Who do appraisers work for? Why won’t an appraiser speak to me? Appraisers are bound by strict confidentiality rules as outlined by the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). When an appraisal is ordered by a mortgage lender – they become the appraisal client, NOT the homeowner/buyer/seller. Although the homeowner or buyer may pay for the appraisal in their closing costs, they are NOT paying the appraiser, rather reimbursing the mortgage lender. Appraisers are paid by their clients, the mortgage lenders. The home buyer is entitled to a copy of the report – it’s usually i ..read more

TLDR; The evidence of interest rate increases effect on closed sale prices has shown up in the August 2022 data. Gone are the 15% increases year over year of the average closed sale price in Centre County. The first eight months of 2022 have seen an average of 5.8% appreciation compared to the first eight months of 2021.  While an increase of 15% to 25% year over year was the norm for 2021 prices, only June 2022 reached an 11.3% increase over June 2021. The appreciation for any one month in 2022 over the same month in 2021 averages 5% rather than 15% in 2021 over 2020. Closed sale prices ..read more

The Centre County real estate market has started showing signs of slow down. There are less listings, less closed sales, and lower median sale prices. Based on the aggregate data for the Centre County single-family real estate market, July was a slow month. In 2021, July peaked at 144 new listing; while this year had only 96. The median closed sale price is 6.6% higher than July 2021. The median sale price hovered at mid-330,000 between April and August of 2021 until declining in September. The median sale price has been steadily increasing in 2022 from $297,000 in January to $374,000 in June ..read more

Market Update: The summer slump has begun The most telling market update is that the number of properties listed for sale in June 2022 has increased as compared to June 2021 in Centre County, but the number of properties that have closed is down. The slow down of closed sales may be due to the interest rate increases in March, May and June. The interest rate increases may have pumped the brakes on the number of closings, but it has not shown up yet in the closed sale prices or listing prices. The median closed sale price in Centre County for June 2022 was $374,000 as compared to $336,000 in Ju ..read more

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