Tag: homeownership

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What’s the Difference Between a HELOC and a Second Mortgage?

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Homeownership comes with many benefits, one of which is the opportunity to tap into the equity you’ve built in your home for financial needs. Two popular ways to access this equity are through a home equity line of credit (HELOC) and a second mortgage. According to the experts at Achieve Loans, both options can be an excellent way to manage finances, but they serve different purposes and come with their unique set of advantages and disadvantages. In this article, we’ll explore the key differences between a HELOC and a second mortgage and how to determine which option makes the most sense for you. 

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More Black Realtors: the Answer to Racial Gap in Home Ownership

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, New Jersey has a racial gap in home ownership. Shockingly instead of raising taxes a group called HomeLight is offing a well thought out long term intelligent solution ; more Black realtors.

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New Jersey Named One of the Worst Places to Own a Home

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The Worst and Best States to Be a Homeowner in 2017

February 16,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood

Ridgewoood NJ, for many buying a home is one of the biggest investments of your life, according to  Craig Casazza at the consumer site ValuePenguin it’s ideal to buy within a state where housing is relatively affordable and the value of your home is likely to appreciate strongly over time. It’s also desirable to avoid paying more than you can manage in ongoing costs, from taxes to insurance to damage from major storms. Finally, it’s best, of course, if the state where you’re buying boasts low rates of property crime, good schools, and a healthy proportion of homeowners compared with renters.

Casazza rolled together ten key metrics that quantify those factors, and ranked states on how successfully (or not) they offer the optimal factors for home ownership while skirting the attributes you’d want to avoid.

Here is the list of the 10 worst homeowner states and the homeowner scores assigned to them:

The 10 worst states to be a homeowner have some combination of a weak housing market, a heavy burden of costs to maintain a home, and a propensity for calamity and crime. The three worst states are in the south, and specifically from the Gulf region, where yearly storms batter homes and can cause millions of dollars in property damage:

Louisiana 20.97
Mississippi 29.32
Tennessee 29.59
New Mexico 34.69
Alabama 35.04
Missouri 36.64
Texas 39.21
New Jersey 39.54
California 39.97
Georgia 41.53

The 10 best states to own a home generally are less urban overall, with a higher proportion of homes in rural areas, where costs and crime can be lower. Our highest-ranked state for homeownership is Iowa, where it’s very affordable to own a home. With low insurance rates, low mortgage rates, and few calamities that cause insurance claims, South Dakota is another notably inexpensive state in which to own a home.

Iowa 82.60
South Dakota 81.38
Wyoming 79.49
Nebraska 78.17
Maine 77.44
Minnesota 75.37
West Virginia 76.03
Michigan 75.74
New Hampshire 72.28
Wisconsin 71.25

https://www.valuepenguin.com/best-and-worst-states-be-homeowner

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US housing starts surge to 9-year high in October

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Reuters

U.S. housing starts surged to a more than nine-year high in October as builders ramped up construction of both single and multifamily homes, offering hope that housing will contribute to economic growth in the fourth quarter.

Groundbreaking jumped 25.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.32 million units, the highest level since August 2007, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. The percent increase was the biggest since July 1982. Starts increased in all four regions last month.

September’s starts were unrevised at a 1.05 million-unit rate. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast housing starts rising to a 1.16 million-unit pace in October. Residential construction has been a drag on gross domestic product for two straight quarters.

Single-family home building, which accounts for the largest share of the residential housing market, jumped 10.7 percent to an 869,000-unit pace in October, the highest since October 2007.

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/17/us-housing-starts-oct-2016.html

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Homeownership Rate in the U.S. Drops to Lowest Since 1965

Ridgewood Realestate

Prashant Gopal mrgopal
July 28, 2016 — 10:25 AM EDT
Updated on July 28, 2016 — 1:04 PM EDT

Share fell to 62.9% in second quarter from 63.5% in the first
Rising prices putting purchases out of reach for many renters

The U.S. homeownership rate fell to the lowest in more than 50 years as rising prices put buying out of reach for many renters.

The share of Americans who own their homes was 62.9 percent in the second quarter, the lowest since 1965, according to a Census Bureau report Thursday. It was the second straight quarterly decrease, down from 63.5 percent in the previous three months.

The drop extends a years-long decline from the last housing boom, in part because of tight credit and a shift toward renting in the aftermath of the crash. First-time buyers have been struggling to find affordable properties as low mortgage rates and an improving job market spur competition for a tight supply of listings. Home prices rose 5.2 percent in May from a year earlier, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index of values in 20 cities released this week.

“One of the biggest hurdles now is affordability,” Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, said before the Census Bureau report was released. “Home prices are rising so much faster than incomes, so it’s hard for buyers to save for a down payment.”

The homeownership rate reached a peak of 69.2 percent in June 2004.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-28/homeownership-rate-in-the-u-s-tumbles-to-the-lowest-since-1965