Good morning, and welcome to Home Sweet Buzz! 🏡 🐝

October is here, and the market is giving buyers and sellers plenty to think about. Grab your morning drink, get comfy, and let’s take a quick look at what’s happening in Davis County real estate this week.

🏡 HOME SWEET BUZZ is proudly presented in partnership with Todd Porter & Tammy Swain | SURE Synergy United Real Estate Group

📈 Mortgage Rates Hit 7.28% — Giving Buyers Another Reason to Wait

Just as Davis County sellers are seeing buyers become more patient, borrowing got more expensive this week.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate jumped to 7.28% on Oct. 1, according to Freddie Mac — up from 7.03% just one week earlier and the highest level in nearly three years. Freddie Mac

Mortgage applications fell 6% during the week as affordability pressures pushed some would-be buyers back to the sidelines. 👉 Read More

🏡 Buyers Are Waiting You Out — Especially in Bountiful

Something interesting is happening in the Davis County housing market: buyers are getting more patient.

Right now, the 347 homes under contract across the county spent an average of 68 days on the market before a buyer signed — the longest wait in any weekly snapshot Todd and Tammy have tracked this year. Back in early May, that number was about 49 days.

And Bountiful really stands out.

The typical Bountiful home that went under contract this week had been listed for 85 days. A month ago, that number was just 31.5 days. Meanwhile, homes still waiting for buyers have been listed a median of 62.5 days.

In other words, buyers are actually choosing some of the homes that have been sitting longer.

Why? They have choices.

There are currently about three active listings for every home under contract countywide, and active sellers have already reduced their original asking prices by an average of about 2.9% — nearly double the 1.7% seen in mid-March.

That patience is showing up in closed sales, too. The 58 homes that closed this week sold for about 97.9% of their final asking price, but only 95.5% of their original asking price.

On a home originally listed at $600,000, that's a difference of roughly $27,000.

That doesn't mean every neighborhood is behaving the same way. In Kaysville and North Salt Lake, newer, well-priced listings are still moving more quickly. Where your home is located — and how it's positioned from day one — matters.

💡 Todd & Tammy's Take

The goal isn't simply to put a house on the market and see what happens. It's to give it its strongest opportunity before buyers start waiting for the next price cut.

Todd and Tammy recommend three things:

1. Know your real number before you list. Look at what's actually selling, what's going under contract and where price reductions are happening — not just an online estimate or a neighbor's asking price.

2. Prepare before day one. Their Fix & List and Certified Turnkey Home™ programs are designed to address the things buyers notice before the home hits the market.

3. Have a pricing plan before you need one. Decide ahead of time what you'll do if the market doesn't respond rather than making a series of small price cuts that may encourage buyers to keep waiting.

For buyers, there's an opportunity here too: older listings may offer some of today's best negotiating room.

📱 Want to know where you stand? Text Todd & Tammy at 801-755-1882 for a no-pressure equity check.

If for any reason, property tax concerns, estate planning, wealth evaluation, you are wondering what the present value of your home; scan this QR code or go to https://sureut.com/epicreport and we will promptly provide you with our detailed professionally engineered EPIC Report:

💬 Rebecca from Centerville Asked:

“"A couple of weeks ago you said Centerville had 60 homes for sale, only 14 under contract, and sellers were cutting about 3.6% off their original price. My neighbor paid a stager and still had to drop her price. I'm listing next month. Should I even bother staging, or just price it lower and skip it?"

👉 Todd and Tammy answer:

That's a great question, Rebecca, because staging and pricing do two very different jobs.

Staging didn't necessarily fail your neighbor. A beautifully presented home can still sit if it's priced above what buyers are willing to pay. But that doesn't mean preparation isn't worthwhile.

This week, Centerville has 57 homes for sale and only 13 under contract, so buyers still have plenty of choices. The homes going under contract there had been listed an average of 89 days.

In a market like that, buyers can be selective.

Rather than spending heavily on a complete designer makeover, Todd and Tammy recommend targeted preparation — concentrating on the things buyers notice in listing photos and during those first few minutes inside: light, clutter, paint and the main living spaces.

Then comes pricing.

A 3.6% price reduction on a $600,000 home is about $21,600. That's worth considering when you're deciding whether a smaller investment in preparation could help your home make a stronger first impression.

Todd and Tammy's approach is to use their EPIC Home Value System to determine the price, then focus preparation where it can make the biggest difference. Their Fix & List program can also help sellers complete needed improvements before listing, and they offer a free staging consultation when you list with them.

The simple answer: preparation helps get buyers through the door; accurate pricing helps get them to sign. In today's Centerville market, you want both.

Got a Real Estate question?
👉 Submit a question for next week’s edition 
Call us at 801-755-1882, and let’s build your
custom plan to win in this market.

🏡 This Week’s listings & Open Houses
in Davis County

🏘️Your Weekend Open-House Report

Scan or click the QR Code below for a complete list of
open houses happening around Davis County.
👇👇👇👇 

🔑 ATTENTION REALTORS!!!

🏡 Want Your Listing or Open House Listed Here?

We welcome submissions from ALL local real estate professionals!
👉 👉 Submit your listing here - (Listing must be located within Davis County)

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