The Market

The Market

There are some good trends in the market with one being that the housing is recovering even with the tight credit approval we are facing.  With still low down payment on FHA at 3.5% and a 5% down on conventional, it is a good market to buy.  If mortgage accessibility opens up (it is cyclic), we may just have a booming year in sales!

Now the downside is that Washington may change their policies and require more money down, like 20%.  They may trim or take away the mortgage interest deduction which is an advantage of owning over renting.  They also add capital gains on the home sale which we have not had for some years.  All of these would greatly halt the progress in home sales.

There will still be more unequal wealth distribution according to accondomist.  Homeowners are building wealth after buying at low prices.  Renters do not accumulate wealth and the renter population is rising simply because tighter credit hinders “good” renters from becoming homeowners.  Now we are seeing an increase share of property owners as investors and as a rule, too many investors in a neighborhood will bring the neighborhood down since properties are not usually maintained as well.  Owning a home is really down right now at a rate of 65.5% of the population which is the lowest in 15 years! Homeownership has always been the avenue in accumulating wealth for people. 

If you are renting, check out the possibility of owning a home and give us a call.