Home owners are turning to home equity not just for home renovations but also to launch new businesses. Equity was used as a source of capital to launch 284,618 U.S. businesses—7.3 percent of all businesses, according to a newly released analysis by the U.S. Census Bureau that culls 2014 data.According to the study, the industries that use home equity at some of the highest rates are accommodation and food services, other services, retail trade
Saving for a down payment is often the number one hurdle to many would-be home buyers. And consumers looking to buy may have to wait many years, depending on their profession, to save $55,000 for a down payment to buy a median priced home in the country, according to a new realtor.com® analysis.Realtor.com®’s research team studied how long it takes buyers in 12 professions to save up for a down payment. For the study, researchers assumed that
How Mark Podolsky closed 192 deals working an average of 2 hours a weekKey Takeaways County research is a crucial part of the process for purchasing land. Look for vacant properties with delinquent taxes as they’re easier to buy at a low price. Always offer less than the land is worth. If you don’t buy your properties at a discounted price, you’ll never be able to turn a profit. Emphasize seller financing while marketing. This is the key to
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reversed course this week, averaging 3.90 percent.“After holding relatively flat last week, the 10-year Treasury yield fell 4 basis points this week,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “The 30-year mortgage rate moved in tandem with Treasury yields.”Freddie Mac reports the following national averages for the week ending Aug. 10: 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.90 percent, with a
Growing incomes and low mortgage rates are helping to prop up housing affordability and offset rising home prices, according to the newly released National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index. A quarter-point drop in interest rates in the second quarter helped to make homes more affordable to more consumers. Between the beginning of April and the end of June, 59 percent of new and existing homes were affordable to f
Two of the largest institutional landlords announced Thursday that they plan to merge in a $4.3 billion deal. Invitation Homes, the rental home wing of private equity firm Blackstone Group, and Starwood Waypoint Homes will own about 82,000 single-family properties in more than a dozen major markets under the merger, which still needs to be approved by stockholders. The combined company will operate as Invitation Homes.Other institutional investor
Homeowners continue to say that their homes are worth more than appraisers’ opinions, according to the latest reading from Quicken Loans’ National Home Price Perception Index. Consumers believed their properties to be worth 1.55 percent more than what appraisers said they were in July.That said, the gap is narrowing between these differing opinions. In June, homeowners’ estimates were 1.7 percent higher than appraisers’ opinions.There
The national median home price surged to $263,800 in June, a record high, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. That has prompted some buyers to hit the pause button.Buyers were still requesting tours at the same rate in June; however, 11 percent fewer buyers were submitting an offer, according to a recent survey by the real estate brokerage Redfin, which surveyed 15 major metro housing markets.Typically, the housing market starts
Interest rates dropped last week, giving homeowners and home buyers more incentive to lock in a lower rate as they apply for a mortgage. Total mortgage application activity for home buying and refinancing rose 3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to the previous week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday. Applications, however, are still down by 25 percent from a year ago.Refinance applications saw the most activity la
More than half of American homeowners—58 percent—say they expect there will be a “housing bubble and a price correction” within the next two years, according to the latest survey of more than 1,000 Americans from ValueInsured’s Modern Homebuyer Survey.Many consumers surveyed say they believe that real estate is reaching the top of the market. Because of that, 83 percent of Americans surveyed say now is a good time to sell their home, up
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