Some Highlights:



Historically, the choice between renting or buying a home has been a close decision.



Looking at the percentage of income needed to rent a median-priced home today (30%), vs. the percentage needed to buy a median-priced home (15%), the choice becomes obvious.



Every market is different. Before you renew your lease again, find out if you could use your housing costs to own a home of your own! ...

Recently there has been a lot of talk about home prices and if they are accelerating too quickly. As we mentioned before, in some areas of the country, seller supply (homes for sale) cannot keep up with the number of buyers out looking for a home, which has caused prices to rise.
The great news about rising prices, however, is that according to CoreLogic’s US Economic Outlook, the average American household gained over $11,000 in equity over the course of the last year, largely due to home value increases.
The map below was created using the same report from CoreLogic and shows the average equity gain per mortgaged home from June 2015 to June 2016 (the latest data available).

For those who are worried that we are doomed to repeat 2006 all over again, it is important to note that homeowners are investing their new-found equity in their homes and themselves, not in depreciating assets.
The added equity is helping families put th ...

The price of any item is determined by the supply of that item, as well as the market demand. The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) surveys “over 50,000 real estate practitioners about their expectations for home sales, prices and market conditions” for their monthly REALTORS Confidence Index.
Their latest edition sheds some light on the relationship between Seller Traffic (supply) and Buyer Traffic (demand).
Buyer Demand
The map below was created after asking the question: “How would you rate buyer traffic in your area?”

The darker the blue, the stronger the demand for homes in that area. Only six states had a weak demand level.
Seller Supply
The Index also asked: “How would you rate seller traffic in your area?”
As you can see from the map below, the majority of the country has weak Seller Traffic, meaning there are far fewer homes on the market than what is needed to satisfy the buyers who a ...

Fannie Mae’s article, “What Consumers (Don’t) Know About Mortgage Qualification Criteria,” revealed that “only 5 to 16 percent of respondents know the correct ranges for key mortgage qualification criteria.”
Myth #1: “I Need a 20% Down Payment”
Fannie Mae’s survey revealed that consumers overestimate the down payment funds needed to qualify for a home loan. According to the report, 76% of Americans either don’t know (40%) or are misinformed (36%) about the minimum down payment required.
Many believe that they need at least 20% down to buy their dream home, but many programs actually let buyers put down as little as 3%.
Below are the results of a Digital Risk survey of Millennials who recently purchased a home.

As you can see, 64.2% were able to purchase their home by putting down less than 20%, with 43.8% putting down less than 10%!
Myth #2: “I need a 780 FICO Score or Higher to ...

by Jeff Ross
Realty Executives of Flagstaff
February 2017
 
Final Home Sales numbers for the general Flagstaff area are in and looking very strong.
These will be broken out into two categories,  All Home sales, Single Family, Townhome, Condo and Manufactured, and then for just Single family.
For All Home Sales
The Average price climbed to $342,223 or +5.42% over the prior year,
Median price climbed to $305,000 or +7.02%
We sold 1701 homes, a 8.1% increase over the prior year.
Average Days on Market, 107 days, with the prior year at 111 or a -3.60% decrease.
Average list price was 2.7% higher than sold price
 
For Single Family Homes
The Average price climbed to $421,714 or +6.20% over the prior year,
Median price climbed to $364,731 or +7.8%
We sold 952 single family homes or a -1.04% decrease in those sold compared to the prior year.
Average Days on Market, 107 days, which was even with the prior year. 
Our Home Inventory is pretty stable for this ...