An increase in mortgage rates didn’t suppress loan demand in the kickoff to the spring buying season. Loan applications for both refinancings and home purchases jumped 4.8 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. Mortgage applications are now at the same level as a year ago.Applications for home purchases, viewed as a gauge of homebuying activity, increased 3.1 percent from th
Some homeowners are taking steps to appeal their property taxes after the new tax law that took effect at the beginning of the year placed a $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction. In some high-tax states, such as California, New Jersey, and New York, homeowners may feel the pinch on their tax bill.Some tax experts say owners may find a benefit to appealing their property taxes and doing the extra work to try to lower their tax bill. Fo
How much does it cost to be single and live in a big city? A newly updated family budget calculatorfrom the Economic Policy Institute shows the income that different family sizes need in order to have a baseline standard of living in the U.S.For a single person, the costs can range from $29,118 a year to live in Brownsville, Texas, up to $69,072 a year to live in San Francisco, according to the calculator.EPI’s calculator factors in geographic
With rising mortgage rates, more homeowners are finding refinancing isn’t necessarily going to lower their mortgage bill anymore. Lenders are seeing loan volume drop drastically, and they are looking to the purchase market to help make up the shortfall.In 2017, 37 percent of the mortgage origination volume was from refinancings, the smallest proportion since 1995, according to Inside Mortgage Finance, an industry research group. Analysts expect
By the time millennials turn 30, they will have paid $92,600 in rent, according to a new study by RentCafe, a nationwide listing service for rentals. It’s more than previous generations paid when they were between the ages of 22 and 30. RentCafe researchers studied how much millennials, Generation X members, and baby boomers spent on rent during that eight-year time period of their life by using U.S. Census Bureau statistics dating back to 1974
The National Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors will vote in May on a budget proposal that includes $35 million in new programming for the association’s 1.3 million members. The additional funding will go toward the association’s new S.M.A.R.T Initiatives (Strategic Measures Advancing REALTORS® to Tomorrow).NAR created a webpage devoted to outlining the association’s proposed budget allocations. The association aims to be transp
If your investors are in search of higher profits, they may want to look to Baltimore; Macon, Ga.; Montgomery, Ala.; Detroit; and Atlanta. These metros each boast counties that have some of the highest potential for single-family rental returns in 2018, according to a new analysis by ATTOM Data Solutions. The real estate data firm’s Q1 2018 Single-Family Rental Market report ranks the top U.S. markets for purchasing single-family rental propert
In some markets, home buyers are bringing down payments to the closing table that are larger than the 20 percent industry benchmark. For example, in San Jose, Calif., buyers are putting down an average 23.9 percent of the sale price of a home.Realtor.com® analyzed mortgage data to identify the average down payment in each of the 50 largest U.S. metros. The markets with the highest down payments tended to be in the areas where homes also cost the
Though consumers are optimistic about the economy and their own personal financial situations, more are expressing anxiety about their ability to buy a home, save for a down payment, and qualify for a mortgage, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ Housing Opportunities and Market Experience (HOME) survey for the first quarter of 2018.The share of consumers who are confident about buying a home edged down to 68 percent in the l
After last week’s first rate drop of the year, mortgage rates showed little change this week—a welcome sign for the week’s kickoff to the spring home shopping season.But home buyers and borrowers should expect several rate increases over the next few months, economists caution.“The Federal Reserve raised interest rates [this week]—a much-anticipated move that comes as both U.S. and global economic fundamentals continue to strengthen,”
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