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Survey: Homeownership Still Hallmark of American Dream

Survey: Homeownership Still Hallmark of American Dream March 6, 2019 The majority of Americans—79 percent recently surveyed—still believe that owning a home is a vital component of achieving the American dream, according to a Bankrate.com survey of more than 2,000 consumers. Americans placed achieving homeownership ahead of retirement (68 percent), having a successful career (63 percent), and owning an automobile (58 percent), according to the survey. While the majority of respondents rated ownership high, they do see several challenges to overcome to achieve it. About half of the survey’s respondents say they don’t own a home because they can’t afford it on their income. Four in 10 Americans say they don’t own because they can’t afford a down payment and closing costs, while one-third cite high home prices as the major obstacle.    But a rigid savings plan could put more consumers into homeownership. “Put yourself on financial lockdown for at least six month
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Where Buying Beats Renting in Savings - See Where PDX Ranks

Where Buying Beats Renting in Savings March 6, 2019 For average-sized homes, buying a home is usually a better deal than renting, says a new study by LendingTree, an online lending resource, which compared monthly rental and mortgage payments for homes in the 50 largest U.S. metros. “Renting can be the best option if a person is not planning on staying in one area for a very long time or does not have enough cash for a down payment,” LendingTree notes in its study. “But buying a home can be a good long-term investment.” Researchers found that Miami, Orlando, Fla., and Virginia Beach, Va., are the metros where rent payments are the most expensive when compared to mortgage payments. Median mortgage payments are, on average, $215 cheaper than median rent payments in these metros. Four of the top 10 metros where monthly rents are higher than monthly mortgage payments were located in Florida. A recent Harvard University study found that too few rental units and lo
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How Buyers Can Save $430 in the First Year of Ownership

How Buyers Can Save $430 in the First Year of Ownership March 5, 2019 Buyers financing their home purchase can save hundreds of dollars in their first year of owning just by shopping around for a mortgage, according to new study from NerdWallet, a personal finance website. “That savings would accumulate and compound for every year that they had the loan,” Holden Lewis, a home expert at NerdWallet, told CNBC.Home shoppers who compare interest rates between five different lenders can pocket $430 in savings in their first year alone, according to NerdWallet’s analysis using a 30-year fixed-rate, $260,000 mortgage. However, most borrowers fail to shop around. Indeed, half of home buyers say they only looked at one lender when buying a home, according to the survey of about 2,000 adults. Lewis says borrowers are missing out on potential savings. He suggests borrowers not only call multiple lenders when looking for the best loan but also use online home affordability
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Why You Should Focus on Your Listing’s Home Office

Why You Should Focus on Your Listing’s Home Office March 4, 2019 If your listing has a dedicated home office, consider playing it up in your marketing. With more Americans telecommuting for work, the need for a home office is growing, according to a new Forbes.com report. Nearly 3 percent of the U.S. workforce—or about 4 million workers—now telecommutes for at least half of their work time. Between 2005 and 2015, regular remote work surged 115 percent, Forbes.com notes.  Builder Magazine has called the dedicated home office one of buyers’ favorite choices among bonus rooms. “More people are working remotely, and buyers want a dedicated work space,” says Christine Drimalla, GRI, SRES, a broker with Baird & Warner in Winnetka, Ill. “They want to be in sunlit spaces with plenty of natural light, where they can access the rest of their home. I hear from buyers all the time that they want an office on the main floor so they can quickly go to the front door or kit
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Advice Young Adults Need to Avoid Buyer’s Remorse

Advice Young Adults Need to Avoid Buyer’s Remorse March 4, 2019 Most young adults have financial regrets about their home purchase, a new Bankrate survey shows, but much of their grief could have been avoided with proper planning. That’s where you come in: Younger buyers have a need for more professional guidance about the costs of homeownership. Sixty-three percent of millennial homeowners—more than any other generation—expressed buyer’s remorse, most often pertaining to closing costs, home maintenance, and other hidden expenses, according to the survey of more than 2,000 consumers. “When you buy a house, you can’t call the maintenance company or a landlord to fix major issues; it’s all on you,” says Luis Rosa, a financial planner in Henderson, Nev. Extra expenses, such as needing a new air conditioner, furnace, or water heater, often catch first-time buyers by surprise, Rosa adds. “I always advise home buyers to create savings buckets and open a savings account
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More Homeowners Paying Their Mortgages on Time

More Homeowners Paying Their Mortgages on Time March 4, 2019 More Americans are paying their mortgages on time than at any point in nearly two decades, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Delinquency rates are a key economic measure, closely watched by economists. The last time a large number of homeowners stopped making mortgage payments on time, from 2007 to 2008, it impacted the entire economy. Borrowers who have conventional mortgages are the most likely to pay on time, while borrowers with loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration tend to pay late nearly three times more often. (Still, 91 percent of FHA borrowers pay on time.) FHA borrowers tend to have lower credit scores, higher debt-to-income ratios, and lower down payments. All three factors multiply the risk that borrowers will pay late, according to the MBA. But the FHA delinquency rate of 8.65 percent is still a big improvement over a decade ago, when it was about 14 percent. W
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Home Flipping Slowdown Could Be Temporary, Report Says

Home Flipping Slowdown Could Be Temporary, Report Says March 1, 2019 Fewer homes were flipped in 2018, but investors are still on the hunt and have not shied away from quick resales, according to a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate data firm. Single-family homes and condos that were flipped fell 4 percent in 2018, reaching 207,957 homes, according to ATTOM’s 2018 U.S. Home Flipping Report, released this week. Home flips comprised 5.6 percent of all single-family home and condo sales last year, the same as the year before. ATTOM Data Solutions defines a home flip as an arms-length transaction that occurs in the year where a previous arms-length sale on the same property occurred within the last 12 months. Completed home flips returns in 2018 fell to a four-year low. Home flips averaged a gross profit (the difference between the median purchase price and the median flipped sales price) of $65,000—an average 44.8 percent return on investment. But t
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