How is the Housing Market today?

The local South Shore Real Estate market is still hopping even though summer is quickly coming to a close.  Before you know it the kids will be back in school and the market will be slowing down!

According to several Real Estate experts the real estate markets already seems to have slowed down in many parts of the country.  First time homebuyers are not making as many purchases anymore, now at 28% down from 40%!   However the good news is that home inventory has risen, which is what we were hoping to see when the spring market was picking up!   What does that mean for the market overall?   This may drive up the home prices and make affordable housing options for many buyers out of reach! 

At the same time baby boomers are retiring and wanting to downsize their current larger homes.  However, potential homebuyers are just not in the market for these grand scale homes. 

Many potential home buyers see the current process of buying their first home as daunting!  The best advice is to seek the help of a professional realtor that can help ease the process!   

Where do you see the local South Shore Market?   Realtors and Potential Clients may see the market in very different ways!!

Do you know how much you need to put down on a purchase of home?

A recent survey showed that 38% of those between the ages of 25-29 years old and 42% of those between the ages of 30-34 years old believe that a minimum of 15% is required as a down payment to purchase a home. A recent questionnaire administered by Freddie Mac showed that over 50% of all respondents thought 20% was required as a down payment.


In actual fact, a buyer may be able to put down far less!

According to Freddie Mac there is a lot of misinformation regarding the amount necessary when determining the down payment for a home purchase:

“Did you know 40 percent of today's homebuyers using mortgage financing are making down payments that are less than 10 percent? And how about this: since 2010, the number of people putting down less than 10 percent for conventional loans has grown three fold.  So, not only are low down payment options real, they represent a significant portion of today's purchases.”

According to Freddie Mac’s VP and Head of Single-Family Sales & Relationship Management explained further:

• A person “can get a conforming, conventional mortgage with a down payment of as little as 5 percent (sometimes with as little as 3 percent coming out of their own pockets)”.
• Qualified borrowers can further reduce the down payment coming out of their own pockets to 3 percent by lining up gifts from family or grants or loans from non-profits or public agencies.

Letting more consumers know how down payments are determined could bring more qualified borrowers off the sidelines. Depending on their credit history and other factors, many borrowers can expect to make a down payment of about 5 or 10 percent.

There are also many down payment assistance programs that are there to help people that are in a perfect position to buy credit wise, but are not able to save enough money for that initial down payment!

You can read more about what is available here:   Down Payment Assistance


If you are saving for either your first home or that perfect move-up dream house, make sure you know all your options. You may be pleasantly surprised!