Many would-be move-up buyers are staying put in their current homes, unable to afford the increasing prices of larger properties. But they're learning a strategy to save for their next home—by becoming “accidental investors.“ More investment property owners today are everyday homeowners renting out their current home to take advantage of rising rental rates and save for a bigger home, CNBC reports.Some real estate professionals are recommen
The U.S. homeownership rate posted another increase, reaching 64.3 percent in the second quarter, up a tenth of a percentage point from the first quarter, the Commerce Department reported this week. The rate has increased 0.6 percentage points over the past year.Younger Americans, specifically those under the age of 35, are behind most of the recent increases in the ownership rate. The homeownership rate of this younger buyer group increased to
Consumers who make efforts to raise their credit scores from “fair” to “very good” may see big payoffs. LendingTree researchers analyzed loan request and average loan balance data to see how a lower credit score can increase borrowing costs for the average consumer. They compared the impact across several types of debt: mortgages, student loans, auto loans, personal loans, and credit cards.Overall, raising a credit score from “fair”
Ongoing housing shortages and rising home prices are prompting international buyers to pause in their recent homebuying sprees in the United States. International sales in the U.S. totaled $121 billion from April 2017 to March 2018, a 20 percent decline from a year ago, the National Association of REALTORS® reports.Foreign buyers and recent immigrants accounted for 8 percent of existing home sales, a decrease from 10 percent during the 12-month
The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced this week that it is suspending an initiative to update the credit score model used by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That initiative would have potentially helped to provide millions of creditworthy Americans who have been unable to be scored with a credit score and a path toward homeownership.The FHFA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac have been evaluating the impact of a new
Online retail giant Overstock.com is entering the real estate business. The company announced this week that it will begin to manage properties for landlords of single-family rental properties and multifamily housing developments through its newly acquired property management site called Houserie.“For nearly 20 years, Overstock has connected customers with premium home goods, helping them build their dream homes; now, we look forward to expan
Ongoing inventory shortages helped to push the median sale price for existing homes to another all-time high in June, the National Association of REALTORS® reports. The median price for all housing types was $276,900, surpassing a previous record set in May. Home prices have surged 5.2 percent since a year ago.The mix of low inventory and high home prices may have had an influence on existing-home sales in June, which fell for the third consecut
Sellers are cashing in on yet another record high for sale prices, with the median annual return on home sales reaching 8 percent nationally over the last 12 months, according to realtor.com®. But some cities are seeing annual returns stretch as high as 14 percent, researchers found in an analysis of the 100 largest U.S. metros. “Owning can be a great way to build up overall net worth,” says realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. “I
Nearly three in 10 mortgage borrowers either don’t know the rate they’re paying on their loan or decline to disclose it, according to a new survey by Bankrate. Consumers who don’t keep track of their mortgage rate may be making an expensive mistake, financial experts caution. “Most homeowners should know what their rate is,” says Martin Choy, operations manager at Westwood Mortgage in Seattle. “If they have an adjustable-rate mortgage
Many homeowners have limits on their home insurance policies that are too low to cover the full cost of repairing or rebuilding in case of a natural disaster—and the problem is particularly alarming in areas at risk of hurricanes and flooding, The Wall Street Journal reports.Catastrophic damage left in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria last year revealed a widespread lack of full insurance coverage for many homeowners in Texas, F
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