First-Time Home Buyers in Spring Hill FL Have a Familiar Question

Spring Hill FL First Time Home Buyers– Get Help Cutting Through The Economic Haze

 

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Spring Hill FL first-time home buyers in 2014 are faced with a question that hasn’t changed for generations: is it more practical to buy right now, or to continue to rent?
Over the past few years, buying has been the easy choice. Nationally, in 2013 it cost 35% less to own a home than to rent according to that year’s study by real estate website Trulia. That despite rising house prices and mortgage rates. But that was last year, and the experts have been pretty unanimous in predicting that interest rates will continue to rise—ending up somewhere near 5.5% by 2014’s end (per the National Association of REALTORS®). In the face of higher interest rates and house price tags, will 2014 be the year when renting becomes more affordable than buying?
While first-time home buyers in Spring Hill FL are faced with increasing house prices and mortgage rates, renters also find another national trend: higher rents. Rents have been on the rise for the past few years, with continued increases expected throughout 2014. According to Axiometrics, the folks with the latest data, apartment rents are on course to rise by 3.04% in 2014. Research firm Reis puts the expected rise at 3.15%— and both say the causes are the potent combination of tight supply and rising demand. Whenever the economy improves, each incremental gain puts even more pressure on rents—which acts as an offset to any financial benefits of renting versus owning.
Where does that leave our typical Spring Hill FL first-time home buyers?

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Most recently, national averages show it is still about 21% cheaper to own rather than rent. According to the Trulia study, by fall of last year, the earliest tipping point at which it would have become more expensive to own rather than rent would have been expected to occur if interest rates hit 6.2%—but only in Spring Hill FL—and only if rents had remained fixed (which didn’t happen, even in Hernando County). Nationally, out here in the real world, Tulia admitted “mortgage rates will not tip the housing market in favor of renting over buying until rates hit 10.5%…”

Spring Hill FL first-time home buyers can be a bit more confident as they take in one more piece of information from the real world of April 2014 (no matter what the experts predicted): over the past few weeks, national mortgage interest rates have been edging down instead of rising! That may well change direction again (probably will), but for now at least, I have to say that it’s a pretty clear call in the spring of 2014: time to get pre-approved and find the perfect home in Spring Hill FL or the surrounding Hernando County Real Estate markets!

Spring Hill Florida Mortgage Rates Might Rise A Little, But What’s It Mean?

 

 

Will Home Values Fall if Spring Hill FL Mortgage Rates Rise A Little Further?

 

 

Right now, mortgage rates in Spring Hill FL (as in the rest of the nation) are higher than they’ve been for 15 months—a trend that’s likely to continue. We have to wonder about the impact higher Spring Hill Florida mortgage rates will have on Hernando county home sales in the coming year.

 

First, some perspective. If mortgage rates do increase in 2014, it’s no ‘done deal’ that home buyers will be put off—nor that a wave of foreclosures will follow. The reason? By past standards, interest rates will still be low, even at the 5½% predicted by the N.A.R. Any hike in mortgage interest rates are coming off the historical 3.52% set in the spring of 2013. Consider: most of us were paying mortgage rates between 7 – 8% throughout the 1990’s! 5½% looks like a fire sale compared with those.

 

Factor Two: surprisingly, a projected rise in interest rates is not predicted to dampen the enthusiasm for acquiring property. The Mortgage Bankers Association predicts that home sales will increase nationally by 10% in 2014. I have no doubt that some Spring Hill first time homebuyers could be waylaid by rising interest rates—after all, a 1% increase in mortgage rates equates to approximately a 10% rise in monthly payments. But overall, buyers who can meet the current lending standards should still be able to afford to own. Given the cost of the renting alternative, they may decide they can’t afford to pass up the right house at the right price.

 

Additionally, there is a strong argument that the principal effect of rising interest rates is less likely to be on Spring Hill Florida home sales than on refis. The Mortgage Bankers Association predicts that refinancing demand will drop by half in 2014 (when you chart that kind of number, it looks like a cliff!). Many homeowners will already have locked in last year’s interest, so they certainly won’t be interested.

 

Any drying up of the refinancing business may have yet another effect. There could be a follow-on effect as lenders start loosening their lending criteria to attract new business. First time buyers that have been locked out of the market until then may (we are now two after-effects later, so this has to be a ‘may’) find themselves suddenly eligible for a home loan.

Given the healthier economy and falling unemployment, the outlook for the Spring Hill Florida housing market in 2014 has reason to look positive.

Thinking of buying a home in Hernando County and want to shop the best mortgage companies in Spring Hill FL? Now’s the time to call me to discuss timing!

 

Steve Fingerman

President

E Loans Mortgage Inc

4117 Mariner Blvd.

Spring Hill FL, 34609

NMLS# 856640

 

Office 352-688-7949

Cell 727-946-0904