FamilyFirstRealtyBlog

You DO NOT Need 20% Down To Buy Your Home NOW! By: KCM Keeping Current Matters 6/25/18 The  Aspiring Home Buyers Profile   from the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR) found that the American public is still somewhat confused about what is required to qualify for a home mortgage loan in today’s housing market. The results of the survey show that the main reason why non-homeowners do not own their own homes is because they believe that they cannot afford them. This brings us to two major misconceptions that we want to address today. 1. Down Payment A recent  survey  by  Laurel Road,  the  National Online Lender  and  FDIC-Insured Bank,  revealed that consumers overestimate the down payment funds needed to qualify for a home loan. According to the survey, 53% of Americans who plan to buy or have already bought a home admit to their concerns about their ability to afford a home in the current market. In addition, 46% are currently unfamiliar with alternative down p

4 Reasons Why Summer Is A Great Time To Buy A Home! By: KCM Keeping Current Matters    6/4/2018           Here are four great reasons to consider buying a home today instead of waiting. 1. Prices Will Continue to Rise CoreLogic’s  latest   Home Price Insights  reports that home prices have appreciated by 7% over the last 12 months. The same report predicts that prices will continue to increase at a rate of 5.2% over the next year. Home values will continue to appreciate for years. Waiting no longer makes sense. 2. Mortgage Interest Rates Are Projected to Increase Freddie Mac’s  Primary Mortgage Market Survey  shows that interest rates for a 30-year mortgage have increased by half a percentage point already in 2018 to around 4.5%. Most experts predict that rates will rise over the next 12 months. The  Mortgage Bankers Association, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac  and the  National Association of Realtors  are in unison, projecting that rates will increase by nearly a full

Days On The Market Drops To New Low In April By: KCM Keeping Current Matters 6/11/18 According to recently released  data  from the  National Association of Realtors  (NAR), the median number of days that a home spent on the market hit a new low of 26 days in April, as 57% of homes were on the market for under a month. NAR’s  Chief Economist,  Lawrence Yun, had this to say, “What is available for sale is going under contract at a rapid pace. Since NAR began tracking this data in May 2011, the median days a listing was on the market was at an all-time low in April, and the share of homes sold in less than a month was at an all-time high.” Strong buyer demand, a good economy, and a low inventory of new and existing homes for sale created the perfect storm to accelerate the time between listing and signing a contract. The chart below shows the median days on the market from April 2017 to April 2018: Bottom Line If you are a homeowner who is debating whether or

The Cost Of Renting Vs. Buying [INFOGRAPHIC] By: KCM Keeping CUrrent Matters   6/8/18 Some Highlights: Historically, the choice between renting or buying a home has been a tough decision. Looking at the  percentage of income  needed to rent a median-priced home today (28.8%) vs. the percentage needed to buy a median-priced home (17.1%), the choice becomes obvious. Every market is different. Before you renew your lease again, find out if you can put your housing costs to work by buying this year!

Homeowners & Appraisers See The Most Eye-To-Eye On Price In 3 Years By: KCM Keeping Current Matters In today’s housing market, where supply is very low and demand is very high, home values are increasing rapidly. Many experts are projecting that home values could  appreciate  by another 5% (or more) over the next twelve months. One major challenge in such a market is the bank appraisal. When prices are surging, it is difficult for appraisers to find adequate, comparable sales (similar houses in the same neighborhood that recently closed) to defend the selling price when performing the appraisal for the bank. Every month in their  Home Price Perception Index (HPPI),   Quicken Loans  measures the disparity between what a homeowner who is seeking to refinance their home believes their house is worth and what an appraiser’s evaluation of that same home is. March 2015 marked the first month of a three-year gap between what an appraiser and a homeowner believed a home wa

Prospective buyers persist in a tough real estate market By  Michele Lerner June 4 at 6:30 AM        The Washington Post Before people can put out a welcome mat, they have to find a house. And that’s proving harder than ever. (iStock) Listings for homes for sale have dropped year-over-year for 34 consecutive months, according to the National Association of Realtors, as prospective buyers are likely aware. Yet the  most recent Housing Trends Report  by the National Association of Home Builders shows that most home buyers won’t give up looking for a home. Among the 17 percent of people who responded to the NAHB pool that they were planning to buy a home in 2018, 42 percent said they were actively searching for a home during the first quarter of 2018. More than half (51 percent) reported they had already been looking for a house for three months or longer. [ Judge dismisses class-action suit against Zillow’s Zestimate ] More than half the respondents (53 p