Hope Leitner, Realtor®, CRS

Young adults are living with their parents longer than ever before. For many of them, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find a home to buy or rent.    The challenge is that both home purchase and rental prices keep rising, which locks people into a non-ownership situation. Many renters have lately begun discussing if it even makes sense to buy a home at all.   That creates a problem, especially for younger adults. Why? Because the best time to get into any investment, including a house, is when you’re young, which allows plenty of time for the investment to rise in value.    So next time you’re talking with a friend or neighbor with a young family member who feels trapped by home affordability, take out your phone, look up my number, and call or text me immediately. I have experience that can help guide a discussion about how to become a home owner.    Did you know that prior to 2012 the larger buyer of kale in North...

There is no doubt that historically low mortgage interest rates were a major impetus to housing recovery over the last several years. However, many industry experts are showing concern about the possible effect that the rising rates will have moving forward. The  Mortgage Bankers Association, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac  and the  National Association of Realtors  are all projecting that mortgage interest rates will move upward in 2017. Increasing interest rates will  definitely impact purchasers  and may stifle demand. In a recent study of industry experts,  “rising mortgage interest rates, and their impact on mortgage affordability”  was named by 56% as the force they think will have the most significant impact on U.S. housing in 2017. If rising rates slow demand for housing, home values will be impacted. To this point , Pulsenomics,  recently  surveyed  a panel of over 100 economists, investment strategists, and housing ma...

According to a recent  survey  conducted by  ClosingCorp , over half of all homebuyers are surprised by the closing costs required to obtain their mortgage. After surveying 1,000 first-time and repeat homebuyers, the results revealed that 17% of homebuyers were surprised that closing costs were required at all, while another 35% were stunned by how much higher the fees were than expected. “Homebuyers reported being most surprised by mortgage insurance, followed by bank fees and points, taxes, title insurance and appraisal fees.” Bankrate.com  recently  gathered  closing cost data from lenders in every state and Washington, D.C. to be able to share the average costs in each state. The map below was created using the closing costs on a $200,000 mortgage with a 20% down payment. Keep in mind that if you are in the market for a home above this price range. your costs could be significantly more. According to  Freddie Mac , “Closing co...

According to a  survey  conducted by  Bankrate.com , one in four Americans are considering buying a home this year. If this statistic proves to be true, that means that 59 million people will be looking to enter the housing market in 2017. The survey also revealed 3 key takeaways: Those most likely to buy are ‘Older Millennials’ (ages 27-36) or ‘Generation X’ (ages 37-52) Minorities, particularly African-Americans, were twice as likely to respond that they were considering purchasing a home this year than white respondents. Many potential buyers  believe  they need to put 20% down and need to have perfect credit to own and are unaware of programs that would allow them to buy now. Holden Lewis, a mortgage analyst for  Bankrate.com , pointed to one big reason why many Americans are starting to consider homeownership: “Having kids and raising a family is a primary reason why Americans take the leap into homeownership—many consider it a key co...

The  National Association of Realtors (NAR)  keeps historical data on many aspects of homeownership. One of the data points that has changed dramatically is the median tenure of a family in a home. As the graph below shows, for over twenty years (1985-2008), the median tenure averaged exactly six years. However, since 2008, that average is almost nine years – an increase of almost 50%. Why the dramatic increase? The reasons for this change are plentiful! The fall in home prices during the housing crisis left many homeowners in a negative equity situation (where their home was worth less than the mortgage on the property). Also, the uncertainty of the economy made some homeowners much more fiscally conservative about making a move. With  home prices rising  dramatically over the last several years, 93.7% of homes with a mortgage are now in a positive equity situation with 79.1% of them having at least 20% equity,  according  to  CoreLogi...