Homebuying 101 Seminar

Last week, I presented my workshop, Homebuying 101, to the area adult sports leagues that I sponsor. I had flag football players, cornhole, volleyball, basketball, and one person who did not play in the leagues but had heard about the seminar from friends. All the attendees were between 25 and 40 years old; most had never owned their home.

I asked them this question: “What is preventing you from buying a home?” The answers were interesting but the barriers to homeownership essentially came down to affordability and down payment.

Homeownership

For those of you who read my newsletter, you already know that you don’t need to save for 20% down. There are so many helpful programs that will even allow 100% financing with no mortgage insurance. And even if you do need mortgage insurance, the cost has decreased considerably, especially if you have excellent credit. Also, the interest rate for a 97% mortgage is the same as for an 80% mortgage, so you are not penalized on the rate by putting less than 20% down.

As for affordability, we compared the mortgage payment on a typical condo in DC to the rent many of the participants were paying, and the numbers were close. Although interest rates are not low, they are certainly lower than last Spring when I last presented this workshop. The condo that we used in the above example had a $400 decrease in monthly payment with the current mortgage rates compared to March 2024. That certainly helps affordability! Please contact me if you want to start looking at numbers.