Home Ownership is More Within Reach

Low interest rates helped keep housing affordability high in the final quarter of 2012, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index released on Thursday. Nearly 75 percent of homes sold between October and the end of December were affordable to families earning the median income of $65,000. "The most recent housing affordability data should be encouraging to many prospective home buyers, because it shows that home ownership remains within reach of median-income consumers even as most local markets appear to be on a recovery path," says NAHB Chairman Rick Judson. The median price of all new and existing homes sold in the fourth quarter of 2012 was $188,000. "It is noteworthy that affordability remains historically high thanks to favorable mortgage rates even as national home price indexes show some rise in values," says NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. The nation’s most affordable major housing market? For the second-consecutive quarter, it's Ogden-Clearfield, Utah, according to the index. Nearly 94 percent of all home sales there were affordable to families earning the median household income of $71,500. Other affordable major housing markets were Dayton, Ohio; Indianapolis-Carmel, Ind.; Lakeland-Winter Haven, Fla.; and Syracuse, N.Y. Meanwhile, the most expensive major housing market remains San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. Twenty-eight percent of homes sold in San Francisco during the fourth quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $103,000, according to the index. Home Ownership Within More Americans Reach

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Buying A Home Plan for Younger People – Make Sure to Plan Ahead

Granted, few young people spend much time day-dreaming about buying their first home. They're naturally preoccupied with academics, athletics, parties, dating and future career possibilities. Nonetheless, there are a number of good reasons to start learning early in life about the costs of buying a home and the responsibilities of homeownership. For example, a college student's misuse or abuse of credit cards can preclude his or her buying a home later on. Here are five recommendations for young people who want to position themselves for homeownership: 1. Establish good credit habits and a favorable credit history. Get a credit card and use it responsibly. Apply for an automobile loan and make your payments on time every month. If you're renting an apartment, put your own name on the lease and the utility bills and make sure the rent and the bills are paid every month. If you're already struggling with credit card debt or have large student loans, take ...

Calculate Your Income Vs. Debt

Most lenders don't want you to take out a loan that will overload your ability to repay everybody you owe. As you think about applying for a home loan, you need to consider your personal finances. How much you earn versus how much you owe will likely determine how much a lender will allow you to borrow. First, determine your gross monthly income. This will include any regular and recurring income that you can document. Unfortunately, if you can't document the income or it doesn't show up on your tax return, then you can't use it to qualify for a loan. However, you can use unearned sources of income such as alimony or lottery payoffs. And if you own income-producing assets such as real estate or stocks, the income from those can be estimated and used in this calculation. If you have questions about your specific situation, any good loan officer can review the rules. Next, calculate your monthly debt load. This includes all monthly debt obligations like...

Fargo Home Buyer Alert: What is a credit score.

Our credit score can mean the difference between being denied or approved for credit, and a low or high interest rate. A good score can help you qualify for an apartment rental and even help you get utilities connected without a deposit. So what is it? Your credit score is a three-digit number generated by a mathematical algorithm using information in your credit report. It's designed to predict risk, specifically, the likelihood that you will become seriously delinquent on your credit obligations in the 24 months after scoring. There are a multitude of credit-scoring models in existence, but there's one that dominates the market: the FICO credit score. According to myFICO.com, the consumer website for the FICO score developer, "90 percent of all financial institutions in the U.S. use FICO scores in their decision-making process." FICO scores range from 300 to 850, where a higher number indicates lower risk. What's a good score? A consumer has three FICO...

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