that the seller reduces the borrower’s interest payments for a set period. Both buydowns and ARMs have grown more attractive as mortgage rates have swiftly gone up. However, buydowns look more appealing in the short run compared to ARMs. “The problem is the yield curve is inverted,” says Hamilton, “so ARMs just don’t have the advantages they had in the past.” In Bankrate’s Nov. 16 survey of lenders, the average rate on a 5/6 ARM was about 0.6 percentage point lower than the average rate on a 30-year mortgage, so a buydown could win on this front, too. Bottom line If you’re a seller looking to entice a buyer, consider paying for a temporary rate buydown. This move can cost you far less than a price cut. Ask your listing agent for advice — and keep in mind that this tactic has re-entered the mortgage market only recently, so many Realtors and loan officers are still learning how it works.

As housing cools, some sellers in "Zoom towns" help buyers with mortgage costs

more common to see sellers buying down buyer's mortgage interest rates now.... from cbsnews.com As rising mortgage rates dent housing sales, many "Zoom towns" — areas that boomed during the pandemic thanks to an influx of remote workers — are seeing their housing markets cool. That's leading sellers to get creative and giving buyers a bit of leverage in finding a home. One new strategy that's making inroads: The mortgage "buydown," which can help buyers line up a slightly lower mortgage rate than the 6% or 7% interest on on most home loans today. Taylor Marr, deputy chief economist at Redfin, explained how this works on CBS News Mornings. In a "2-to-1" buydown, a common arrangement, a buyer can secure a lower rate for the first two years of the loan by putting down additional funds. "If you're buying a $500,000 home, you might put an extra $10,000 or $20,000 to temporarily pay down your mortgage rate," he said. "If you're getting a 6% mortgage rate, for the first year you actually get 4%. And then it goes up to 5%, then 6%," he said. "It can be a great way to afford a home if your income is rising rapidly. But you do have to put more money upfront," Marr added. Buydowns are becoming more popular in some areas where home sales are slowing, but they're just one of several concessions sellers can make to nudge a deal over the line. Other sweeteners could include kicking in some money toward repairs or offering to pay the buyer's closing costs, Marr said. In fact, sellers offered a record share of concessions in the last three months of 2022, according to Redfin data. Some 42% of sales by the firm's agents included a concession, according to a recently published report. Some sellers are also having to drop prices outright, with Marr noting that about half of recent home sales closed below the asking price. Concessions are most common in the West, Redfin found. Nearly three-quarters of home sales in San Diego had a concession last quarter, followed by Phoenix, Portland, Las Vegas and Denver. "The pandemic-fueled housing market frenzy was concentrated in a lot of these pandemic boomtowns that were mostly out west," Marr said. "These are the same markets that have cooled rapidly when [interest] rates rose. They're increasingly having to come up with concessions to get buyers to be able to buy a home.

Denver housing inventory is low, but the “luxury market” is thriving

A good article from.... Denverite.com A Colorado Public Radio Funded Paper Denver home buyers are still facing a shortage of properties to purchase. That’s according to the March market-trends report from the Denver Metro Association of Realtors. The 8,000-some-member real estate trade group pulls data based on real estate deals in the 11-county metro area: Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Elbert, Gilpin, Jefferson and Park counties. Analysts expected home prices to drop in 2023. That isn’t happening. Month-to-month, home prices rose. The median price of homes is $562,500, with houses at $600,000, and condos, duplexes and other attached units at $400,000. While the trade organization still describes Denver-area real estate as a “sellers market,” many sellers considering moving from one home to the next are waiting to list their properties, hoping interest rates drop. Sellers with homes on the market continue to drop prices to drum up offers among buyers who are choosier than they have been. So what’s the inventory situation? At the end of February, there were 3,778 homes listed on the market, more than twice what was available last year but down more than 8% from what was listed at the end of January. But in what the trade organization describes as the “Luxury Market,” homes selling for more than $1 million saw a massive rise in February, with nearly 61% more on the market — 494 in total. “The Luxury Market defied the headlines predicting a plummet in home prices, with both detached and attached homes enjoying significant appreciation month-over-month, as well as year-over-year,” noted realtor Colleen Covell, a member of the association’s Market Trends Committee. The metro area continues to have a shortage of workforce housing. In the “Classic Market,” homes selling from $300,000 to $500,000 saw an uptick in inventory. But those gains aren’t matching the demand. The Classic Market boasts roughly a third of the real estate inventory and is what working people are most likely to be able to entertain buying (though even these prices are a stretch). Despite a small increase in the number of available Classic Market homes, “the Metro area’s inventory shortage was felt most significantly in the Classic Market, with only 1.06 months worth of properties available to sell,” explained realtor Molly Polinkovsky, a member of the Market Trends Committee.