The price of entry to homeownership involves more than just the down payment. About 44% of homeowners say they were unaware of the other costs associated with buying a home, like home inspection, document fees, property taxes, home insurance, and title fees, according to a realtor.com® survey of nearly 3,000 adults. About 11% of respondents also failed to factor in moving expenses.“Unlike most big-ticket consumer purchases, for which most peop
Raising children isn’t cheap: The basic costs for raising a child in the U.S. is $20,152 annually, according to research from LendingTree. But that total can run much higher in some states.For example, parents will pay the most in the country to raise a child in the District of Columbia, with basic annual expenses (including day care) about $28,785. Hawaii and Maryland follow at $25,828 and $25,156, respectively. Meanwhile, raising a child may
Between Sept. 12 and Oct. 17, the majority of housing markets nationwide will reach their “sweet spot” with a higher number of homes for sale, lower prices, and less buyer competition compared with the average week of the year, according to realtor.com®’s Best Time to Buy Report.This week kicks off the best time of year particularly for home shoppers in New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, and Portland, Ore., t
20 years later, 9/11/2001 is still strongly remembered... A prayer from us to all of those affected and the future of the U.S.A.
A recent decline in lumber prices is helping to mitigate building costs, but that effect is being offset by numerous increases in other building materials that are surpassing records. Home building materials have climbed by up to 19% over the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index.The building materials that have seen the largest increases so far in 2021, according to the National Association of Home Buil
For the ninth consecutive week, mortgage rates stayed below 2.9%. But even with historically low mortgage rates, home buying may be following a more typical seasonal pattern of cooling off, Nadia Evangelou, senior economist and director of forecasting for the National Association of REALTORS®, writes on the association’s Economists’ Outlook blog.“Buyers and sellers typically do not want to move their family in the middle of the school year
Housing equity surged nearly 40% compared to a year ago and is at a record high, according to a new report from Black Knight, Inc. The average mortgage holder now has $173,000 in equity. That marks an increase of $20,000 just from the end of the first quarter, the report notes.The increase in equity is being driven by surging home values over the last quarter, says Ben Graboske, Black Knight data analytics president. Home prices have jumped nearl
Another sign the housing market may be cooling: Loan applications for home purchases—a gauge of housing demand—are now 18% lower than a year ago, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday.More listings are coming on the market, offering home buyers more choices. But some potential buyers are still getting priced out. Home prices are nearly 18% higher than a year ago, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Contract
The housing market is showing some sings of cooling, which may be making more home buyers more optimistic in a competitive market. Thirty-two percent of consumers said in August it’s a good time to buy, up from 28% in July, according to Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey, a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults. That marks the first sign of progress in home buyer sentiment since March.However, 63% of consumers still say it’s a difficult time to buy
Retailers in the U.S. plan to open more new stores this year than close stores, indicating a hopeful sign for a rebounding sector. The news of more retailers in expansion mode follows a strenuous year of survival for many retailers, in which the COVID-19 pandemic caused many shutdowns in 2020.Grocery, fast-casual, and value stores are the retail leaders that are planning to expand this year, according to the report from RetailSphere. More than ha
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