BROADCASTS.com

b'With Terry Story, 28-year veteran Real Estate Agent with Coldwell Banker in Boca Raton, FL
Living small in all the right places
Our resident real estate expert, Terry Story, is talking small this week\\u2014but in a very big way. It seems that there is a surge of interest in some parts of the country for tiny houses, houses no bigger than 200-300 square feet. In Spur, Texas, for example, an entire community of these Lilliputian homes is sprouting up, costing on average of from $30,00 to 50,000. Although these homes are illegal in some parts of the country, in Florida, Colorado, and Texas, people are going for them in large numbers.
The size and other relative characteristics, such as these mini-homes being either on wheels or on a solid foundation, may not seem so different from traditional mobile homes that have been around for a long time now. Whatever the comparison, these new super-down-sized dwellings which offer only three essentials\\u2014 kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom\\u2014are an up and coming phenomenon in the housing industry.\\xa0 How better to simply your life than by going tiny?
Before you sell your home, know the lucky numbers.
Lucky 8s, unlucky 13, or is it number 4? When it comes to listing your home for sale, it turns out that the listing number is very important.\\xa0 We all know that the number 13 is perceived to be an unlucky number for most people here in the U.S., however, within Chinese communities, it\\u2019s the number 4 that\\u2019s to be avoided. So, if you have a home to sell in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York, you\\u2019d do well to list your home with as many 8s as possible since that\\u2019s the most desirable number within the Chinese culture.\\xa0Realtor.com, who conducted the research for all this, conceded that in reality, of 178 homes that popped up on listings that included multiples 8s, they only sold about 0.32% faster than other listings.
The Trump Effect
Whether you are buying large or small and no matter what you consider your lucky number, the new administration that will soon be taking over our government will have the greatest impact on the housing market.
As far as the South Florida housing market is concerned, Terry believes that if Trump follows through on his promises
to lower taxes and to increase jobs and infrastructure the housing market will indeed benefit, even though rising interest rates will hamper the ability of some to make new housing purchases.
The anticipation of faster growth in 2017 is one of the reasons the stock market has been on the rise, but this growth could also bring on inflation which will have its own impact on housing across the country.
Terry reminds us that we\\u2019re pretty much at the peak of a 10-year cycle, one that rose up after the 2008 market downturn and, although it won\\u2019t happen overnight, the movement will slide downward at some point
Terry\\u2019s best advice: Buy what you can afford and don\\u2019t overreach just because we\\u2019re in a positive cycle because\\u2014we all know that what goes up does eventually come down.'