Tech companies this year have been committing billions to responding to housing shortages in the Golden State. Apple is the latest, announcing this week that it would allocate $2.5 billion to help address the housing availability and affordability crisis in California.Homeownership in the Bay Area is at a seven-year low. Sixty-three percent of millennials surveyed earlier this year said they were considering moving out of California due to high h
Escalating home prices over the past eight years have propelled equity to record highs nationally, CoreLogic reports. Homeowners in nearly every state in the country have seen their equity grow. The West is seeing the largest growth. For example, Idaho homeowners gained an average of $22,000 per borrower; Wyoming owners saw a $20,000 gain; and Nevada owners saw a $17,000 increase, according to CoreLogic’s Home Equity Insights report.Only three
Homeownership may be key to achieving early retirement. A growing movement called “FIRE,” which stands for “Financial Independence, Retire Early”—an idea outlined in author Joe Dominguez’s 1992 bestseller Your Money or Your Life—lays out a way to retire early in your 30s or 40s. The plan focuses on stowing away 40% to 70% of your income, and then making smart investments to grow it. “Owning a home helps you build equity,
From landscaping to exterior finishes, there are plenty of ways to make your listing a standout in curb appeal. Houzz, a home remodeling website, recently showed off a few high-impact ways to boost a home’s exterior aesthetic.Paint the front door. Put a fresh coat of paint on the front door, which is what potential buyers will be seeing first. Also, consider an entirely new color for the front door to get attention. Black is a tr
Down payment assistance programs are helping more consumers to become homeowners, according to a new study. Researchers with CBC Mortgage Agency, a national housing finance group, found that more than nine out of 10 home buyers would not have been able to purchase a home without down payment help. Further, more than half of the 1,100 buyers surveyed that received assistance were racial or ethnic minorities. Also, more than a third say they are th
Opportunity zones have been called one of the biggest real estate tax breaks ever, but investors have been hesitant to take advantage, a new study shows. The tax breaks—which were spawned from the 2017 federal tax overhaul--aim to spur economic growth in nearly 9,000 low-income communities designated across the country. Investors who hold onto the investments for 10 years receive the greatest tax breaks. Read more: Get Up to Speed on O-Zon
Facebook has become the latest company to pledge money to help ease a housing crisis that critics blame big tech for. The social media giant on Tuesday said it would allocate $1 billion in grants, land, and loans to generate more affordable housing in California's Bay Area. The funds will be used to build an estimated 20,000 housing units for middle- to low-income households.In June, Google pledged $1 billion in land and money to build
One in five U.S. homeowners say they feel house rich but cash poor, according to the newly released Hometap Homeownership Study. The rising costs of homeownership nationwide prompted nearly 20% of 675 homeowners surveyed to classify themselves as feeling “house rich, cash poor” most of the time, according to the study produced by Hometap, a firm that provides loan alternatives for tapping home equity. Seventy-three percent of respondents say
Cookie-cutter homes and apartments can look too similar to their competition, making it harder for them to stand out. But developers and designers are finding some ways that can make an abode different from the rest.“Everybody’s looking at what everybody else is doing,” Jonathan Miller, the president of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants, told The New York Times. An apartment can be “really nice and spec
When home shoppers are looking around for the best mortgage rates, they may wonder why they aren’t quoted the ones they see advertised online or by banks. Lenders usually advertise the best interest rates that are available only to their borrowers with the highest credit scores.Credit scores can have a big impact on what borrowers are quoted with mortgage rates.Forbes.com paints the following scenario in a recent article: Two neighbors are both
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