Saturday, January 10, 2015

Maryland Real Estate by Pamela DuBois: #First time home buyer - Obama making it easier

Maryland Real Estate by Pamela DuBois: #First time home buyer - Obama making it easier: http://rismedia.com/2015-01-08/obama-plan-makes-it-easier-for-younger-first-time-homebuyers/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&...

#First time home buyer - Obama making it easier

http://rismedia.com/2015-01-08/obama-plan-makes-it-easier-for-younger-first-time-homebuyers/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=eNews

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Buying versus renting - Mortgage rates are still very low!!!

Mortgage rates are (still) low During the recession, the rate on the 30-year, fixed-rate loan averaged 4.32 percent. Now, rates are close to that, and there’s no recession! Granted, rates are not expected to skyrocket overnight, but don’t think that a small uptick would not affect your budget. In fact, if rates were to go up by just 1 percentage point, your purchasing power would be reduced by a whopping 11 percent. To put this in further perspective: If you could afford a $400,000 loan at 4 percent mortgage rates, you could afford a loan of just $356,000 at 5 percent. An even smaller rise in rates — say from 4.5 percent to 5 percent — would add $75 to the monthly payment on a $300,000 house with $50,000 down. Home prices are (still) affordable While home prices, nationally, continue to rise, up nearly 7 percent from July 2013, they are still 11 percent below their 2007 peak. And get this: Home buying is more affordable now than ever before. According to a recent analysis, U.S. home buyers at the end of the second quarter spent 15.3 percent of their incomes on a mortgage, far less than the 22.1 percent share homeowners devoted to mortgages in the pre-bubble days. This situation won’t last forever, especially as mortgage rates continue to rise. Buying is (still) cheaper than renting No doubt, buying a house is a significant purchase, but in a majority of the country, it’s (still) cheaper than renting. In fact, in half of metros in the U.S., buying beats renting after only two years. This can be attributed to historically high rental prices that have helped skew the rent vs. buy decision toward buying for those who can afford it. So if you can afford to buy, now is the time as rents are not getting any cheaper!