Home prices increased across the S&P Case Shiller 20-City Home Price Index in September. According to the 20-City Home Price Index, Year-over year home price gains increased to 5.50 percent from August's reading of 5.10 percent. 17 cities posted higher year-over0year price gains in September as compared to August. Western cities led price gains with San Francisco, California reclaiming its lead with a year-over-year gain of 11.20 percent in September. Denver, Colorado followed with a year-over-year gain of 10.90 percent and Portland, Oregon achieved the third highest year-over-year home … [Read More...]
The shift from home living to condo life may seem like a minor one, but there are plenty of things that will differentiate your lifestyle other than size when it comes to making a condominium purchase. If you’re contemplating this move and wondering about some of the things that this might entail, here are a few factors that are worth considering. The Fees You’ll Have to Pay While a smaller condo is unlikely to have the same associated costs as a large home, you will be paying a monthly condominium fee that will be covering maintenance and insurance so that many repairs and … [Read More...]
Sales of previously owned homes reached 5.36 million sales on a seasonally adjusted annual basis and fell by 3.40 percent in October according to the National Association of Realtors®. Rising home prices and a shortage of available homes strained housing markets. Concerns over potentially higher mortgage rates may have sidelined home buyers as concerns over an anticipated rate hike by the Federal Reserve persisted. Many analysts expect the Federal Reserve to raise rates at its December meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, which oversees the Fed's monetary policy. Raising the … [Read More...]
Last week's economic events included reports the National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index, Housing Starts and the release of minutes for the most recent meeting of the Fed's Federal Open Market Committee. The details: NAHB: Builder Confidence in Housing Markets Dips The National Association of Home Builders reported that builder confidence dropped to a reading of 62 as compared to October's revised reading of 65. Any NAHB reading above 50 indicates that more builders are positive about market conditions than not. NAHB's assessment of housing market conditions is based on … [Read More...]
How Do I Know If I Am Ready To Buy A Home? As you’ll see in this video, you can find out by asking yourself some questions: Do I have a steady source of income (usually a job)? Have I been employed on a regular basis for the last 2-3 years? Is my current income reliable? Do I have a good record of paying my bills? Do I have few outstanding long-term debts, like car payments? Do I have money saved for a down payment? Do I have the ability to pay a mortgage every month, plus additional costs? If you can answer "yes" to these questions, you are probably ready to buy your own home. … [Read More...]
Whether you're readying to put your home on the market or you haven't updated your space in a while and want to modernize, approaching renovations can be a struggle. With so many things to fix up, both large and small, it can seem overwhelming to prioritize, set the money aside and get to work. If you're having trouble figuring out where to begin with budget, here are some tips for how to properly prioritize so you can maximize your renovation expenditures. Determine What Is Most Important Whether it's the tile floor in your bathroom or the outdated kitchen sink, if the need for an upgrade in … [Read More...]
