How Student Loans Are Impacting The Housing Market

I just read another interesting article about home buyers and wanted to share this one also.  This saddens me a bit as it’s becoming harder and harder for our younger generations to get off the ground.  With high student loan debt, less than desirable job opportunity, and tighter underwriting guidelines, the dream of owning a home is seemingly distant to some.

I hope together our country can figure out a path that will not leave our future generations drowning in student loan debt, credit card debt, and a tax deficit that may never reach a reasonable level.

Our local housing market here in Roanoke, Virginia has an 11.29 month’s supply of inventory up from 8.09 in 2013.  Yet the forecasts continue to say the housing market is picking up.  I’m holding out faith and hope on that one and realizing more now than ever that if you want to sell your home it truly boils down to three major factors, price, condition, and location.  Since we are able to control the first two we certainly should if trying to sell in today’s market.

If you have questions about buying or selling a home in the Roanoke,Virginia and surrounding areas our team would love to help.  Please call me at 540-725-7727 or email me at christycrouch@aol.com or visit our website at http://www.thecrouchteam.com to discover more about our team and to see the homes we currently have for sale.  Here is the article I mentioned above:

By Amy Cuculo

I have worked at Embrace for six years. I stay on top of market trends and relevant data. I understand the home-buying process well. With the spring buying season upon us, I have seen many recent news articles about the difficulties faced by first-time homebuyers. It got me thinking: I am exactly the type of customer people in the industry need to tap in to and empower to purchase – late twenties, fiscally responsible, steady job, good credit. I even have a leg up on my peers because I have an understanding of the mortgage process. But what’s holding me back? Like so many others, the answer is student loans.

The growing student loan burden carried by millions of Americans undermines the housing recovery’s momentum. It discourages potential buyers, like me, from purchasing their first homes. While the aspiration to own a home has remained unchanged – it is the American dream after all – consumers want to be responsible. First-time buyers are the foundation of the housing market but they are not stepping up to fill the void. In a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors, of the 20% of buyers who said it was difficult to save for a down payment, 54% said student loans made it tough to save money.

First-timers have accounted for nearly a third of home purchases over the past year, which is well below historical norms. Student loan debt trumps other debt and it is going to have a profound effect on a younger generation’s ability to borrower. The lending climate has become less forgiving with the introduction of QM. New federal rules have given lenders some legal protection as long as they do not approve loans for buyers whose total monthly debt exceeds 43% of their gross monthly income. Creating yet another hurdle, FHA, a popular choice for first-time buyers, currently allows lenders to ignore student debt that is deferred for a year or more when assessing a borrower’s eligibility. There has been indication that the agency may alter this rule,

Last year, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York conducted an analysis of the impact of student loans and the results were dramatic. From 2009-2012, the homeownership rates fell twice as much for 30-year-olds who had a history of student loans than those without the added debt. So the question is not do we want to own a home, but how will we own a home? How do we as a society build a finance system that supports homeownership?

Pending Sales Are Up!

Wanted to share the article below from the Virginia Association Of Realtors.. more good news for our housing market!

Pending home sales jump, beating expectations

Submitted by Andrew Kantor on April 27, 2012 – 3:29pm

NAR’s March Pending Home Sales Index (which counts contract signings, not closings) jumped a whopping 12.8 percent over March 2011. This bodes well for April and May numbers, when most of these (hopefully) will close.

Although I usually hate to look at month-to-month numbers, I’ll make an exception here to point something out: The March PHSI was up 4.1 percent over February, which isn’t unexpected — sales darn well ought to be increasing from Feb to March.

However, that jump was expected to be only 1.0 percent, so this big number is a nice piece of good news.

Also of note, NAR broke down the month-to-month number by region, and ours was up more than the national average (5.9% vs. 4.1%).

Yes, the market is recovering.

Selling A Home In Today’s Market?

Selling A Home in Today’s Market…

If you are selling a home in today’s market it’s important to go into the process with eyes wide open knowing exactly what to expect.  So many things are changing very rapidly and the market is simply nothing like it once was, and probably won’t be for years to come.

Having been in the industry for over 23 years and involved in every aspect including resale, new construction, development, relocation, foreclosure, HUD, short sales, marketing, and management, I have come across almost ever scenario that can possibly arise.

My intention here is to educate you as much up front as possible about what to expect when selling a home.  As we work together toward getting your home sold we will be walking you through all of this and ensuring that your best interests are protected.  Our ultimate goal is to get the home sold as quickly as possible, for as much money as possible, and to make the process as stress free for you as possible.

As you read through this please make note of any questions that may come up so we can address them together.  It is somewhat lengthy but again my goal is to educate you as much up front as possible so there are no surprises or unexpected headaches as you go through the process.  Please do take the time to read this in its entirety.

Going on the market

• When first meeting / interviewing make sure you’ve set aside ample uninterrupted time to sit down and discuss the possibility of selling your home.  This is when you’ll discover exactly how your home compares to the current market, what price it will take to actually get it sold and approximately what your expenses will be.  Here you will also learn what if anything can be done to have your home show as well as possible.  Have your listening ears open so you hear all the details of what’s explained.  This is one of your largest investments and you want to understand exactly what to expect.  Make this appointment a priority.
• Make sure you let us know exactly what you owe on the home including any 2nd mortgages and / or equity lines.  We need to know what you owe so we can crunch numbers letting you know exactly what you can expect to walk away with.  If you are behind on payments while it may not be an easy thing to discuss, you need to make sure we are aware of this because we can possibly help keep your home from going to foreclosure.
• Let us know what your motivation and / or reasons for selling are.  Realizing this can feel like private information if we know what your goals are, we are better able to help you achieve them.  If you are looking to buy we can help ensure you have access to all homes that are for sale based on what you’re looking for, and look out for your best interests on the purchase side.  If you are divorcing, we are in tune to dealing with this already challenging time and we can help make it as easy for both of you as possible.  If you’re relocating, we can help get you in touch with the right agent in your new area to ensure you get the same excellent care there.  If you’re looking to rent, we can get you in touch with folks that can help you find the right rental property as well.  Remember, our goal is to help make the entire experience for you as stress free as possible.