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Highlighting data from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University and the U.S. Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancy Survey, Frank Nothaft of CoreLogic reports on the powerful effects that both millennials and baby boomers will have on U.S. housing market demand over the next decade.
Demographic forces will power housing demand in coming years as the millennial cohorts come into prime ages for forming households and buying first or second homes. The housing market has begun to feel the effects of this trend and the aging of the second largest cohort – the baby boomers.
Census Bureau data shows that during 2014, the largest single-age group of younger Americans was 23, with ages 22 and 24 right behind them, all clustered in the 4.5 million range. The average age for a first-time homebuyer is 31. So in six to eight years, this bulge will become prime candidates for home sales and mortgages.
But that’s not the only demographic driver at work. The average age of a “move-up” or “repeat” homebuyer is 39. Right now there are about 3.9 million people in this age group. Eight years from now, there will be 4.2 million potential repeat candidates in the sweet spot. There may even be a third wave, as the largest cohorts of baby boomers (those born in 1956 through 1958) hit retirement age and start looking for retirement homes, second homes, or empty-nest condos.
Millennials’ high student debt ratios and antipathy to buying homes is the stuff of legend. But that is likely to change as they advance in their working careers and plan families. Surveys of millennials indicate that they have a similar desire for homeownership as their parents’ cohort, but recognize that they plan to transition into ownership at a later age. Six to eight years from now, it’s a good bet they will look more like the home-buying cohorts of the past.
Who doesn’t like the atmosphere of fall? Summer finally ends and the weather begins to get to a comfortable cold; time to pick up some pumpkin and fill your home with the aroma of a delicious and freshly baked pie. And it’s also time to bring in all the nice things that fall has to offer.
Here are some reasons why fall is best time to decorate, according to About Home:
It’s all about comfort. Fall is all about coziness, and it’s the perfect time for the family to gather around the fireplace, share warm blankets and fluffy pillows, and enjoy warm drinks. All things cozy that were kept in storage during summer and spring are finally getting a tour to the town; everyone just nest in comfort and warmth as candles get lit.
It’s entertaining season. Fall is the perfect time to spruce up your home to make everybody feel welcome and for your friends and loved ones to appreciate your abode. From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve, it’s around this time that we open our homes to the people that matter to us; it can be for some open house festivities with neighbors or for a more intimate romantic dinner with your special someone or for closest friends and family.
It can be done for cheap. What’s good about decorating during fall is that you can do it without breaking the bank. You don’t need to cash out to get the most relevant pieces; all you need to do is step outside. From pinecones, nuts, leaves, birch logs; they are all useful décor items for fall that you can use in many different ways – and the best part is, they are free!
Retirees say that donating time and money to charitable organizations, or to people in need, rewards them with a greater purpose in life. In this article from U.S. News, author and blogger Tom Sightings highlights some of the reasons why retirement is a great time to give back.
America is one of the most generous nations in the world. According to figures from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, some 60 percent of Americans regularly engage in some kind of charitable activity, compared to an average of about 40 percent for other developed countries.
A study from Merrill Lynch and Age Wave found that Americans donated $358 billion last year, and most of it came not from corporations but from families and individuals. In addition, Americans offered almost 8 billion hours volunteering for charitable causes, from church activities to political organizations to helping out neighbors and strangers. While Americans of all races and ages contribute their money and time, retirees are the ones who reach out the most. Here’s why.
Retirees have the best opportunity. Retirees have the most discretionary time. Their time isn’t consumed by working or taking care of children. They have almost twice as much free time as working parents in their late 30s and early 40s, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and they are looking for something to do with all that extra time. So while retirees comprise a little less than a third of the population, they account for 45 percent of all volunteering hours, Merrill Lynch found.
They have the most money. Retirees have the lowest poverty rate among all age groups, and they also have the most savings. They are sitting on more than four times the net worth of their children who are working and raising families. This explains why retirees account for 42 percent of the money donated to charity, according to Merrill Lynch.
They find it fulfilling. Retirees feel that giving back to society means they make a difference in the lives of others. Some 70 percent of retirees also say being generous provides a significant source of happiness. Most volunteers report that helping others brings them more happiness than spending money on themselves. Retirees who are active in charities also have a stronger sense of purpose and higher self-esteem. They have lower rates of depression as well as lower blood pressure and lower mortality rates.
It’s a way to make social connections. Another reason retirees volunteer is for the social interaction. After people stop working and their kids are gone, they lose many of the usual social connections. Volunteering helps retirees meet people with similar interests and values. Some 85 percent of retiree volunteers say they have developed new friendships through their volunteer activities, the survey found.
Comparing National Association of Realtors home values data from the third quarter of 2015 to the same time period a year ago, Bankrate has outlined the top markets where home prices increased the fastest. During that time frame, home values rose 5.5% nationally.
Markets in Florida fared extremely well, with Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Naples-Marco Island and Cape Coral-Fort Myers all topping the list. The Reno-Sparks, Nevada market also earned a place in the top five.
This informative article from BrightNest provides some tips on how to literally brighten your nest!
If your living room receives cave-like natural light, you’re going to be flicking those light switches a lot. When you turn on the lights, you use electricity – and that costs money! Save a little cash and reduce your energy usage by increasing your home’s natural light. Plus, you’ll get a mood boost from all of that vitamin D!
Use mirrors. Mirrors reflect light, so the more mirrors you have in a room, the more light will bounce from wall to wall! Hang mirrors opposite windows or glass doors to maximize the natural light in your room. Tip: Buy furniture with glass panels or mirrored accents.
Paint with light colors. Light colors reflect sunlight better than dark ones, so a wall painted in cool tones (like gray, cream or eggshell blue) will boost the natural light in the room.
Move furniture. Unless you have some kind of translucent plastic theme going on, your furniture is blocking natural light! Move furniture at least a few feet away from any windows or glass doors so you can let the light shine in.
Ditch the heavy fabric curtains. It’s important to have drapes and curtains, but they don’t need to be made from heavy fabrics like velvet or brocade (which will make the room feel darker and smaller). Try linen or cotton, instead.
The defining characteristics of first-time homebuyers are ever-changing, and so are the types of homes they desire. This article from Cody Fuller, Economic Analyst at Zillow, looks into recent data to outline the characteristics that define today’s first-time homebuyers.
The role of first-time homebuyers in the real estate market has remained remarkably constant – and hugely important – over the years. But while the role of first-time buyers hasn’t changed, the defining characteristics of first-time buyers, and what they’re looking for in a first home, is constantly evolving.
First-time buyers are critical in the real estate food chain, purchasing the homes occupied by slightly older families, and allowing those more mature families to sell their home and move up. And when first-time buyers leave rental housing for homeownership, they help ease rental demand, making it easier for their younger brethren to get started.
First-time homebuyers today are typically older, spend more time renting prior to buying and are less likely to be married than in prior years. Interestingly, they earn roughly the same amount they always have.
But while their income hasn’t risen much, first-time homebuyers’ tastes have. Both the price and percentile (the share of homes more or less expensive than those typically sought by first-timers) of homes purchased by first-time buyers have risen – homes now bought by first-time buyers cost about $140,000, up from $113,000 in the years immediately prior to the millennium. As a result, the value of a typical home bought by first-time buyers is closer to a middle-of-the-road home than a more stereotypical entry-level home.
And at the same time as the home value equation is changing, the type of home sought by first-time buyers is also changing: First-time buyers are increasingly purchasing condominiums, at the expense of sales of more traditional single-family homes. The share of condos purchased by first-time buyers has risen to 42%, from 28% in 2001.
Residential sales of $1 million or more in downtown sections of cities have been growing over the last two years, according to the National Association of Realtors. This New York Times article by Robert Strauss takes an inside look at the trend of affluent baby boomer generation homeowners who are leaving their communities in the suburbs and moving to the big city.
One Riverside is one of several high-end Philadelphia condominium projects either recently completed or in progress, something new for the city. A Drexel University professor, Kevin Gillen, produces a city housing report each quarter, and it said that in 2015’s third quarter, there were 34 sales of more than $1 million – there had never been a quarter with more than 24 before.
While $100 million Manhattan condos are the talk of high-end urban real estate, Philadelphia’s experience is being repeated in a quieter way all over the country, according to figures from the National Association of Realtors. Residential sales of $1 million or more in downtown sections of cities have been 2.2 percent of sales since 2013, compared with 1.8 percent in the 2009-12 period.
Richer people are moving to those downtowns, Dr. Gillen said, to judge from population increases there along with the expansion of expensive residential projects.
Most of these new high-end buyers are coming from the suburbs, developers say. This is a group that loves its mansions and large homes but is finally, not so reluctantly, trading them in for high-end city adventure.
“Things just lined up in the last few years,” said Patrick L. Phillips, the global chief executive of the Urban Land Institute, a research organization in Washington. “The peak of the baby boom is right around 60 and these wealthy folks have a lot of embedded equity in their homes. They have the wherewithal to move into something with space in the city.”
And cities have prepared for people with money, at least in their downtowns, Mr. Phillips said. They have concentrated theaters, arenas, upscale shopping and refurbished or new parks and museums there.
“We see it everywhere from San Francisco to what I call the ’villes: Nashville, Louisville, Asheville – smaller cities as well,” Mr. Phillips said. While lower or middle-income suburban families may not be able to purchase something with enough space or close enough to walk to downtown attractions, the wealthier are diving in.
Ricki Kanter and her husband, Joel, both now in their mid-50s, he a venture capitalist and she a lawyer, raised their three children in what she called “a McMansion in McLean,” in the Virginia suburbs of Washington.
“Once I got over the fiction that my children were moving back, it was time for us to go where we loved and spent three nights a week anyway, the city,” Mrs. Kanter said.
Relocating to a new city can be a fun and exciting adventure. Every spare moment is spent exploring new roads, looking for shortcuts, finding your new favorite coffee shop and your new go-to restaurant for take-out. But moving someplace new can also bring some challenges – especially if you don’t have any employment opportunities lined up. This article from Arnie Fertig of Jobhuntercoach outlines some things to consider that may help make your job search easier when you relocate.
When you find yourself living in a new city without a job, you are likely to encounter an added level of complexity in a job search. Perhaps you’ve moved to be with a spouse or partner whose company relocated him or her. Maybe you exhausted all your opportunities in your previous location, or you were intrigued with the lifestyle a new community offers. Whatever the reason for your move, this can be both an exciting and fearful time in your life.
Here are some things to consider as you get your bearings and begin the search for your next job:
Get the lay of the land. While you aren’t yet working, relish the time to get to know your new surroundings. Figure out first things first, like where to buy your basic groceries. But don’t neglect to learn about your new city or community within it. What cultural, historical and other spots of interest are nearby? What colleges and universities offer programs to the public, like lectures or concerts that would be of interest? Where are great places nearby to just take a walk or hike, ride your bike or get some exercise? Take some time to figure out where to find day care or education for your kids, doctors and dentists, gyms and all the service providers necessary to your lifestyle.
Get salary surveys. As you begin to focus your job search, it is important to figure out what your skills and experience can command in compensation. You can easily get graphs that compare what a job title pays (range and median) in your new location and nationally at Careeronestop.org, sponsored by the US Department of Labor. And you can hone that data more specifically at sites like Salary.com, PayScale, Glassdoor and elsewhere.
Scour the job boards to see what’s out there. Before you rework your resume, check the major job boards (Monster, CareerBuilder, LinkedIn’s main Jobs menu) and job aggregating sites Indeed and SimplyHired. Conduct multiple searches and save results of full text job descriptions. Examine them carefully to identify the sought-after skills and achievements that you can legitimately claim when you are putting your new resume together.
Find job fairs. There are many types and venues for job fairs. Do a Google search for job fairs in your area, and you’ll see everything from career forums to events specialized for veterans, health care, general labor and so on. In particular, it is worth checking with your professional organization to see if it sponsors such events, or provides links to the events on its site.
Network your way into your new community. Essential to any job search campaign, especially in a new community, is getting to know “who’s who,” and getting to be known by them. Use LinkedIn to build connections, and then actually follow up to speak with them.
The holiday shopping season is about to kick into high gear. Are you prepared to get through this season without spending everything you’ve earned this year? According to this article from Paul Sisolak, highlighted in U.S. News, even if you’ve taken steps to save money and stay frugal during the holidays, you still might be habitually wasting money without knowing it. Here are some ways you’re overspending… and how to stop.
Hosting a holiday feast. Christmas usually becomes Thanksgiving Part II, with a banquet-sized dinner big enough to feed a family 10 times the size of your own. The hundreds of dollars spent at the grocery store, plus preparation and cooking time – and that Pinterest-inspired table decor – isn’t always worth the effort for a grand meal. Save yourself some money and energy by turning your dinner gathering into a potluck instead. Invite relatives and guests to bring their favorite dishes so the cost of your holiday meal is spread out evenly over everyone who comes to the table. Bonus: You won’t have to loan out your containers for leftovers either, because everyone will have brought their own.
Shopping without a strategy. Having a clear-cut budget for gifts is a great start, but it can quickly go to waste if you don’t have a shopping plan in place. Saunter through your local mall, and you’ll likely have a hard time resisting the temptation to buy impulsively for your kids, spouse or yourself. Indulge, and you might be paying more than if you compared prices online or in other stores beforehand. You might even be shopping at the wrong time. If you buy because you happened to wander into a certain store, you could be paying full price for a boatload of toys that will go on sale the next day. Your best course of action is to outline a budget and shopping wish list, compare prices, look for discounts or coupons, and adjust your shopping list to fit within your budget. That way, you’ll have your finances set, and you’ll have a strategy to get exactly what you need at the right time.
Putting everything on a credit card. It’s possible to stay within your budget yet overspend at the same time if you exclusively use your credit cards for your Black Friday-to-Christmas Eve shopping. If you don’t pay off your balance on time, the penalty interest you’ll be hit with will cancel out all your efforts to save money during the Yuletide season. Rely too much on your plastic, and it’ll show up on your credit report, too. Your credit score might even take a hit if your debt-to-credit ratio is too high. Like reminding yourself not to drink too much egg nog this year, use credit in moderation. Opt instead for your debit card or cash if you need help staying disciplined.
Going overboard with Christmas lights. Don’t try to compete with those houses with the massive light displays set to music that you’ve seen in viral videos. Lights covering every inch of your house isn’t exactly a bright idea from a financial standpoint. It can cause your utilities bill to skyrocket for the month of December. Try going easy on the lights and opt instead for simple, colorful decorations that can be seen during the daytime and at dusk, such as ribbons, tinsel or an inflatable seasonal character. Combine them with fewer lights for a tasteful, yet affordable, effect.
Buying overpriced wrapping paper. You know you’ve got a problem when the wrapping paper you’ve bought ends up costing more than the gifts you’re wrapping. Boutiques and gift shops can be great places to pick up trinkets for friends and family, but you should pass on the expensive paper sold there. Just like that holiday meal that gets devoured in minutes, wrapping paper is torn through in seconds and then thrown away. Adorned with a nice bow or ribbon, wrapping paper from a discount store like Dollar Tree is often just as pretty as more expensive paper. Or, you can make your own wrapping paper using old newspapers, brown paper bags or even pages from old books or maps that you can find in bargain bins.
Overspending on shipping. When it comes to gift shopping, you can usually get better deals and selections if you buy sooner than later. If you’re purchasing some gifts online, however, you might pay too much in shipping if you shop too soon. Free Shipping Day, when many retailers offer free shipping on holiday purchases, is Dec. 18. As part of your budgeting and shopping strategy, plan ahead to take advantage of free shipping offers. If you’re traveling to visit family for the holidays, save yourself the trouble of carting all your packages with you by shipping gifts directly to where you’re spending the holidays together.
