Should You Rent or Buy Your Home?

I wanted to give you a little breakdown of the home buying process and why now is such a great time to buy in Boston.

I read the other day that the average net worth of a homeowner is 36 times greater than the average net worth of a renter. It's also expected that this gap will expand to 45 times greater in 2016.

There are many reasons why, but simply put, homeownership is a form of forced savings. Every time you make a mortgage payment, remember, you're just contributing to your net worth. If you're currently renting, it might be painful to think that you're contributing to your landlord's net worth.

Homeowners have a net worth 36x higher than renters.

Rental rates have skyrocketed this year, up 3.8% year over year, marking the largest increase since 2007. Buying a home offers you stability. With a fixed rate, you can take comfort in knowing that your mortgage payment isn't going to increase. With interest rates near historical lows, now is the time to buy a house if you haven't already done so.

Thinking you don't have enough for a down payment, or an insufficient credit score? In 2015, the average credit score for an FHA loan was 686. The average home buyer put 10% down, with the average first-time buyer putting just 6% down. Thinking you need 20% down just isn't true anymore.

If you're thinking about buying or selling a home in the Boston Metro Market, I'd love to speak with you about how we can accomplish your goals. Give me a call or send me an email and let's talk soon!

2016 Real Estate Market Update

Looking to buy or sell a home in Boston, Massachusetts? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (617) 480-2600 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation.

It’s been an interesting year so far, with some conflicting data out there about the Massachusetts market.

While we’ve seen a huge increase in the amount of houses sold in both the single-family market and the condo market, we’ve seen a huge decrease in the amount of inventory that’s currently available to the buyer. In contrast to those two trends, there has been a pretty small change in the average sale prices in the first six months.

Take the single-family market, for example. In this market, the average sale price for the first six months has not changed. In the condo market, it has only gone up 4.64%. That’s not that much when you have a decrease in inventory of 16.41%.

There are a ton of buyers out there looking for homes

There has been a sharp increase in what sellers are currently asking for. In the single-family market, sellers of single-family homes have been asking for 11.81% more than what they were this time last year. For condos, it’s even worse. Sellers in that market are asking for 22.75% more than what they were last year.

What has all this done to our current inventory levels?

In the below $500,000 price range, whether you’re in a single-family home or a condo, that market is red hot. There are a ton of buyers out there looking for homes. While single-family properties have growing inventory from $1 million-and-up, we’re actually seeing inventory start to build for condos in the above $500,000 price range too.

If you know of anyone else who’s thinking about buying or selling, I would truly appreciate you sharing my contact information with them. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out yourself by calling me or sending an email. I look forward to talking to you soon!