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Nearly Half of First Time Homebuyers Are Now Quietly Leaning on Money From Their Parents Just to Cover a Down Payment, and the Share Keeps Climbing Every Year
The bank of mom and dad has quietly become one of the most important lenders in the American housing market. A growing share of first-time buyers say they could not […]
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Homebuyers Are Taking So Long to Decide That Homes Are Sitting on the Market Longer Than They Have in Six Years, and Redfin Says Buyers Have Gotten Almost Impossible to Please
Homes are sitting on the market longer, and the buyers looking at them are taking their time in a way that would have been unthinkable a few years ago. The […]
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Homeowners Keep Furiously Battling Automated Home Valuation Tools Over Numbers That Are Wildly, Sometimes Laughably off From What Appraisers Actually Find Walking Through That Exact Same House
Automated home value estimates have become the first number most homeowners see when they wonder what their house is worth — and increasingly, the number they argue with. Tools like […]
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Sellers Are Increasingly Ditching the Open Market Entirely by Secretly Shopping Their Homes to a Handful of Insiders First, and Critics Say It Locks Everyday Buyers Out Completely
A growing share of home sellers are never actually putting their house on the open market. Instead, agents are shopping listings privately to a handful of pre-qualified buyers first — […]
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New York Landlord Illegally Changed the Locks on Grieving Tenants Right After Their Parents Died, and the State’s Attorney General Says the Pattern Was No Accident
A management company that controlled more than 40 buildings and 3,000 units across Brooklyn and the Bronx has been caught illegally locking tenants out of their own apartments — and […]
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Renters Chasing the Dream of Ownership Through Rent to Own Contracts Keep Losing Every Single Dollar They Sank in the Moment Fine Print Lets Landlords Walk Away Scot Free
Rent-to-own contracts are pitched as a side door into homeownership for people who cannot yet qualify for a traditional mortgage: pay rent for a set period, with a portion credited […]
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Buyers Who Walk Away From Signed Contracts at the Last Minute Are Increasingly Fighting in Court Just to Get Their Earnest Money Deposit Back, and It Is Not Always Recoverable
Backing out of a signed home purchase contract sounds simple enough — until the earnest money comes into play. Buyers who walk away from a deal after the contract is […]
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Homebuyers Keep Waiving Their Own Inspections Just to Win Brutal Bidding Wars, and Inspectors Say Foundation Cracks Are the Most Common Regret That Follows
Waiving a home inspection was once considered financial recklessness. During the height of pandemic-era bidding wars, it became a routine negotiating tactic, and it has not fully gone away even […]
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More Unmarried Best Friends Are Pooling Every Last Dollar They Have Just to Buy a House Together, and Real Estate Agents Warn the Paperwork Can Blow up Fast the Moment Money Gets Involved
Splitting a mortgage with a friend used to be a punchline. Now it is a strategy. As home prices keep outpacing wages, more unmarried adults are pooling savings with a […]
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Adjustable Rate Mortgages Are Roaring Back From the Dead as Desperate Buyers Gamble on Lower Payments, and the Mortgage Bankers Association Says This Comeback Has Not Been This Dramatic in Years
Adjustable-rate mortgages are having a moment they have not had in years. The ARM share of mortgage applications climbed to 8.0 percent in the last week of August, its highest […]