Home prices in the past ten years have seen a remarkable 52% increase, on average, across the country.  Buyers, in 2019,  are facing unprecedented asking prices for homes and bidding wars.  It’s a different world from the recession of the 2000’s.  Homeownership dreams were dashed for homebuyers and home sellers faced with mass unemployment and foreclosures.  

The steady seller’s market which had been on the rise since then has wobbled recently, though.  Mortgage rate spikes at the end of last year have been named one culprit for the slowdown.  Analysts in every financial sector seem to agree it was at least partially to blame.

The feds took notice and redacted the continued increase, even dropping rates down to their lowest point in a decade as of March 2019.

Will the low rates end?

Freddie Mac expects the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to rise half a percentage point in 2019, and the National Association of Realtors predicts a rise of 0.4 percentage point. Fannie Mae’s forecast is for an increase of just 0.1 percentage point.

Keep in mind that these are predictions about where mortgage rates will end this year and end next year. In between, mortgage rates can bounce up and down.

For example, in NerdWallet’s daily mortgage rate survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage started the year averaging 4.09%. On Nov. 9, the average hit its high for the year at 5.09% — exactly one percentage point higher. Then it fell more than a quarter of a percentage point in one month.

Go South Young Man..err Millennial!

GO WEST, YOUNG MAN, GO WEST” was an expression used around the mid to late 1800’s as a call for young homesteaders to move.   It was first used by John Babsone Lane Soule in the Terre Haute Express in 1851. It appealed to Horace Greeley, who rephrased it slightly in an editorial in the New York Tribune in July  of 1865: “Go West, young man, and grow up with the country.”

History repeats.  Today we see a new call for many young people.  This demographic in particular is just tired of being wiped out of the home market in places like New York City or Los Angeles due to home prices alone. The struggle to become a homeowner, or move to a new home, is still very real.

Even when they do buy a home, new tax laws in the Northeast limit homeowners in any high-property tax locales when they attempt to deduct mortgage interest payments or other homeownership taxes.  Only 30% of New Jersey homeowners, for instance, can deduct these taxes while nationwide homeowners enjoy a 97% deduction.

Young professionals looking to become homeowners have started heading south to settle down and start families.

Enter Arlington, Texas

Considered by some to be one of Dallas Fort Worth area’s best-kept secrets, Arlington checks many of the boxes buyers look for in a home.  It’s a safe area that’s family-friendly and offers job stability with a forecast of continued growth.

It’s also been deemed one of the few areas in America that still has affordable homes for sale, for now.

Located just west of Dallas, Arlington is the home to the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA).  Baseball’s Texas Rangers and NFL’s Dallas Cowboys call the infamous AT&T center their home.  This stadium, however, comes with its own art gallery full of museum-quality contemporary art.

Live concerts with major artists mix into the schedule.  You can find youth sports and other events taking place in the arena as well as the stadium opens it’s to the community on a regular basis.

The balance that Arlington shows in its famous stadium can be seen throughout the city.  Awarded the ‘Best run city in Texas of 2018’, the diverse and flourishing population of the area is welcomed.

Home prices are still reasonable here.  The more the youth of America say goodbye to the coasts and hello to the heartland, that will definitely last for long.

Homes for Sale

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References:https://attstadium.com/events/
https://magazine.realtor/daily-news/2019/03/29/mortgage-rates-post-biggest-drop-in-a-decade
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/mortgages/housing-mortgage-trends-2019/
https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/go-west-young-man-go-west