Buying a home in a competitive market means you need to have all your ducks in a row. You can be successful by putting your best foot forward before the starting gate. One way to spruce up your offer is to write a love letter to the seller. All sellers have different reasons and motivations…
Buying A Home? Do These Things First. Home sales are rising, and for good reason. Mortgage rates remain are near 3.5 percent for buyers paying points and rents are rising nationwide. Furthermore, home values continue to ratchet higher. Because of today’s market, then, the longer that you wait to you, the more your home may end…
The gap between housing costs and wages continues to grow in the U.S. While the national median home price has increased 60 percent since the beginning of 2012, average weekly paychecks have swelled by just 1 percent. Combined with this year’s rising property values and shrinking inventory of homes, home affordability in the U.S. is…
Nearly 5.5 million previously lived-in homes were sold last year, making 2016 the strongest for the housing market since 2006. But sales slipped in 2.8 percent from November to December, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and sales of new homes fell to a 10-month low, according to the Commerce Department. Both figures…
As we inch toward the end of the year, consumers and lenders alike begin looking toward the post-holiday season – the start of 2017 – and the potential for a home purchase in the coming year. But whether this is your first home purchase or your seventh, home lending in 2017 promises to be different…
Just about one-third of Americans say their financial life is worse than they thought it would be. That’s the primary conclusion of a new study by the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) — that the cause of their financial stress is something as simple as ongoing transportation expenses, housing repairs or maintenance, or even…
Deanna White told a contractor she couldn’t afford the $42,200 loan he recommended for improvements to her house in Inglewood, Calif. The contractor, she recalled, said she wouldn’t be on the hook because the loan was part of a “government program.” She applied and was approved. Two years later, Ms. White is struggling to make…
While opponents of homeownership claim it’s ” the American nightmare,” self-made millionaire David Bach is doubling down on his faith in real estate. He thinks that not prioritizing homeownership is “the single biggest mistake millennials are making.” Buying a home is “an escalator to wealth,” he tells CNBC. Young adults in particular aren’t hopping on…
It’s fairly common to hear that a particular economic data point is the best since the recession. But you’d have to go back a bit further to compare the last time home builder sentiment was so high. In December, builder sentiment, as measured by the National Association of Home Builders’ housing market index, surged to…
Housing inventory has been below normal for more than two years now. That’s been true of new homes and existing homes, and the forecast for the new year is not a whole lot better. According to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the inventory of existing homes for sale had dropped more than…
The end of a year always has people wondering what the next will bring. And after a year like 2016 – with its political upsets, social uncertainty and international instability – many are desperately looking forward to a change in 2017. Unlike other major points of discussion in the news, real estate maintained an overall…
Last decade’s housing bubble lifted a lot of Americans into home ownership, especially low-income families that took advantage of easy credit and a steady supply of new, simply built homes. We all know how that ended. But it turns out the Great Recession, foreclosure and even personal bankruptcy weren’t the final insults for millions of…
It’s tempting for many sellers to take a step back over the holiday season and wait to list their home until after the New Year. Some sellers may even pull their homes off the market temporarily to relist once the holidays are safely behind them. This strategy works well for sellers who may have other…
Interest rates on U.S. fixed-rate mortgages rose to their highest levels in more than two years, sending weekly home loan application activity to its weakest since early January, Mortgage Bankers Association data released on Wednesday showed. The Washington-based industry group said 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgages averaged 4.27 percent, the highest level since October 2014. The…
When you analyze the housing market at the end of a year, you can often spot trends — and 2016 definitely had a big one: a lack of inventory, or supply, of homes for sale. Once you couple low inventory with strong buyer demand, which we also saw in 2016, you’ll probably see home prices…
OTF Mortgage News by Dan Russell 