• Buyers,  Real Estate Advice

    How Quickly Can You Save Your Down Payment?

    Saving for a down payment is often the biggest hurdle for a first-time homebuyer. Depending on where you live, median income, median rents, and home prices all vary. So, we set out to find out how long it would take to save for a down payment in each state. Using data from HUD, Census and Apartment List, we determined how long it would take, nationwide, for a first-time buyer to save enough money for a down payment on their dream home. There is a long-standing ‘rule’ that a household should not pay more than 28% of their income on their monthly housing expense. By determining the percentage of income spent renting in each state, and the amount…

  • Real Estate Advice

    Sunday Market Watch

    Today I see that the local markets are a bit slow. We had 8 homes listed, 6 price drops, and 12 homes went pending. Whenever you see listing numbers lower than the pending numbers, market power sits in the lap of the sellers. Low inventory, and the buying season picking up as the temperatures do mean, all things remaining equal, we can expect to see another summer of steadily increasing prices. Builders are attempting to keep up with the influx of new residents, but since we are coming out of winter, we are a few months away from many of those new homes being completed. Want to know more about…

  • Buyers,  Real Estate Advice

    Homebuyers Shouldn’t Worry About 2008 All Over Again

    Last week, realtor.com released a survey of active home shoppers (those who plan to purchase their next home in 1 year or less). The survey asked their opinion on an impending recession and its possible impact on the housing market. Two major takeaways from the survey: 42% believe a recession will occur this year or next (another 16% said 2021) 59% believe the housing market would fare the same or worse than it did in 2008 Why all the talk about a recession recently? Over the last year, four separate surveys have been taken asking when we can expect the next recession to occur: The Pulsenomics Survey of Market Analysts The Wall Street Journal…