Thursday, February 9, 2017

What is holding home buyers back?

Are real or imaginary barriers keeping you from becoming a home owner?

Home ownership is a part of the American Dream, and we want to help you achieve 
your goals of home ownership and helping you move to the next adventure by moving 
to a home and community that meets your needs as your life changes throughout the 
years. Call us anytime, we want to help you plan for your goals.
So here are some industry facts about why non-homeowners are hesitant even when 
the National Association of Realtors (NAR) confirms that the American Dream includes 
home ownership from a report that shows over 90 percent of homeowners and roughly 
eight out of 10 non-homeowners each quarter say owning a home is important to them.
Despite these positive feelings of home ownership, optimism about it being a good time 
to buy diminished among non-owners over the 2016 year. The percentage who believed 
it was a good time to buy declined. We think it may be a lack of information holding 
people back from entering the home buying market.
There are financial reasons holding people back, one reason sited for the tendency to 
not enter the housing market by Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, is the desire to 
own a home and the ability to do so are not on the same wavelengths for many 
households. "Nearly all non-homeowners said they want to own a home in the future 
(87 percent), but it's evident that higher rents and home prices — up 41 percent in the 
past five years — along with limited entry-level supply and repaying student debt have 
combined to make buying a challenging goal," he said. jAnother reason cited from NAR's 
analysis that carrying student debt is causing many non-owners to delay purchasing a 
home. "In addition to having to postpone important milestones such as getting married 
and starting a family, many young adults are financially falling behind previous generations 
in part because of having to prioritize repaying their sizeable student loans over buying a 
home and saving for retirement," said Yun.  

Affordability?

Being unable to afford to buy a home was the number one reason non-owners cited as to 
why they don't own. Over half of non-owners indicated they could not afford to buy, 
while roughly one-fifth said they needed the flexibility of renting. But is this true?  And, 
even so, you plan so many things, so why aren't you planning for your first home, or to 
make your move?  We are always happy to meet with you to determine what you 
need and connect you with lending professionals that can help create a plan for 
you to reach your real estate goals. Whether your plan takes a few months, or a 
few years, we truly are always happy to be working with you to stay on track, and 
help make your goals your reality.

Confusion about down payments and other costs with a mortgage?  

Apparent confusion about down payment requirements may also be behind non-owners'
 lagging confidence about buying. NAR's Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers has shown 
that the median down payment for first-time buyers has been 6% for three straight years 
and 14% for repeat buyers in three of the past four years. And, programs like FHA offer 
down payments as low as 3.5%, and affordable loan option programs available in our 
market, many offered by OHFA, can even help with your dream of home ownership. 
However, when asked about the amount of a down payment needed to purchase a home, 
a remarkable 87% of non-owners indicated that a down payment of 10% or more is 
necessary. So the ultimate goal of owning a home may not be as far-fetched as 
many believe. 
If you are interested in buying your first home in 2017, contact us! We love to sit down 
and review the buying process, and connect your with trusted partners we work (lenders, 
attorneys, home inspectors) so you can also review your finances, sit down with a lender 
to determine what your mortgage options are, or what plan you need to follow to qualify 
for a mortgage you need, then it won't be long before we can get started on your 
home search.
My promise to my clients: I try to always remember what it is like to walk into this incredibly complex world of buying and selling with little or no knowledge of how 
the process works. I know that behind the door of your home and in your life there 
is much more going on than just your real estate transaction. I work with each 
person, not the house, and with the whole person, not just the issues surrounding 
the transaction. When I attempt to put myself in your shoes and contemplate what 
you are dealing with  I am most effective.
The Benadum Team

Amy Bumpus
Straight Talk & Finding Solutions

614-657-2005
talk or text




Monday, February 6, 2017

Housing Market & Policy Update/Early February 2017

Housing Market Update/Early February 2017

Home sales have hit a 10 year high (5.45 million existing home units sold in 2016, a quarter-million more than in 2015), and we are looking forward to working to help keep our real estate market strong and thriving. NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun says to keep our housing market strong we need to see more inventory from existing and new construction home sales. Interest rates in 2017 are still great, so contact us if you are thinking of selling your home, and/or buying a home.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) works hard to help shape policy to help provide the best home buying and selling market conditions a reality.  NAR is calling on FHA to take more steps to help home buyers, including eliminating FHA’s “life of loan” mortgage insurance requirement, which forces borrowers to maintain mortgage insurance regardless of their equity position. Borrowers with traditional mortgage insurance can typically extinguish their mortgage insurance once they reach 20 percent equity in the property. 

There is an area where you may want to participate by contacting the current administration at The White House and ask that they drop the suspension of the FHA MIP rollback that NAR had supported, and is now working aggressively to have this MIP decrease put back on the books. 
The last administration had approved reducing the FHA mortgage insurance premium by 25 basis points to allow more Americans to reach their dreams of home ownership, and HUD felt it was a conservative measure to help support home buyers on the path to the American Dream.  The new premium schedule was to take effect on January 27th, 2017 and was expected to save the average home buyer about $500 a year in insurance costs. NAR estimates that approximately 30,000-40,000 borrowers would have been able to access FHA financing under the reduced premium. But the current administration suspended this rollback on January 20th before it took effect. NAR supported the reduction when this was announced “After four straight years of growth and with sufficient reserves on hand to meet future claims, it’s time for FHA to pass along some modest savings to working families,” Julian Castro, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. NAR President Bill Brown praised the move. “Dropping mortgage insurance premiums will mean a lot more responsible borrowers are eligible to purchase a home through FHA,” he said. “That puts more money in the fund to protect taxpayers, and it puts more families in homes so they can live out the American dream.”  

I've sent my request to the White House, asking them to please help keep America Moving on the path to home ownership, and will keep you updated on the market conditions and policy that will be shaping our 2017 housing market.

Please don't hesitate to contact us anytime for help with your real estate needs. The Benadum & Bumpus Team is committed to helping you reach your real estate goals. We love helping you buy and sell homes to help improve the quality of your life.  This requires a variety of solutions to take your dreams from goals to plans to complete. We stay on top of trends and programs to help ensure you have the most information available to make the best decisions. Please consider referring us to your family and friends.



Sunday, February 5, 2017

The Welcome Home Program is Back!

Please share this to your friends & family that are interested in purchasing a home.


The Benadum & Bumpus Team is committed to helping you reach your real estate goals. We love helping you buy and sell homes to help improve the quality of your life.  This requires a variety of solutions to take your dreams from goals to plans to complete. We stay on top of trends and programs to help ensure you have the most information available to make the best decisions.  The Welcome Home Program has been a benefit to many of our clients over the years, and we are happy to announce it is available again for 2017, but funds are limited so contact us asap so we can help connect you to a lender.

What is this program?
The Welcome Home Program offers grants to help fund down payments and closing costs incurred with the purchasing of existing homes or construction of owner-occupied housing by low- and moderate-income homebuyers. Welcome Home funds will be available for reservation on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 8:00 AM ET on March 1, 2017, and will remain available until all funds have been reserved. 
Here are a few of the details: 


-      Up to $5,000 per household available within household income limits of  $56,800 / 1-2 person family & $65,320 for a family of 3 + (Franklin & surrounding counties)
-      Homebuyers much contribute at least $500 of their own funds toward down payment and closing costs.
-      Program is not limited to 1st time homebuyers
-      Funds are offered on a “first come, first served” basis.
-      Can be used in conjunction with other grant programs
-      Not intended for purchase requiring significant repair or rehabilitation.
-      Funds may not be used to pay off consumer debt, judgments, buy down the mortgage rate.

-      Grants subject to retention agreements – 5 years.

Contact me and I'll help connect you to one of the select lenders that is participating in this program. If you are interested in this program, we need to be working on your approval and home search now, to make sure we have a home in-contract so you can reserve your funds.

If this program isn't a fit for you, there are other affordable loan option programs that The Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) offers to help you achieve your dream of home ownership. Here is a list of some of the options a qualified lender can help you review: Your Choice! Down Payment Assistance, Ohio Heroes, Grands for Grads, Mortgage Ta Credit, Target Area Loan, FHA Home Rehabilitation Streamlined 203(k) Loan, FHA Weatherization, and Next Home.

Again...contact me and I'll help connect you to a lender that can help you review your options so that we can work together to make your dream of home ownership a reality.