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More millennials are moving to the suburbs and buying homes, according to a new survey by the National Association of Realtors. This U.S. News article by Teresa Mears highlights some of the reasons why.
As they get ready to start families, city-loving millennials are making an unexpected choice: They are moving to the suburbs, much as their parents did decades ago.
“That’s where the trend is going,” says Tiffany Alexy, a broker with Lucky Penny Realty Team in Raleigh, North Carolina. “You really tend to get more for your money in the suburbs.”
A new survey by the National Association of Realtors found that the share of millennials, those born between about 1980 and 2000, buying in an urban or central city areas decreased from 21% to 17% from 2014 to 2015. Like buyers in other age groups, the majority of millennials bought a detached home in the suburbs.
“Millennials know they’re getting more value when they buy in the suburbs,” says Victor Quiroz, a millennial agent at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties in Covina. For the price of an urban loft apartment, they’re getting a three-bedroom, two-bath house in a safer neighborhood with better schools, he says. “They’re finding a sweet spot where they aren’t too far away.”
Unlike their parents, the millennials are looking for suburbs with urban amenities such as yoga classes, health food stores and walkable downtown areas, close to parks and natural areas. They also don’t want long commutes.
Some reasons why millennials are moving to the suburbs:
They get a better deal. Many millennials are buying their first home, and they are finding a better deal in the suburbs than in the urban core.
They need more space. The cost of a three-bedroom, two-bath house in the suburbs may be less than the cost of a one-bedroom condo in the city. For young people who have or want children, the extra space is important.
They want a yard for kids and dogs. Urban environments make it harder to have a dog, since you can’t just let it out but have to walk the dog, often traveling down on an elevator or some stairs. And it’s hard to play baseball with your kids in a condo courtyard. Suburban homes with yards make family life easier.
They see potential for resale value. Many millennials think they may return to the city when their children are grown and they don’t need as much space.
“In addition to family, social, and equity wealth benefits it brings, homeownership offers extraordinary tax advantages,” as highlighted in this NAHB Eye On Housing article from David Logan.
Homeowners saw their tax bills trimmed by more than $100 billion in 2014 according to estimates by the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) and NAHB analysis. The mortgage interest deduction (MID) alone accounted for $72.4 billion in tax savings, while the real estate tax deduction (RETX) saved homeowners an additional $30.2 billion. Rounding out the group of tax advantages is the exclusion of capital gains on the sale of primary residences, which reduces tax liability by nearly $30 billion annually.
While that last number is still large, the number of taxpayers who benefitted from the capital gains tax exclusion (more than 3 million) was dwarfed by the number claiming the MID (34.5 million) and/or RETX (33.6 million).
Start spreading the news: New York, NY has topped a new list from Bankrate highlighting the best cities for college graduates to start their careers. Other top cities include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., San Jose, Chicago, Seattle, Dallas and Philadelphia. This article by Claes Bell of Bankrate offers details on what makes these cities so promising for college graduates.
Deciding where to start your career after college can be overwhelming.
College graduates are uniquely positioned to make a deliberate choice of where to move, says David Albouy, associate professor of economics at the University of Illinois.
“They’re building their careers, and they’re also in this kind of exciting period in their lives when they don’t have a lot of responsibilities,” he says.
For recent graduates, Bankrate has determined the top 100 American cities for launching a career, based on jobs, pay, quality of life, career advancement and social factors.
New York. In the song that’s a staple at New York Yankees games, Frank Sinatra sings, “If I can make it there, I’m gonna make it anywhere.” That sums up the challenge that New York poses for young college grads. The city’s devilishly competitive job market – it has the 18th highest unemployment rate for those in their early 20s and the 12th highest for graduates – makes the prospect of landing that first job daunting. But the rewards can be enormous for those who manage to gain a foothold. New York comes in No. 1 for career advancement potential.
Los Angeles. For college grads who want both a great social life and speedy career advancement, Los Angeles may be a great landing spot. L.A.’s high percentages of 20-somethings and college graduates push it near the top for social opportunities. In addition to a potentially thriving social life, new grads will benefit from a quality of life that’s ranked 6th in the nation. The city boasts a huge range of employment options for workers and is 2nd in the nation for the numbers of jobs in management, business, science and arts occupations, as well as office-centered occupations. Because of that, L.A. scores 2nd overall when it comes to career advancement potential.
San Francisco. For starters, young graduates who move to San Francisco will find the best quality of life in the country, according to our research. And, in addition to scenic vistas and a vast array of restaurants and bars, they’ll also have excellent prospects for a big payday, driven by very high per-capita income, median income and per capita GDP. San Francisco also ranks No. 5 for career advancement, with large swaths of the population, as you’d expect, involved in lucrative management, business, science and arts occupations.
Washington, D.C. The nation’s capital is known as a magnet for the ambitious, so it’s only fitting that we found Washington is a top place for graduates to get ahead. The city ranks 3rd overall for career advancement, due in large part to its ample supply of jobs in management, business, sciences and the arts. College grads who aspire to make a lot of money may find the D.C. area the place to be. The city has the 4th highest prospects for achieving a big paycheck, boasting a median income and per capita GDP that are among the highest in the U.S.
According to a recent Gallup poll, 35% of Americans now say that real estate is the best long-term investment. This article by Jim Norman highlights the poll results, based on telephone interviews conducted earlier this month.
Real estate, already Americans’ top pick as the “best long-term investment” for the last two years, has increased its lead over four other investment choices. Thirty-five percent of Americans now choose real estate, compared with 22% for stocks and mutual funds, 17% for gold, 15% for savings accounts/CDs and 7% for bonds.
Real estate and gold have switched positions over the last five years as gold prices tumbled and home sales recovered from the 2007-2009 housing market collapse.
As the average sale price of new homes in the U.S. increased from $259,300 in August 2011 to $348,900 in February of this year, the percentage of Americans picking real estate as the best long-term investment almost doubled.
The poll found that renters are about as likely (32%) as homeowners (34%) to list real estate as the best choice.
Did you know April is National Humor Month? No joke! To celebrate, social networking site SKOUT released some interesting results about the power of laughter, from a study of its users’ profile photos.
Studies have shown that laughter is good for your health and happiness, and laughing with friends is even better for you than laughing alone. SKOUT, the global app that helps you meet new people and expand your social circle, revealed that laughing can help you make more friends, too. The team at SKOUT recently examined a sampling of its users’ profile photos and found that people who share a photo of themselves laughing have their profile favorited 404% more times and make 324% more connections with others than the average person using SKOUT.
“It was surprising for us to see the impact laughter has in a photograph,” said Christian Wiklund, co-founder and CEO of SKOUT. “They say laughter is the best medicine, and now we know it can also help you meet more friends through social media.”
In addition to its review of profile photos, SKOUT recently conducted a survey among more than 3,000 of its users in the U.S. to learn about their thoughts on humor and friendship.
[Read the full article for highlights from the survey]
Turning your patio into a beautiful outdoor space for dining and entertaining friends and family doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavor. This article from BrightNest offers some budget-friendly patio décor suggestions that can be accomplished quickly and easily.
Know the role. Instead of letting your outdoor space become a social catch-all zone, choose a specific purpose. Do you want it to be for dinner parties or slumber parties? Evening entertaining or daytime lounging? Make a decision and decorate accordingly.
Plant perennials. Adding pots full of perennials to your outdoor living space is an easy, cost-effective way to inject some color and visual interest. Why perennials, instead of annuals? You only have to plant perennials once and then you’ll get to enjoy them every year.
Add a rug. If you have a covered patio or deck, adding a large area rug is hands-down the biggest-impact décor move you can make. This one piece will tie the outdoor space together and make it feel complete. The indoor décor doesn’t have to stop with a rug! Don’t hesitate to bring things like lamps, flower vases and throw pillows outside, too.
When listing your home for sale, there are some keywords that can be more influential than others for describing your home’s features. This article by Daniel Goldstein of MarketWatch highlights a Zillow analysis of the most effective keywords and phrases, and how they can impact the sales value of your home and the length of time on the market.
When it comes to listing your home, choose your words carefully. Zillow analyzed more than 60 keywords used in 2 million real estate listings between January 2014 and March 2016 and concluded that buyers jumped at certain features more than others. For example, home listings that contained the words “barn door” (a rustic-style sliding door often found in kitchen pantries and bedroom closets) sold for more than 13% above the expected value and 57 days faster. Other keywords that helped sell homes faster and at higher values included the terms “Shaker cabinet” and “subway tile,” as well as “farmhouse sink” and “Craftsman-style.”
Zillow noted that there were regional differences, too. “Craftsman” proved popular in Seattle, helping move homes off the market 14 days faster and with a 5.4% price premium.
Skylar Olsen, a senior economist with Zillow, noted that phrases like “new carpet” or “new paint” had no significant effect on listing price and days on market, as they may be regarded as a last-minute (and low-cost) effort by a seller to make the home more desirable prior to putting it on the market, but homes with “hardwood floors” in their listings sold for 2% more, on average.
With the continuing recovery of the housing market, and continued improvement in U.S. employment, several markets are presenting solid opportunities for real estate investors. This DS News article by Xhevrije West highlights ten markets that topped the list of HomeVestors and Local Market Monitor’s Best Markets for Real Estate Investing in the first quarter of 2016. Among the top ten metros: Dallas, San Antonio, Orlando, Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Tampa and Phoenix.
HomeVestors and Local Market Monitor recently identified the ten best markets for real estate investors for the first quarter of 2016 based on cities with increased job opportunities in the last year. The report showed that the overall national average increase was 1.9 percent.
At the top of the list for investors is the Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas metro area. San Antonio, Texas came in second, and Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Michigan took third, but their numbers were strong, according to the data. Wrapping up the top five best cities for real estate investors are Orlando, Florida follows and Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Georgia.
“Good job growth is driving prices higher in our markets, mainly in business services but also tourism (Orlando, San Antonio), finance (Charlotte, Dallas) and manufacturing (Grand Rapids),” said Ingo Winzer, President and Founder of Local Market Monitor.
HomeVestors and the Local Market Monitor also based the ranking on markets that will be good rental markets and where home prices are likely to rise at an increased rate over the next few years. Other important criteria considered includes markets where the population has been growing at above-average rates with growth coming from people moving there in search of jobs; the current rate of job growth of two percent or better; and there is low unemployment, so that new jobs will be filled by people who move there, not by unemployed people who are already there.
“For many people, paying off debts early isn’t the no-brainer you might think it is,” according to this U.S. News article by Geoff Williams.
When times are good (or good enough) and the money is rolling in, maybe due to a raise, windfall inheritance, holiday bonus, investment gone right or some other influx of cash, it’s easy to wonder: Should I pay off a debt early? After all, debt, we’re told, is bad. Carry it if you must, when you buy a house, car or take out student loans, but get rid of it as soon as you can.
But you shouldn’t necessarily pay off your debts early, many experts say. You could end up fixing one problem only to create another. So if you’ve ever wondered whether you should pay a debt off early, here are the pros and (a lot of) cons to ponder.
The pros. The main plus to paying off debt early is that you no longer have to fork over money to a lender; you’ll now have extra money to spend on other things. You can also potentially save a lot in interest payments.
In fact, according to a lifetime cost-of-debt calculator from Credit.com, a typical person will likely pay $279,002 of interest on credit purchases over the course of his or her life. And that’s assuming you have a fair credit score of 620 to 679. The crummier your credit score, the more money in interest you’ll pay throughout your life. And nobody wants that. If you can pay less money in interest, that’s the dream.
You also may avoid stress and anxiety by paying off a debt early. But that’s all pretty obvious. The negatives of paying off debt may not be as clear.
The cons: You may lose some of the benefits of having debt. There are benefits? Yes, debt can have a bright side.
Rosie Brown, a creative project manager at a communications company in San Francisco, paid half of her student loans off in what she says was a move of impatience, and she quickly regretted it.
“I paid off a large chunk because of the weight that debt put on my mind, knowing I would owe so much money for the next 10 years or so. I thought if I could pay off a few of the loans, I could reduce my monthly payments and feel better.”
And so Brown took $15,000 from a college savings fund that her parents started when she was a baby, and used it to pay down $23,000 in student loan debt. While she didn’t do anything foolish – it isn’t as if she used the money to make bets on the horses – Brown regrets using the money to pay down that student debt.
The way she sees it, spending that $15,000 on student debt, instead of letting it sit in her checking and savings account, robbed her of several opportunities.
