REAL ESTATE TOPICS...Miscellaneous Topics

AFFORDABILITY, COMPETITION ARE HOMEBUYERS’ TOP CONCERNS
One in four respondents to a recent survey cited affordability as their top concern in buying a home, making it the most common response, according to Redfin. Competition was the next-most common worry, cited by one in five homebuyers, a number that has increased from one in 10 in November. 

Many of those looking to buy are fleeing an expensive rental market. About one in four homebuyers surveyed this month cited high rent as their reason for house hunting, a significant jump since last summer.

The change is attributable to first-time buyers. In the most recent survey, more than fifty percent said high rent led them to the market, as compared to only 25 percent of first-timers in August. 

BANKS RUSH TO OFFER 3% DOWN PAYMENT LOANS
As some banks veer from Federal Housing Administration loans, they're offering their own low down payment mortgages to appeal to home shoppers struggling to save enough to buy a home. Wells Fargo recently made headlines when it debuted its 3 percent down payment loan.

PMorgan Chase also announced its offering called the “Standard Agency 97%” program, a 3 percent down payment loan geared for first-time home buyers and requires a FICO score of 680. Chase also has a loan program called “DreaMaker Mortgage,” which offers a 5 percent down payment – 3 percent of which can come from the borrower as well as flexible funding options for closing costs and reduced mortgage insurance requirements.

Other banks have recently announced their low down payment offerings. Earlier this year, Bank of America began offering a 3 percent down payment loan that did not involve the Federal Housing Administration and does not require mortgage insurance. The bank requires a minimum FICO score of 660

FACEBOOK IS MOTIVATING HOME BUYING DECISIONSFacebook friends can be a powerful motivator when it comes to home ownership, according to a report by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Researchers found that Facebook users whose friends had a positive home ownership experience are more likely to be influenced to buy a home of their own.

Consumers who had online networks post about their home values rising more than 5 percent over the past two years, for example, are 3.1 percent more likely to buy a home over the next two years, researchers found. What’s more, they are 1.7 percent more likely to purchase a bigger home, 3.1 percent more likely to pay a higher price for it, and 7 percent more likely to make a larger down payment.

In the study, researchers evaluated nearly 1,250 responses to a housing market survey distributed to Facebook users in Los Angeles as well as LA public deed records of nearly 434,000 renters and more than 1 million home owners.