For Buyers

How Owning a Home Grows Your Wealth with Time   Some Highlights If you’re thinking of buying a home this year, be sure to factor in the long-term benefits of homeownership. Over time, homeownership allows you to build equity. On average, nationwide home prices appreciated by 290.2% over the last 32 years. That means your net worth can grow significantly in the long term when you own a...

Why Buying or Selling a Home Helps the Economy and Your Community   If you're thinking about buying or selling a house, it's important to know that it doesn't just affect your life, but also your community. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) releases a report every year to show how much economic activity is generated by home sales. The chart below illustrates that impact: As...

A Drop in Equity Doesn’t Mean Low Equity   You may see media coverage talking about a drop in homeowner equity. What’s important to understand is that equity is tied closely to home values. So, when home prices appreciate, you can expect equity to grow. And when home prices decline, equity does too. Here’s how this has played out recently.  Home prices rose rapidly during the...

Your Needs Matter More Than Today’s Mortgage Rates   If you’re thinking about selling your house right now, chances are it’s because something in your life has changed. And, while things like mortgage rates are a key part of your decision on what you’ll buy next, it’s important to not lose sight of the reason you want to make a change in the first place. It’s...

Are Home Prices Going Up or Down? That Depends… Media coverage about what’s happening with home prices can be confusing. A large part of that is due to the type of data being used and what they’re choosing to draw attention to. For home prices, there are two different methods used to compare home prices over different time periods: year-over-year (Y-O-Y) and month-over-month (M-O-M). Here's an...

Why You Can’t Compare Now to the ‘Unicorn’ Years of the Housing Market   Some Highlights _x005F_x0001_Comparing housing market metrics from one year to another can be challenging in a normal housing market – and the last few years have been anything but normal. In a way, they were ‘unicorn’ years. _x005F_x0001_Expect unsettling housing market headlines this...