By Tim Henderson The Great Recession shook many millennials who took time to recoup. But from 2016 to 2021, almost every state saw a spike in the number that formed households. NEW YORK – From 2016 to 2021, nearly every state saw a spike in the number of young adults between ages 25 and 44 forming new households, a development with far-reaching implications for state populations, economic growth and infrastructure. For many millennials, the economic fallout of the Great Recession a decade and a half ago postponed what for many is a major milestone: leaving their parents’ house or housing
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By Jennifer Warner Florida Realtors economist: It will cost buyers more each month to pay a mortgage than rent – but that ignores the advantages and increased savings of ownership. ORLANDO, Fla – Homebuyers who sign lending docs on the dotted line today may be factoring a higher monthly payment into their household spreadsheet than someone signing a lease. Despite a slower pace of median home price increases, a higher interest rate environment is pushing the monthly payment for a mortgage higher, surpassing the monthly asking rent in the third quarter of 2022. This analysis looks at the entire south
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By Paul Wiseman The Federal Reserve wants to see economic contraction, but Friday’s jobs report was “explosive” – 2.8 times higher (517K jobs) than predicted (185K jobs). WASHINGTON (AP) – America’s employers added a sizzling 517,000 jobs in January, a surprisingly strong gain in the face of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive drive to slow growth and tame inflation with higher interest rates. The unemployment rate dipped to 3.4%, the lowest level since 1969. Friday’s government report added to the picture of a resilient labor market, with low unemployment, relatively few layoffs and many job openings even as most economists foresee
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By Kerry Smith It’s cheaper to build homes in a warehouse and put them together at the job site – and the U.S. needs to improve that process, according to a new HUD report. WASHINGTON – The U.S. needs more affordable housing, and one way to achieve that is to build more homes offsite and finalize construction later. Offsite construction has the potential to deliver affordable single- and multifamily-housing because it’s efficient thanks to economics of scale. Even with the current housing challenge, however, the U.S. lags in offsite construction compared to more mature international offsite-construction industries in countries such
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By Michael O’Donnell, Kevin Hakansson, James V. Mazewski and Kori Pruett A promissory note commits a new homeowner to make payments on their house. A mortgage gives a lender the right to take that home if they don’t do so. A recent Fla. court opinion highlighted those differences. MIAMI – In the recently-decided matter of Fis v Newrez, LLC, LEXIS 233104 (SD Fla. Dec. 28, 2022, No. 22-81364), the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (the Court) issued an interesting opinion highlighting the differing rights and obligations imposed by mortgages and their accompanying promissory notes, using
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By Shannon Allen Dear Shannon: A broker discovered that one of their agents was bad-mouthing another local broker and appraiser online, with comments that fell under “unprofessional” and “judgmental.” Is this a big deal under the Code of Ethics? ORLANDO, Fla. – Dear Shannon: I’m a broker, run a medium-sized, well-known brokerage in town and I’m mortified at the behavior of one of my agents. I just learned that they’ve been posting negative comments on social media about a well-known commercial broker and local appraiser. The posts I saw were unprofessional, included pretty judgmental statements and several encouraged readers not
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By Meredith Caruso Every real estate contract includes deadlines, and sometimes one deadline – such as one for buyers and sellers to deliver an executed copy – will change. This confuses more than a few members. Hopefully this bullet-point timeline will help. ORLANDO, Fla. – Members have a lot of questions about the time-for-acceptance date in our contracts and how that applies to contract formation. Hopefully this simpler bullet-point list will make it easier to understand. Time for Acceptance: Each Florida Realtors contract has a section that addresses time for acceptance of the offer. In general, it’s a specific date
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By Joel Maxson When does a seller’s obligation to disclose hidden defects kick in? That might be the wrong question. Here’s why that approach seems to miss the mark – and why many people correctly embrace the mantra disclose, disclose, disclose. ORLANDO, Fla. – I was giving a talk to a wonderful and engaged group of Realtors® recently, and one of the topics touched on was the seller’s disclosure. This spawned all sorts of follow-up questions about when disclosures are mandatory vs. optional. What if the seller had someone remediate a mold problem a few months ago? What if the
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By Matt Ott At 6.09%, the 30-year, fixed-rate loan moved even closer to 5%. It’s down from last week’s 6.13% and almost a point lower than highs of 7.08% reached in Oct. WASHINGTON – The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate declined for the fourth week in a row, a sign of relative stability that could potentially open the door for some prospective homebuyers to get back in the market. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average on the benchmark 30-year rate fell to 6.09% from 6.13% last week. That’s the lowest level since September. The average rate a
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By Kerry Smith As the 30-year rate dropped from 6.9% to 6.36% and some home prices fell, Miami buyers averaged 8.3% savings in just two months and Jacksonville buyers 7.4%. SEATTLE – Between October 2022 and December 2022, interest dropped and some housing prices declined. As a result, December homebuyers saw a savings in their monthly mortgage payments compared to October buyers. According to a report from Redfin, the median monthly housing payment for San Francisco homebuyers dropped 14.8% (-$1,477) – the highest percentage decline of the 49 most populous U.S. metros – since hitting its pandemic-era peak in October.
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