Houston Homes and Rentals

‘Millennials’ are defined as 18-36 year olds according to the  US Census Bureau. According to  NAR’s  latest  Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers ,  the median age of all first-time home buyers is 31 years old. More and more ‘Old Millennials’ (25-36 year olds) are realizing that homeownership is within their reach now! Find Out Your Home's Value For Free! Greater Houston Homes And Rentals Houston Realtor Leslie Don Wilson Houston Realtor Houston Real Estate Agent Greater Houston Heights Real Estate Agent   Greater Houston Heights Realtor   Houston Realtor ,  Houston Real Estate Agent ,  Greater Houston Heights Realtor ,  Greater Houston Heights Homes ,  Greater Houston Heights Realtor ,  Greater Houston Heights Real Estate Agent ,  Greater Houston Heights Homes    www.GreaterHeightsHomes.com   Houston Realtor   Houston Real Estate Agent

The media has extensively covered the rise in mortgage interest rates since last fall (from 3.42% last September to the current 4.1% according to  Freddie Mac ). However, a less covered aspect of the mortgage market is that requirements to get a mortgage have eased while rates have risen. The  Mortgage Bankers Association  (MBA) quantifies the availability of mortgage credit each month with their  Mortgage Credit Availability Index  (MCAI) . According to the  MBA , the  MCAI  is: “A summary measure which indicates the availability of mortgage credit at a point in time.” The higher the index, the easier it is to get a mortgage. Here is a chart showing the  MCAI  over the last several months as rates have increased. Have requirements for attaining a mortgage actually eased? Yes. Here are two examples: FICO ®  Score  – the credit score which helps determine a buyer’s eligibility. The score required to attain...

A recent  report  released by  Down Payment Resource  shows that 65% of first-time homebuyers purchased their homes with a down payment of 6% or less in the month of January. The trend continued through all buyers with a mortgage, as 62% made a down payment of less than 20%, which is consistent with findings from December. An  article  by  DS News  points to the new wave of millennial homebuyers: “It seems that the long-awaited influx of millennial home buyers is beginning. Ellie Mae reported that mortgages to millennial borrowers for new home purchases continued their ascent in January, accounting for 84 percent of closed loans.” Among millennials who purchased homes in January, FHA loans remained popular, making up 35% of all loans closed.  Ellie Mae’s Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy  Joe Tyrrell gave some insight into why: “It is not surprising to see Millennial borrowers leverage FHA loans because th...

There are many benefits to homeownership. One of the top benefits is being able to protect yourself from rising rents by locking in your housing cost for the life of your mortgage. Don’t Become Trapped   Jonathan Smoke,  Chief Economist  at  realtor.com ,  reported  on what he calls a  “Rental Affordability Crisis.”  He warns that, “Low rental vacancies and a lack of new rental construction are pushing up rents, and we expect that they’ll outpace home price appreciation in the year ahead.” In the  Joint Center for Housing Studies  at  Harvard University's  2016 State of the Nation’s Housing Report ,  they revealed that  “ The number of cost-burdened households rose   to 21.3 million . Even more troubling, the number with severe burdens (paying more than  50% of income  for housing) jumped  to a record 11.4 million. ”  These households struggle to save for a rainy day and pay oth...

When a homeowner decides to sell their house, they obviously want the best possible price for it with the least amount of hassles along the way. However, for the vast majority of sellers, the most important result is actually getting their homes sold. In order to accomplish all three goals, a seller should realize the importance of using a real estate professional. We realize that technology has changed the purchaser’s behavior during the home buying process. According to the  National Association of Realtors’  2016 Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers ,  the percentage of buyers who used the internet in their home search increased to 94%. However, the report also revealed that  96% of buyers who used the internet when searching for homes purchased their homes through either a real estate agent/broker or from a builder or builder’s agent.  Only 2% purchased their homes directly from a seller whom the buyer didn’t know. Buyers search for a home online...

Traditionally, spring is the busiest season for real estate. Buyers come out in force and homeowners list their houses for sale hoping to capitalize on buyer activity. This year will be no different! Buyers have already been out in force looking for their dream homes and more are on their way, but the challenge is that the inventory of homes for sale has not kept up with demand, which has lead to A LOT of competition for the homes that  are  available. A recent  Bloomberg   article  touched on the current market conditions: “It’s the 2017 U.S. spring home-selling season, and listings are scarcer than they’ve ever been. Bidding wars common in perennially hot markets like the San Francisco Bay area, Denver and Boston are now also prevalent in the once slow-and-steady heartland, sending prices higher and sparking desperation among buyers across the country.” Sam Khater,  Deputy Chief Economist  at  CoreLogic  went on to explain why ...