Freddie Mac chief economist, Frank Nothaft, says that affordability, stability and flexibility are the three reasons homebuyers overwhelmingly choose a 30 year term. However, for those who can afford a higher payment, there are three additional reasons to choose a 15 year term: save interest, build equity and retire the debt sooner.
Tag Archives: home buying
Another Down Payment Source
Most taxpayers know that they will pay a 10% penalty if they withdraw funds from their IRA before they turn 59.5 years old. There is an exception for first-time home buyers that allows a penalty-free withdrawal of up to $10,000 per person if they haven’t owned a home in the previous two years.
This would allow a married couple who each have an IRA to withdraw a lifetime maximum of $10,000 each, penalty-free for a home purchase.
Should You Opt for a Fixed-Rate Mortgage?
94% of purchasers last year opted for a fixed-rate mortgage at some of the lowest rates in home buying history. Yet, some of them will pay more in interest than necessary based on the time they’ll own the home.
If a person only plans to be in the home a few years, the adjustable-rate can offer significant savings.
Not only is the interest rate on the adjustable-rate lower than the fixed in the initial period, amortization on a lower interest rate amortizes faster than a higher interest rate.
Is the Window Closing?
With interest rates lower than they’ve been in over 40 years, it may be difficult to think of a “window of opportunity” closing. However, it isn’t difficult to understand that it may very probably cost more to live in a home in the near future due to rising interest rates and prices.
Zillow recently reported results from a nationwide study that home values are expected to appreciate by 4.5% through the end of the year. Coupled with Freddie Mac’s projection that rates are going up, the cost of housing for buyers by the end of the year will be higher than it is now.
What Do You Want in a Neighborhood?
When looking at this recent survey of what people want in a neighborhood, I thought it was interesting how important walkability and public transportation are to people buying a home. Since Southern California is so car dependent, these are issues for many of our communities.
Even with our excellent weather and wonderful communities, Walk Score does not rank San Diego County highly on their walkability scale. We have no cities scoring 50 or above on their scale of 0 to 100. The city of San Diego scores the highest in the county at a still car-dependent score of 49.
Housing Statistics Report for San Diego County and North San Diego County February 2014
The January numbers from the housing statistics report for San Diego County and North San Diego County show continued year-over rising prices along with possible easing and seasonal slowing. This is not surprising since January closings usually represent homes that went under contract in November and December and the market is typically less active during these months due to the holidays. Most real estate analysts also predict a slowing down of the rapid price increases we have experienced in San Diego County over the past 18 months.
While the median price for all North County home sales decreased slightly, the median price for North County single-family detached homes increased by 5.46 percent compared to December 2013 and 22.47 percent over the last 12 months. Median prices for detached homes in all of San Diego County dropped by 1.45 percent from December to January, but were still up by 21.48 percent compared to January 2013.
The median price on single-family attached homes in North County dropped by 0.59 percent in January 2014 compared to December 2013, but were still up by 18.25 percent compared to the previous year. Attached homes in all of San Diego County saw an increase of 1.67 in their median price compared to December 2013 and an increase of 24.49 percent over January 2013.
To read the full housing statistics reports, please click on the links below.
Housing Statistics Report for San Diego County and North San Diego County January 2014
The December 2013 housing statistics show prices continuing to increase with a 17 month trend of year-over price gains for North County detached homes and a 21 month trend for non-North County homes.
As is typical around the holidays, activity slowed down with listings of North County detached homes decreasing by 13 percent and sales dropping by 3 percent compared to November. Hopefully the new year will bring enough of an increase in inventory to maintain a healthy market. To read the full housing statistics reports, please click on the links below the snapshot.
Continue reading Housing Statistics Report for San Diego County and North San Diego County January 2014
Expect Increases in Mortgage Rates and Housing Prices
The two most frequently quoted constants in life are death and taxes. Two more things would-be homeowners can expect in the near future are increases in mortgage rates and housing prices.
Interest rates have been kept artificially low for several years by the Federal Reserve in an effort to strengthen the economy. Policy is shifting to allow them to seek their own natural level and that will surely result in higher mortgage rates. Rates on 30 year fixed mortgages are up over 1% from January, 2013.
Continue reading Expect Increases in Mortgage Rates and Housing Prices
Housing Statistics Report for San Diego County and North San Diego County December 2013
In November we continued to see a slow down in appreciation coupled with a tightening of inventory. This resulted in a decrease in prices compared to October, but still gave us increases in year-over pricing for single family detached homes in the North County area at 11 percent and outside of North County at almost 15 percent.
Prices of attached homes fared even better in North County with a 10 percent increase over the previous month and 30 percent compared to November 2012.
The Most Wanted List
According to a recent survey, these are the features buyers most want in a new home.
