Tag: first-time homebuyers
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Young Voters Want Congress to Act on Housing Costs Now
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, about half the people who rent or live with family believe both of these statements are true: (a) I’d like to buy a home, but don’t have affordable options in my area. (b) U.S. housing is so expensive that I’ll likely never be able to hold the deed to…
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Airbnb Steps Up, Helping to Put Deeds into Hopeful Hands
The New York City Housing Partnership is doing something interesting with Airbnb. It’s committed to a multi-year collaboration with the company. The goal? To lift up gig workers and independently employed New Yorkers. The collaborators envision a new path to mortgage eligibility for contractual workers looking to acquire their first deeds. For the first year,…
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An App for That? Tech Promises to Help Young People Afford a Deed
Housing affordability continues to present barriers to first-time buyers. People who already have deeds find this market so much easier to navigate. Only one in five buyers is a newbie. Far too many younger people feel like permanent renters. Not surprisingly, property tech companies and app developers are showing up with solutions. And the National…
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Facing a Troubled Economy—How Race and the Generations Intersect
The housing gap is getting more extreme as time goes on. Which means young people are having a harder time of it. Racial identity continues to be an overlapping factor.
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U.S. Housing Affordability Politics: What Is Still Possible?
Is it possible to offer real relief to people struggling with our housing affordability challenge? If so, then how? What do you think? Many of us have very good ideas. Can our law and policy makers hear us? The need for affordable U.S. housing has been left hanging way too long. So let’s look at…
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Sign of the Times: Companies Emerge to Help Friends Acquire Deeds Together
A form of co-ownership called the tenancy in common is picking up steam across the country. Four years ago, a Los Angeles company started turning single-home properties into townhome associations where co-buyers could share living spaces. Then we saw “upzoning” laws take shape. California’s Senate Bill 9 allowed single-unit property owners to split their parcels into multiple housing units.…
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Home Affordability News: Boston’s New Co-Buying Experiment
Usually, when we hear the word multifamily, we’re hearing a financial buzzword. Investors buy multiple-unit homes to profit from renters. But now in Boston, a multifamily housing concept lets hopeful first-time home buyers put their funds together, move on from rental situations, and get their own deeds.
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Turning a Hotel Into Homes for Seniors, Vets in Palm Beach County
Palm Beach County, Florida is about to lose 1,000 affordable units over the coming five years. Why? Agreements with developers established restrictions that reserved affordable units for 15 to 30 years. Those restrictions are about to expire. This comes at a time when Palm Beach County will need nearly 81,000 new affordable housing units to…
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Voters Tell Candidates: Act on Housing Affordability Now!
With absentee ballots already issued in Alabama, early voting has started. The Center for Popular Democracy ran a survey, and 84% of voters in swing states say housing is a big deal as they fill in their ballots, The Financial Times reports. So, does the 2024 election runup bring us hope that people will soon…
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We All Deserve a Home, But Corporations Outbid Some of Our Friends.
Corporate buyers are snapping up residential properties in Massachusetts and pushing out long-time residents, according to a report by the news outlet 25 Investigates. These investment companies form a complex network, making it nearly impossible for individuals and towns to hold them accountable.
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Buyers Are Back. Are Small Towns Their Best Bets?
Affordable homes for sale are still scarce. And yet a recent Realtor.com survey shows a strong hint of optimism. Four in ten hopeful first-time buyers think 2024 will be their year. “In a year of expected interest rate drops,” says Architectural Digest, “real estate could come roaring back from its beauty sleep.” Well, that’s one…
