Retirees may want to head to Lancaster, Pa. The town earned the top spot in U.S. News & World Report’s list of 2019 Best Places to Retire in the U.S. Lancaster’s housing affordability and its residents' high rank for their happiness, helped it to bump Sarasota, Fla., from the number one position this year.U.S. News & World Report evaluated the country’s 100 largest metro areas to see how well they met retirees’ expectations, suc
Rising home prices have been hitting the middle class particularly hard, but some states have an easier path for these shoppers to break into homeownership. Many of those opportunities are out West, according to a new analysis from SmartAsset, a personal finance website.SmartAsset researchers found that the best states for the middle class are clustered in the Western part of the U.S., including Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho. Many Midwest states also
A shift is occurring in many housing markets. Affordability may be prompting more potential buyers to pause due to rising mortgage rates over the last few weeks, and home sellers are now facing more competition. Homeowners may no longer be able to expect the quick sale they’ve seen their neighbors get in the past.The number of For Sale signs is starting to increase across the country. Unsold inventory is at a 4.4-month supply at the current sal
Following weeks of gradual increases, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dipped slightly this week, possibly offering a slight window of opportunity at lower borrowing costs to some would-be buyers.“The modest decline in mortgage rates is a welcome respite from the rapid increase in rates the last few weeks,” says Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “While the housing market has clearly softened in reaction to the rise in mortgage rat
Interest rates are on the rise, and home buyers are looking for savings wherever they can. Shopping around for a mortgage can offer big differences among lenders, and those differences could amount to some potentially hefty savings over the life of a loan.A new study by LendingTree measures the basis point spread between high and low annual percentage rates offered to users through the LendingTree marketplace among the 50 largest metros in the U.
Homeowners in the majority of housing markets across the country should expect to see home prices continue to appreciate by about 4.5 percent over the next 12 months, and, in a handful of western markets, owners likely will see their prices soar well past that, according to a new report from Veros, a valuation and analytics firm.Western states hold the top 10 spots in forecasts of appreciation, with home price predictions ranging from 9 to 12 per
Many homeowners may assume that if they retrofit their home with energy-efficient upgrades that they’ll be able to charge a premium at resale. But that’s not always the case nowadays, and the sales price boost may depend on how well the client chose their selling agent, according to recent studies analyzed in a new article by Kenneth Harney, a syndicated real estate columnist.In the past, studies have confirmed there is a price boost for
Consumers between the ages of 62 and 70 can earn up to 8 percent more in Social Security for every year they delay taking disbursements. Therefore, some homeowners in this age bracket are borrowing against their properties' equity to fund their daily living expenses, hoping to push off taking Social Security benefits—a tactic some lenders even tout for retirees. But the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warns that the costs and risks of such
A new effort is underway to raise the low rate of homeownership among underserved groups of home buyers. The Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America is hosting several events across the country, helping borrowers with low credit scores to apply for 15- or 30-year mortgages with cheaper interest rates. One such recent event in Miami drew thousands looking for a chance to get a no down payment, low-interest-rate mortgage. NACA officials say more t
A high debt-to-income ratio has superseded poor credit history as the number one obstacle for mortgage applicants, according to real estate data firm CoreLogic. Though the number of borrowers who have been denied a mortgage has steadily declined over the last few years, nearly one in 10 were turned away in 2017, CoreLogic says. About 30 percent of those denials were attributed to debt-to-income ratio.There has been a gradual increase in the avera
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