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☆ How to Save for a House
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Michele Lerner | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +10 min

By Michele LernerThe need to save looms large in the home buying process. 5 strategies to save for a houseZillow estimates that it would currently take the typical household saving 5% of their income close to nine years to save a 10% down payment on a typical house. For example, if you’re aiming for $50,000 down on a $500,000 home in three years, you’ll need to save nearly $1,400 a month. That means the fastest way to save is often to cut costs on the place you live. However, he says you should at least save the minimum to earn any 401(k) matching contributions your employer offers and have a plan to increase your contributions after you buy a house.

Persons: Michele Lerner, you’re, ”, Isabel Barrow, Barrow, Cash, Tom Mathews, Matt Steenson, ” Barrow, Mathews, —, you’ve, “, ” Steenson, Steenson Organizations: National Association of Realtors, NAR, Edelman, News Corp, The, Street, PNC Bank, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Locations: Alexandria, Va, Atlanta, Pittsburgh

☆ I’ve Been Writing About Mortgages for 30 Years, but I Picked a 20-Year Loan
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Michele Lerner | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

But I’ve been writing about real estate for more than three decades now, so I’ve benefited from interviewing hundreds of lenders. Along the way, I learned that technically you can get a loan term as short as five years and as long as 40. Back then, average mortgage rates were under 4%, well below what we’d been paying since buying our current home eight-years earlier. Plus, the 20-year refinance will ultimately save us over $100,000 in interest compared with a 30-year refinance (before factoring in our extra payments). Don’t let anyone talk you into a “standard” loan term until you’ve compared all your options.

Persons: Michele Lerner, I’ve, we’d, We’d, what’s, Don’t Locations: Virginia, Washington ,

☆ Two Sisters Try Living Together (Again) in Washington. Who Gets the Bigger Bedroom?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Michele Lerner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Caroline Berens had been perfectly happy living alone for a couple of years in Washington, when her younger sister, Emma, announced that she was planning to move to the city. So Ms. Berens didn’t immediately extend an invitation to be roommates in her one-bedroom rental in Dupont Circle. “I’ve always been frugal and have saved money to buy a home since I started babysitting at 12,” Caroline Berens said. Email: thehunt@nytimes.com]“I’m coming from college life, where I lived with three other roommates, so I’m not worried about sharing a home with Caroline,” Emma said. “Plus,” she said, “I was determined to avoid living in a basement.”Both sisters are tall, so Caroline wanted high ceilings.

Persons: Caroline Berens, Emma, Berens didn’t, “, haven’t, ”, Berens, we’ve, ” Emma Berens, “ I’ve, ” Caroline Berens, I’m, Caroline, ” Emma, Adams Morgan, Lucy, “ Caroline, Claudia Ornelas, Ms, Ornelas Organizations: Brunswick Group, Harvard, “ Locations: Washington, Dupont, Boston

☆ People Are Using Mortgage Points to Lower Their Rates—Are They Worth It?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Michele Lerner | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

A recent analysis by Zillow Home Loans found that nearly 45% of borrowers purchased mortgage points, also known as discount points, in 2022 to reduce their monthly payments. That compares to 29% of borrowers who bought mortgage points in 2021, 28% in 2020 and 27% in 2019. “We started seeing more buyers purchasing discount points as soon as mortgage rates ticked up in 2022,” says Nicole Bachaud, senior economist for Zillow in Seattle. The combination of high home prices and high mortgage rates contributes to the current appeal of paying discount points. Cash-out refinance borrowers were also more likely than other borrowers to buy mortgage points.

Persons: Michele Lerner, “, ”, Nicole Bachaud, we’re, Chuck Cavanaugh, ” Cavanaugh, Mike Salierno, ” Salierno, Cavanaugh, ” Bachaud, Cash, Bachaud Organizations: Zillow, Citibank, Northwestern Mutual Locations: Seattle, New York City, Clearwater, Fla

☆ Four Bedrooms for $275,000? An Upstate Couple Hoped to Find a Family Home to Grow In.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Michele Lerner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

She owned a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in Geneva, a city of about 12,000 in the Finger Lakes region of central New York, 45 miles southeast of Rochester. “There’s still almost no inventory in our area, which saw growing demand pre-Covid because of the emergence of the local wine, craft-beer and food scenes in the Finger Lakes,” Mr. Toner said. With up to $275,000 to spend, the Wayners hoped to find a single-family home with at least three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Mr. Wayner wanted it to be in a walkable neighborhood like the one he had enjoyed in Rochester. “Most of the homes in the city of Geneva are older, but we weren’t really looking for a house that needed a lot of renovation,” Mrs. Wayner said.

☆ When Is The Best Time to Buy a House?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +8 min

By Michele LernerAs with much else in real estate, the best time of year to buy a house depends on location, market conditions—and you. “But the best time of year to buy a house depends a lot on the type of buyer.”The spring housing marketTraditionally the housing market’s most active season, spring can be the “best” time of year to buy or the “worst” time of year to buy, depending on your perspective. Best time to buy for: Buyers who hope to move before the holidays or at least before the end of the year. Best time to buy for: Buyers and investors looking for a better deal. “Sometimes it’s the right time to buy a house when you’ve found ‘the one’ that feels right for your family and your circumstances,” Bloch says.

☆ Should I Refinance My Mortgage?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +9 min

By Michele LernerFor most people, the prime reason to refinance a mortgage is to lower their interest rate and monthly payments. While there are many reasons people refinance (more on that later), normally when someone has a low mortgage rate, they don’t refinance into a higher one, says Erin Wood, a financial planner with the Carson Group in Omaha, Neb. Here are a few reasons to refinance your mortgage:To reduce your paymentsThe simplest way to lower your monthly payments is if you can refinance into a lower mortgage rate, which reduces the interest you pay on your loan. Generally, closing costs for a mortgage refinance range from 2% to 5% of the new loan amount. That expense means it only makes sense to refinance if you can reduce your mortgage rate by half a percentage point or more, says Middleman.

☆ She Became a Broker to Buy Her Own House Near Washington, D.C. Which Did She Choose?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Michele Lerner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

When Ms. Latney was growing up in Washington, D.C., her grandmother owned four apartment houses and a single-family home in the area, all of which she passed down to her six children. Ms. Latney was raised in one of those houses. “Everyone in my family bought a house because of the legacy of my grandmother,” she said. For three years, she rented a two-bedroom apartment in Northeast Washington, for about $1,000 a month, before briefly moving in with her mother. “I wanted to get the commission and not put my hard-earned money in someone else’s hands,” said Ms. Latney, who is now a sales associate with Coldwell Banker.

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