FRIDAY - thinking happy thoughts
- 16 Stylish Built-In Sleeping Areas for Dogs
- What to Consider When You Finance a Home
- 9 Home-Buying Myths You Need to Stop Believing Immediately
- Homebuyers getting more anxious about affordability
- Sales of million dollar homes swoon
- Silicon Valley architecture: Apple, Google, Facebook lead the way
- 20 Top New Entries to Welcome You Home
Enjoy!
What to Consider When You Finance a Home - The first thing you’ll need to determine is how much you can spend on your new home, which generally depends on four main factors – the size of your down payment, your credit score, your debt-to-income ratio, and your monthly maintenance expenses. Other factors to consider include the deduction of mortgage interest on your federal income taxes, and what type of mortgage product you should obtain. There are many different types of mortgages but they generally fall into two main categories: fixed-rate mortgages, in which the interest rate is fixed for the life of the loan and adjustable-rate mortgages (ARM), which adjusts based upon the rate of an underlying index following the completion of a fixed-rate period (3-10 years on average).
9 Home-Buying Myths You Need to Stop Believing Immediately - When you’re ready to make the jump from renter to homeowner, beware of the most common misconceptions about home buying such as thinking looking for homes is the first step. Instead, before homebuyers get started, they should make sure their credit is in top-notch shape and get pre-approved for a mortgage, which will help determine what their budget will be. Don’t forget the up-front 3 to 6 percent closing costs, fees, taxes, and other costs for inspections, credit reports, insurance, among others. Other misconceptions are thinking a 30-year mortgage is the best option and that you need a 20 percent down payment.
Homebuyers getting more anxious about affordability - Homebuyers in the U.S. are growing more anxious about their ability to afford a dwelling of their own, and that's especially true of millennials, says a new survey from Redfin. Another concern they have is high rent, with nearly half of first-time homebuyers surveyed saying that it pushed them into the housing market. And while low inventory was blamed as a major factor in July's drop in sales of existing homes, that was third on the list of homebuyers' worries, after affordability and competition from other shoppers.
Sales of million dollar homes swoon - Sales of homes priced above $1 million fell 4 percent in July from a year ago, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. Activity is far more robust at the entry level and middle of the market, thanks to a drop in mortgage interest rates and pent-up demand. The luxury market, however, doesn’t rely much on mortgages so much, but is far more sensitive to financial markets.Luxury home values nationwide fell in the first quarter of this year and recovered by barely 1 percent annually in the second quarter, according to Redfin, a real estate brokerage. Redfin defines a home as luxury if it is among the top 5 percent most-expensive homes sold in a city. Luxury home prices fell 11 percent in San Francisco and 4 percent in Bellevue, Wash, home to an outsized number of tech workers whose wealth is tied closely to the stock market.
Silicon Valley architecture: Apple, Google, Facebook lead the way - In a place known for out-of-the-box thinking and risk taking, tech firms have historically played it safe when it comes to their work spaces, opting for functional garages and tilt-up buildings over futuristic architecture that mirrors the innovation happening inside.
20 Top New Entries to Welcome You Home - See the photos of entryways and foyers that have been getting the most saves to ideabooks lately. Have you saved one of them too? Some of my favorites:
