Top 6 Cities Where Buying Is Better Than Renting

Cities that had been hard-hit by the housing market crash now offer some of the best buys in real estate and where it makes much more sense to buy than rent, according to a new report from Deutsche Bank. The bank’s study measures affordability by the share of income that Americans are paying to own a home as well as the cost of owning vs. renting.
Here are six of the cities that topped Deutsche Bank’s list.

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Young Home Buyers Will Lead Housing Market Recovery, Says NAHB

Generation X—young families and adults ages 31 to 45—are likely to lead the home-buying recovery as it gets underway, according to real estate experts who spoke at an educational webinar produced by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in partnership with Builder magazine.

These potential home buyers are most likely to think it’s a good time to get off the fence—and have strong opinions about the design features their new homes will include.

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Buying a First Home

Last fall, Gretchen Steinmiller Torres and her husband, Dustin, bought their first place, a $204,000, four-bedroom, 2½-bath house in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio -- even though they didn't have immediate plans to use much of the space.

"We have a baby room in our house with no baby," says Ms. Torres, 29 years old, adding that the newly constructed home is in a good school district. Now they just have to grow into it.

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Top 8 House-Hunting Mistakes

Buying a home is a very emotional process, and allowing those emotions to get the best of you can cause you to make any number of mistakes. Since buying a home has many far-reaching implications, from where you will live to how hard it will be to make ends meet, it’s important to keep your emotions in check and make the most rational decision possible.

There are eight common emotional mistakes that people make when buying a home. Avoiding these pitfalls will  help you find the best home-sweet-home.

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Banks Push Home Buyers to Put Down More Cash

The down payments demanded by banks to buy homes have ballooned since the housing bust, forcing many people to rethink what they can afford and potentially shrinking the pool of eligible buyers.

Last week, the Obama administration called for gradually raising down payments to a minimum of 10% on conventional loans, meaning those that can be bought or guaranteed by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And mortgage data show that private lenders are already pushing sharply higher the required down payments, mainly to mitigate their risk as home prices continue to fall.

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Despite Fears About Buying A Home, Now May Be The Time

Interest rates are near historic lows. Real estate is more affordable than it was three years ago. And the inventory of homes for sale gives buyers more choices than they’ve had in years.

So why aren’t more people buying?

Certainly, there are scores of potential buyers who no longer can qualify for loans under today’s tighter lending criteria. And others can’t because of layoffs, pay cuts and other recessionary hardships.

Even among those who can and want to buy, many are still holding off out of fear that it just isn’t the right time, but are they missing an opportunity?

“Consumer confidence is really low,” said Eric Allen, director of Metrostudy in Salt Lake City, which tracks the housing market.”

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To Rent or Buy a Home?

In finding a house, it is critical to decide whether you’re going to rent it or buy it. Nonetheless, surveys say that buying a house will benefit you more in the long run compared to just renting a home; then again, all of it still basically comes down to what your needs are and what you can afford at the moment.

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The Home's Changing Financial Role

Homeownership used to be the bedrock of the American dream, but the economic storm and its lasting effects have radically changed how everyone — no matter what stage of life they're in — looks at their home.

Many potential home buyers are now hesitating, taking a closer look at their options. "People are starting to realize that the American dream of homeownership is not right for everyone," Kim McGrigg, community manager at Money Management International, a non-profit consumer credit counseling service.

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Traps Foreclosure Buyers Need To Know

Interest in buying foreclosures is on the rise and the statistics show that nearly half of all home sales are distressed properties.

Even though it is hard to argue that these deals are the best pricewise, home buyers need to be aware of possible traps that exist when dealing with foreclosures and bank owned properties.

If you are thinking of buying a foreclosure at auction keep in mind that most likely you will not have an opportunity to see the property inside. Auction buyers usually don’t have the time to ensure they are getting a clear title and possible deficiencies may exist.

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Why Your Best Investment Right Now is a Home

I’ve heard it over and over again for the past couple of years from friends, family, business colleagues, and even my local bartenders and baristas. The refrain is eerily similar each time, and it sounds something like this: “What are you waiting for?  Now is the time to buy that house.” I let these comments roll off my back for a long time, as I knew the metrics of large supply overhang, increasing foreclosures, slow GDP growth and anemic employment figures were liable to keep home prices down for some time.

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Unlicensed Mortgage Brokers Get The Boot

With interest rates and house prices at historic lows, it is the perfect time to buy a home.

But before a purchase is made, a bank loan officer or a mortgage broker has to approve a home loan for the buyer.

Bank of Utah Chief Financial Officer Branden Hansen cautions prospective buyers to make sure the person they are dealing with is reputable.

"As a bank and being involved with the mortgage industry," Hansen said, "we had to compete with a lot of people we feel are less than scrupulous."

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4 Questions Before Buying Your First House

The decision to buy a house is about more than just mortgage interest rates, the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, and property taxes. Your home is more than just an investment, it's also shelter, security and safety. That's why you should think about more than just finances when making the decision.

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Before Shopping For A Place, Check Financial Readiness

You might be ready to buy a home, but are you armed with the knowledge you need? Do you know about credit score requirements? Are you familiar with flexible standards on Federal Housing Administration loans?

Whether you are a first-time homebuyer or an experienced owner, buying a house requires a "preflight check," in the words of Barry Zigas, director of housing policy for the Consumer Federation of America. "It's a brave, new world with respect to credit requirements for mortgages," says John Ulzheimer, founder of 2StepCredit.com and formerly of FICO, which pioneered credit scoring.

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Why First Time Home Buyers Shouldn’t Target Their Dream Homes

People have a lot of expectations when buying their first home. Most first time home buyers probably envision opening the doors to their dream house and triumphantly walking into their mansion. The culmination of their hard work and even harder saved dollars are embodied in this perfect piece of property.

While that is a great image to strive for, a more practical approach may be to buy a starter home like a fixer-upper or condo to tide you over as your first purchase. It isn’t as pretty a setting as you’d like, but it could be a much smarter financial decision in the long run. In fact, it could help get you to that perfect home a little sooner.

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DAVE RAMSEY: Buying Home Before You're Ready A Bad Idea

Dear Dave: We’ve got $1,000 in our starter emergency fund, and we’ve paid off the last of our debt. We’re renting, but now my wife really wants to buy a house. On top of this, she wants to go the route of 100 percent financing and argues that a mortgage payment wouldn’t cost any more than we’re paying in rent. She’s extremely upset because I’m against the idea. How can I explain to her that this is a bad plan? — Alan

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Looking For A Good Deal On A House: Bank REO’s Can Be Quite The Steal

One reason is that bank-owned sales transactions can be more complicated, in part because the sale terms must be approved by the lender or the lender’s attorneys. Another reason it is difficult dealing with bank-owned properties is that some lenders are in offices far away from where the loss-mitigation department is struggling to process the listings.

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2011 FHA Home Loan Requirements for Borrowers

If you are a home buyer thinking of using an FHA loan to buy a home, you should be aware of certain changes to the FHA program. This page offers a summary of FHA home loan requirements for 2011.

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How Rising Mortgage Rates Could Boost Home Sales

If you're in the market for a home, you're probably feeling pretty calm: Prices are falling, interest rates are low, and there are few other buyers to compete with. You can probably just hang out for awhile and wait for prices to fall some more.

But how long will the buyer's market last? Conventional wisdom holds that prices will fall another 5 to 10 percent, most likely bottoming out sometime in 2011. As the housing market stabilizes, sales will slowly pick up, while the huge backlog of foreclosed and bank-owned homes gets worked off. In healthier markets—like many in the Midwest, where there was never much of a bubble to start with—the housing market might even start to feel normal again in 2011 or 2012.

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What is a Good Credit Score in 2011?

What is considered a good credit score these days? This is one of the most common questions we receive from our readers. And as we replace our 2010 calendars with new ones for 2011, this question will surely see a spike in frequency again.


So, in anticipation of all those emails, I thought I’d share my own definition of a good credit score in 2011:

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The Advantage of Buying Short Sale Home

Short sale is usually a common solution left for most home owners because of the extended recession on the real estate market. The term “short sale” means that the owner at this point owes more on mortgage compared to actual worth of his or her property. The bank will not wish to own the property through a pricey procedure like foreclosures and so they will  be looking for those who are usually buying short sale home.

Which means that there is a excellent chance for those who are qualified to acquire the property for less than its value. It also means a chance for the owner to avoid getting a bad credit history because of property foreclosure. At the same time, the financial institution can still retrieve as much of their investment as possible in this way.

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