When trying to decide whether to buy a home or condo instead of continuing to rent, many would-be first-time home buyers compare the cost of buying a home or condo versus renting something similar. Granted, there are other benefits that come with ownership (along with some additional responsibilities and risks, of course) including potential return on the investment, stability, etc but, if the first thing often considered is the cost of a house payment versus rent…if difference is too large and, therefore, the sacrifice to buy is too great, the consideration of buying often ends at that point. Continue Reading →
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St Louis County has 6 Elementary Schools that have tested at least 50% higher on standardized tests than the average for the state of Missouri and are located in neighborhoods where home prices are affordable, according to a report just released by RealtyTrac. According to the report, these 6 good elementary schools are surrounded by homes that with house payments that will take less than 30% of the families monthly wages to buy, making them very affordable. In fact, for McKelvey Elementary, in Maryland Heights, the average family will need to spend less than 18% on a house payment to live near by. Continue Reading → Within the last few days, STL Today published an article titled “The affordability crisis in the St Louis rental market”, based upon a study recently released by the Urban Institute, revealing that “there is literally no affordable, non-subsidized housing available to St. Louis low-income families.” Continue Reading → St Louis area homes are already affordable based upon the relationship between the median home price and median income for the area, but can become even more affordable when home buyers take advantage of down payment assistance programs that are available throughout the area. Continue Reading → Down payment help is available for 87 percent of the homes in the U.S., according to an analysis completed recently by RealtyTrac and Down Payment Resource. This analysis looked at the geographic location of homes to see if they were within areas where down payment assistance are available to purchasers meeting the qualifications of the program. Continue Reading → Yesterday, President Obama announced that he will, by executive order, direct FHA to lower the mortgage insurance premium charged on FHA loans to home buyer from 1.35 percent to .85 percent, lowering home buyer’s house payments by about $900 per year on average. Continue Reading → Business Insider just produced it’s list of “The 50 Best Suburbs in America” and Ballwin made the list coming in at number 46. Ballwin was the only Missouri suburb on the list. To compile the top 50 list, Business Insider considered suburbs with populations between 5,000 and 100,000 within about 25 miles of the nearest metro area and then ranked the suburb on commute times, median household income, crime and poverty rates, housing affordability and school rankings. Get neighborhood info on Ballwin here See all homes for sale in Ballwin here (We work hard on this and sure would appreciate Continue Reading → Today, RealtyTrac released a new report which revealed that, as of the 2nd quarter of 2014, affordable housing is on the decline in one-third of the largest counties in the U.S. In compiling the report, the historical average for income to price affordability percentages were analyzed and the results showed that one-third of the counties analyzed now have higher affordability percentages than their historical average now making homes in those counties less affordable now than they have been on average over the past 14 years. On the positive side, no St Louis area counties were on that list Continue Reading → A new study by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reveals for each $1,000 increase in the price of a new home (median-priced new home) forces 206,000 prospective home buyers out of the market. Continue Reading → Missouri, along with it’s affordable home prices, also has the 3rd lowest mortgage closing costs according to data just released today by BankRate. According to the report, in Missouri, the average mortgage closing costs on a $200,000 home loan are $2,387.00, almost 6% less than the national average of $2,539.00. Holden Lewis, senior mortgage analyst at Bankrate, said mortgage closing costs have risen 6 percent in the past year and says “new mortgage regulations are the biggest reasons why closing costs went up“. Texas, at $3,046, had the highest closing costs in the nation, followed by Alaska at $2,897 and Continue Reading → New home construction is not keeping up with demand in most of the U.S. and could even lead to “persistent housing shortages and affordability issues unless housing starts increase to match up with local job creation”, according to a newly released analysis by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, discussed in the report the relationship between new jobs and increased demand for housing saying “Historically, there’s one new home construction for every one-and-a-half new jobs,”. Yun goes on to say “Our analysis found that a majority of states are constructing too few homes in relation Continue Reading → One of the great things about St. Louis is the affordability of good homes in quality neighborhoods, however, St Louis does have it’s share of expensive homes as well. So, what are St Louis’ most expensive neighborhoods? The table below shows the 15 most expensive neighborhoods in St Louis, based upon median asking price of homes currently for sale. [iframe http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FStLouisRealEstateNews&send=false&layout=standard&width=50&show_faces=false&font&colorscheme=light&action=like&height=35&appId=537283152977556 100 35 ] St Louis home affordability has fallen significantly in the past year as a result of increasing home prices as well as rising interest rates, according to a report by MORE, REALTORS. As the table below shows, the hardest hit area was the city of St. Louis where a house payment on a median priced home has increased 50% from the 4th quarter of 2012 to the 4th quarter of 2013. Jefferson county and St Charles county, with the lowest increases in home prices (2% and 7% respectively) had the least amount of damage done to home affordability. [iframe http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FStLouisRealEstateNews&send=false&layout=standard&width=50&show_faces=false&font&colorscheme=light&action=like&height=35&appId=537283152977556 100 Continue Reading → In the thirty year period from 1980 to 2010 the number of housing units in St Charles county tripled from 49,523 units to 141,016 units. St Charles’ growth has been fueled in part by an abundance of affordable new homes but that doesn’t mean St Charles county doesn’t have it’s share of luxury homes though! According to the latest housing data from the US Census Bureau, about 3 percent of the housing units in St Charles, or about 3,300 units, are valued at $500,000 or above. Below is a slide show revealing St Charles County Most Continue Reading → I decided to take a look at the age of homes in the St Louis area and determine if older homes in St Louis sell for lower prices than newer homes. My idea to do this was prompted by a report RealtyTrac published this morning revealing that 71 percent of the homes in the U.S. were built before 1990 and that there was less demand for these older homes thereby making prices more affordable than on their newer counterparts. My research shows that the city of St Louis and St Louis county have a larger percent of older (pre-1990) housing Continue Reading → St Louis is a pretty modest place as a whole and is very affordable when it comes to housing costs. This doesn’t mean that you can’t find a multi-million dollar estate if you are in the market for one. The proof is in the slideshow below…the most expensive homes currently on the market in the St Louis area: Ok, so you’re a guy, you went to church this morning with the family, came home and did a couple of “honey do” projects, played with the kids and walked the dog. Now it’s time for a little “ME TIME”, right? But…how do you get your peace and quiet to kick back and watch the game and yet still be at home with your family? The answer is simple…you need a MAN CAVE! What? No room in the house for one as the family has taken over? No problem! Here’s the answer, a Man Cave Shed! Best I can Continue Reading → That’s right, along with very affordable home prices, Missouri also has almost the lowest closing costs in the nation at an average of $2,188 for lenders’ origination fees and third party fees, second only to the state of Wisconsin with average closing costs of $2,119, according to the 2013 closing cost survey by Bankrate. See table below for survey results for all states: (We work hard on this and sure would appreciate a “Like”)[iframe http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FStLouisRealEstateNews&send=false&layout=standard&width=50&show_faces=false&font&colorscheme=light&action=like&height=35&appId=537283152977556 100 35 ] The truth on the Mortgage Interest Deduction Currently, lawmakers in Washington D.C., while looking for ways to “close loopholes” and cut spending, are looking hard at something once considered “untouchable”, the mortgage interest deduction (MID). While there is probably little chance of totally eliminating the ability for homeowners to deduct the mortgage interest they paid on their homes, there is a possibility the deduction could be altered significantly or capped, and, perhaps, even phased out over time. Like most current events, there are stories out there with varying degrees of accuracy about the benefit of the mortgage interest deduction Continue Reading → The National Association of Home Builders released their housing affordability report for the 1st quarter of 2013 showing that in Mansfield Ohio, the median price for a home was $73,000 and, with the area median family income being $54,600, resulting in 97.5 percent of the new and existing homes for sale being affordable to an average family. At the other end of the list was San Francisco, with a median price of $675,000, median income of $102,000 and only 28.9 percent of its homes affordable to a family with a median income. St. Louis came in at 76 on the Continue Reading → Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420 Home Prices Nationwide Shooting Up Faster Than Anyone Thought Possible Not Long Ago The US housing market has broken out of a deep slump, and prices are shooting up faster than anyone thought possible a year ago. Prices of existing homes rose 10% in February nationally from a year ago. What is causing this increase? What to do if you are facing foreclosure and losing your home. Continue Reading → Attorney General Chris Koster today filed a lawsuit against two related businesses that purported to provide loan modification and mortgage relief to desperate homeowners. Koster’s suit is against Legal Helpers Debt Resolution, LLC and Mortgage Law Group, LLC, as well as the companies’ managing partner, Jason Edward Searns; senior partner, Thomas Macey; and senior partner, Jeffery Aleman. Continue Reading → Over 84 percent (84.1) of the homes sold in St Louis during the 4th quarter of 2012 were affordable to a family earning the St. Louis median income of $70,400, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) that was just released. This is actually the lowest the affordability index for St. Louis has been since the 3rd quarter of 2011 when it was 81.5 but is significantly better than it was a little over 5 years ago, in the 3rd quarter of 2007 when only 70.4 percent of the homes sold in St Louis were affordable to a family with a median income. Continue Reading → Over 35 percent (35.1) of tenants were previously homeowners, according to a survey by Apartments.com conducted in the 4th quarter of 2012. This is a fairly significant increase from a year ago when 33.6 percent of tenants reported they were previously homeowners. The most common reasons given for the change from homeowner to tenant were affordability and the flexibility in location. While it was just 5th on the list, it is worth noting that the loss of a home due to foreclosure or divorce increased nearly 90 percent in the past year as a reason for converting from homeowner to renter. Continue Reading → “Every single thing about housing is flashing green,” stated James Dimon, chief executive of J.P. Morgan Chase, in an interview with CNBC last month. “Household formation is rising, inventory is falling, and affordability is near a record high.” This should mean many potential homebuyers will be assessing their finances in 2013 to get ready to buy a home. Checking your credit score is at the top of the list, and in turn credit myths and credit misconceptions are plentiful. Continue Reading → According to Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors, home prices nationally are up 11.1% in October compared to this point last year. The number of homes available for sale nationally fell reducing the available supply to a level below that of one year ago. The result is tighter supply of homes helping boost the national median existing-home price level to $178,600 in October; price increases have helped home owners regain equity lost during the housing crisis.
I’m sure I’m not the only person in St. Louis that has thought about what it would be like to move to New York, Los Angeles or even Paris or Madrid. If you are another dreamer like me, you will enjoy the widget below that will let you see what your money will buy you in terms of housing (gas, a movie, McDonalds combo meal and a few other things as well) in 30+ international destinations. Continue Reading → Annually, the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) conducts a survey of people that bought and/or sold a home in the past year to learn about their shopping habits, what motivated them to do what they did, etc. The NAR “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers” for 2012 was just released and shows, among other things, that 90 percent of home buyers used the internet in finding the home they bought and, of those, about half used a local MLS site and/or agent/company site Continue Reading → Over the past few years, ARM’s (adjustable rate mortgages) have received somewhat of a “bad name” however, there are truly benefits to utilizing an ARM, which include: Continue Reading → |
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