To buy a house or rent, that is the question?

The market has made it challenging for home buyers, who must balance little inventory and a lot of competition. And to make matters worse, rising interest rates are here to stay. While home mortgage interest rates have increased to the high 4% range, this would be the time to really ask yourself what is the better option... buy or rent? I get it, it's a tough market right now, it may be nerve-wracking to deal with putting an offer on that home you have dreamt about and very likely deal with buyer’s fatigue and end up paying more a month because of the current rates. However, investing in real estate may be more beneficial than you know in the long run.

You can say Yahoo! News  explains it

The mortgage rate trap is making the housing market worse

Within the last couple of years, mortgage rates have been historically low. At the start of 2022 we were seeing signs of mortgage rates starting to climb, and with inflation, there is even more promise that mortgage rates won’t get better any time soon.  One big factor that helped numerous homeowners save money is ultimately hurting homebuyers. Yahoo! News is calling it the interest rate trap. No earlier than January of 2022 I blogged about how mortgage rates were on the rise, The U.S. Mortgage Rates Hit The Highest Level in Two Years explaining how the rate on your mortgage can make a huge difference in how much home you can afford and what the size of your monthly payments will be

Home equity, what to know if you’re tempted to borrow from that

Your home is your greatest investment, and with record increases in home prices, it results in pushing up the amount of equity you have in your home. Homes have skyrocketed within the last few years, but what does that mean to someone who doesn't plan on selling? Have you just sat there and wondered what that means to you, someone who knows that their home has gone up in value, but doesn’t know what to do with that information? After all, if you don’t plan on selling, what does it matter to you if homes have gone up in value? That’s a valid point. However, there is something called home equity. In fact, a lot of homeowners don’t know or even consider it. But, according to CNBC an

Average mortgage rates are higher for all loan types today with the 30-year mortgage rate crossing above 5%.

• The latest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 5.17%. ⇑
• The latest rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 4.197%. ⇑
• The latest rate on a 5/1 ARM is 3.974%. ⇑
• The latest rate on a 7/1 ARM is 4.135%. ⇑
• The latest rate on a 10/1 ARM is 4.245%. 

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is done sitting idly on the sidelines as inflation burns away Americans’ purchasing power. The plan? Draw upon the central bank's decades-old inflation playbook by increasing rates until demand pulls back, and price growth slows.

This is already presenting a test for runaway inflation's poster child: the U.S. housing market.

CoreLogic, a real

Two Reasons Why Waiting a Year To Buy Could Cost You

If you’re a renter with a desire to become a homeowner, or a homeowner who’s decided your current house no longer fits your needs, you may be hoping that waiting a year might mean better market conditions to purchase a home.

To determine if you should buy now or wait, you need to ask yourself two simple questions:

1. What will home prices be like in 2022?
2. Where will mortgage rates be by the end of 2022?

Let’s shed some light on the answers to both of these questions.

What will home prices be like in 2022?

Three major housing industry entities project continued home price appreciation for 2022. Here are their forecasts:

• Freddie Mac: 5.3%
• Fannie Mae: 5.1%

Homebuyers who are emerging from their COVID-19 cocooning are likely to encounter bargain rack mortgage rates for the forseeable future. But it's less clear what they'll find when they look at home prices. Are prices going up or down? Recent reports have been mixed and largely don't reflect the impact from the coronavirus pandemic. What's likely to happen to prices in the coming months? The forecasts are murky, too.

Here's a look at what we know — and what we don't know. 

Several reports say home prices are going up

One closely followed national survey said last week that home prices across the U.S. were up 4.4% in March, compared to a year earlier. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller study also tracks prices in 20 major cities and says Phoenix

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This country classic estate offers an exceptional escape into the great Northwest for a truly amazing serene year-round abode where you’ll enjoy a spacious three(3) bedrooms two and a half(2.5) baths in the Main Home with two(2) bonus rooms; a separate detached 1384 Sq Ft 1 bedroom 1 bath guest house; a generous specialty 4-car tandem detached garage with two(2) massive work bays; and an additional unfinished 800+ SqFt flex space above the garage for the ultimate mountainous getaway. 

NWMLS | November Press Release

Current Market Snapshot Infographic | Statistical Reports

KIRKLAND, Washington (November 7, 2019) - "People are moving here, home prices will continue to increase, inventory shortages will occur. That's our future," remarked Dick Beeson, principal managing broker at RE/MAX Northwest in Gig Harbor, upon viewing the October statistics from Northwest Multiple Listing Service.

Active listings of homes and condos totaled 14,379, the lowest level since April. Compared to a year ago, last month's selection declined more than 21% and was down 10% from September, according to the new report from Northwest MLS. The year-over-year and month-to-month volume of new listings also declined last month. On a positive note, MLS

The market’s chilled out, but Seattle home prices still too hot for many first-time buyers 

Seattle lost the title of the nation’s hottest housing market in August 2018 — but looking at home prices, which have stayed sky-high, that might be hard for shoppers to believe.

New monthly data shows the median price of a single-family home in Seattle — $760,000 — is exactly the same as it was one year ago. The same holds true for Bellevue, where a typical home ran $935,000 in August.

And while King County as a whole charted an infinitesimal bump in year-over-year home prices, it was so small that you might miss it if you