Posts made by author 'Jay Mattlin'

No matter how much buying a house makes sense for your long-term financial well-being, buying your first house can often just seem expensive and totally out of reach. That leads to many younger people putting off buying a home until later in life than they might have, if the costs were lower.

But there are plenty of younger people buying homes. Nearly 40% of people under 35 own a home, so it's by no means impossible or entirely unaffordable.

As you can see in the graph above, the homeownership rate goes up to just over 60% for those between the ages of 35-44, which is about where the homeownership rate is for the entire US, regardless of age.

Interestingly, if you look at the chart below, the homeownership rate has actually hovered between 62 and 68 percent since 1965. So, basically, the wheelhouse for homeownership begins around 35 years old.

This means that buying a home when you're under 35 gives you some precious years of building equity, wealth, and long-term financial well-being, while your peers are still renting, or living at home.

Here's How the Government Is Making It More Affordable to Do So…

Buying your first home is about to become a little more affordable due to a recent move by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), to reduce how much mortgage insurance premiums are for FHA borrowers.

FHA loans are a common type of mortgage for many first-time buyers. They are insured by the federal government, and have less strict guidelines, which are helpful for a buyer with lower credit score, or a lower down payment to buy a home. However, when you put a lower down payment on a home, you have to pay mortgage insurance. The premiums for that mortgage insurance is what the FHA is lowering, and they will now be $800 less per year on average.

Not a bad chunk of change to save on a yearly basis. That said, it might seem like a drop in the bucket of what you'd need in order to make buying a home affordable.

If you want to join the ranks of the approximately 40% of younger homeowners, here are a few other ways to shave down the cost of buying your first home and making it even more affordable:

• You don't need to buy a big house. The chances are, you'll end up selling your first home and buying another (or two) in your lifetime. So don't think you need to be able to buy a house that will suit your future needs. Focus on buying a home that meets your needs for now, and in the near future. And don't get caught up in trying to impress your friends and family with how big of a house you have, because owning one at a younger age is impressive enough.
• Furnish it within a budget. Another great reason for buying a smaller house is that you don't have to spend as much to furnish it! The bigger the house, the more rooms it has… and the more furniture you have to buy. But even when you buy a smaller house and need less furniture, you should still try to furnish it on a budget. Look for good deals and discounts, rather than racking up a credit card bill that you'll be paying off longer than the more expensive furniture will last.
• It doesn't have to be your ideal location. If you have a specific town, city, or neighborhood you aspire to buy a home in, but it's more expensive than you can afford, you're probably better off buying somewhere you can afford right now vs. waiting to afford where you eventually want to live. Time, inflation, and rising home prices have a way of outpacing the ability to save for enough of a downpayment to buy a more expensive house. You're better off buying in another area now, and letting those economic factors help you grow your wealth and equity so you can trade up to a more expensive home in the area you truly want to live in a few years.
• Try and beat what you would pay in rent. This is a double-dip scenario: you pay less per month than you would in rent, and accrue equity and wealth while doing so! It's not always possible, but sometimes you can actually buy a home for less than you currently pay in rent. But the key word here is "try." You may need to look harder, or perhaps be less picky in order to make it happen, but it can be worth the sacrifice and effort! Doing this can put you way ahead of where you would've been financially in a lot less time.
• Learn to be handy. Owning a home comes with the need to fix, replace, or update things on occasion. Some things you'll need a pro to fix, and you should budget for that. But spending a little time learning how to fix, replace, or update something on your own can save you a lot of money. YouTube (and other online platforms) have made it possible to watch a how-to video on almost anything! (Heck, a woman and her children built an entire house just by watching them!)

Combining a few of those tips—along with the lower mortgage insurance premiums—will go a long way in making it more affordable to buy your first home now, rather than years from now.

The Takeaway:

Buying your first home is about to become a little more affordable due to a recent move by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), to reduce how much mortgage insurance premiums are for FHA borrowers by $800 per year on average.

While that may not seem like enough money to make buying your first home more affordable, you can shave down and control the cost on your own by:

• Not buying too big of a house
• Being flexible on where you buy
• Staying within a budget when furnishing it
• Learning how to do some repairs to it on your own.

If you're a renter and live alone, it's no surprise that it costs you more than if you had a significant other, or at least a roommate, to help pay the rent. But have you ever done the math on exactly how much extra it costs you?

According to this Business Insider article, it costs a single person an average of $7,000 more in rent per year than people with a partner or roommate.

The obvious solution to avoid this "singles tax" is to find yourself a significant other, or a roomie. But if you live alone, there's probably a reason why you haven't already...

Click Here to Read More...

Plenty of people work around others all day long, but real estate agents are pretty much on stage all day, with clients watching and witnessing their every move.

Inevitably, things happen that agents wish a client weren't around to see! But if and when they do, it really helps when a client laughs with them, instead of at them!

For some reason, it seems like there's a handful of embarrassing things that happen to almost every agent at one point or another. Let's take a look at 7 of them, to give you some practice laughing with them if it happens on your watch:

1) Getting lost

It was way worse for agents back in the day before GPS was around and had to use actual maps, but getting lost can still be an issue every once in a while. Whether it's an incorrect address, a lack of satellite service, or simply getting distracted and missing a turn, it's so embarrassing when clients see you get lost!

There probably isn't a person in the world who hasn't gotten lost, so it shouldn't be that embarrassing, but agents (and probably a lot of clients) often feel like they need to at least look like they know the location of every house, on every street, in every town they show houses in.

Instead of getting frustrated or quietly judging your agent if he or she gets lost, share a funny story about a time you got lost! You know you have one…

2) Falling

It's so embarrassing when you trip and fall in front of someone, but it's even more humiliating when you're in the middle of showing a house to a client! It's bound to happen to an agent sooner or later due to a slippery floor, stairs, or a pair of high heels.

If you see your agent take a nosedive, first make sure they're not truly hurt, and if they're not, feel free to joke with them by scoring their fall like it was an Olympic dive!

3) Having a stain on their clothes

Considering how often agents have to quickly scoff down a drink or some food in their car between appointments, it's a miracle they don't always have a stain on their shirt or pants! While it'd be smart for agents to travel with a spare wardrobe in the trunk, most don't, and there's rarely time to head home and change before their next client. So there's a decent chance your agent will show up to an appointment one day feeling a little self-conscious about their appearance.

You can either try with all your might to never glance at it by maintaining eye contact at all times, or you can make light of it by taking a guess at what type of food or drink caused the stain. (Bonus points if you give them a bib or stain remover as a thank you gift on closing day!)

4) Can't get into a house

Unlocking and opening a door doesn't sound like a tough job description, but you'd be surprised at how often an agent runs into an issue getting into a house they're trying to show their buyers.
Sometimes the lockbox that holds the key gets jammed, or the key is missing. Other times there's an issue with an electronic code. Or perhaps the owner locked the deadbolt and there's only a key for the actual knob.

Trust that it's as frustrating for them as it is to you! Also trust that it's nothing they could have prevented, and not a sign that they don't know what they're doing. If it happens, crack a joke about giving them a boost to hop in through a window to break the tension and let them know you understand and aren't mad.

5) Losing house keys

Once an agent gets you into a house, they need to make sure they keep track of the keys. Might not sound like a big deal, but most agents have a routine and put the house key in a certain spot every time they show a house in order to not forget it or lose it because it's certainly happened to them at least once in their career! But no matter how organized they are, every once in a while, they get done showing a house and can't remember where they left the key to the house.

If it happens when you're out with them and you want to make 'em laugh, hit them with this classic as they frantically look: "Where was the last place you saw them?"

6) Letting a pet escape

Many houses an agent shows have pets, and your agent is usually given instructions on the listing to make sure not to let the dog or cat get out of the house. Agents take this seriously and do their best to make sure the door is closed once you get in the house, but sometimes a pet is faster or sneakier than an agent can react to.

It won't be a laughing matter until and unless the pet is wrangled and back in the house, so look for the pet's favorite treat to try and help your agent catch it and bring it back inside. Once the escapee is back inside you can laugh all you want and resume the tour of the house!

7) Walking in on someone

You'll probably notice that your agent rings the doorbell at least once, maybe twice before entering a house they're showing. They may even throw in a loud knock, and then holler "Hello…real estate agent!" as you walk in. This is on top of the fact that they're already set an appointment with the owner, so it shouldn't be a surprise that they're there.

But sometimes owners forget, or not everyone in the house was notified that an agent would be coming, and they're still sleeping, or taking a shower (or something else) in the bathroom, and don't hear the agent announcing him or herself. Next thing you know, your agent opens a door, you hear a shriek, an apology, and a door quickly slam.

It may seem like your agent was being a little careless, but rest assured they most likely did as much as they could to avoid walking in on somebody unannounced.

To ease the tension, ask if they were naked…

When you decide to sell your house, you'll often hear real estate agents say that they'll get your house sold quickly and for top dollar.

Who wouldn't like that?! Everybody wants as much money as they can possibly get, and most people would prefer not to have buyers coming to see their house for months on end, so, the quicker the better.

But what defines quick? Well, there's no absolute definition and it depends upon a few factors. It can mean a few days, weeks, or even months, depending upon how the market is in your area, the price range of your home, and the choices you make as a seller.

Over the past couple of years, it probably seemed like every house was selling within a few days of being listed for sale. While many houses were selling that quickly, not all of them were. In fact, according to this data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the lowest median days on market last year was 31 back in May, but it was as high as 62 days on market back in January of 2022.

Looking at that data, you can see how the days on market fluctuate up and down over time, and even during "hot" markets the number of days houses are on the market can vary greatly. So when you hear news about houses taking longer to sell, you might want to take it with a grain of salt. The number of days on market has been climbing since last May—and recently hit 75 days in January—but it's not that big of an issue.

It's only an issue if you have the wrong expectations, which could easily happen if you aren't aware of the actual data and think that houses sell much more quickly than they actually do on average. Mind you, these are the median and average numbers we're talking about. So there are some houses that sell more quickly, and others that are taking longer than the median or average numbers, and these are also based upon national data, not your local area.

To some degree, the amount of time it takes for houses to sell is cyclical and driven by the market, which neither you or your agent can control. But if you want to sell your house as quickly as possible, here are a few things you can control:

• Know the local average days on market. You can't entirely control how long houses are taking to sell due to market conditions, but you should at least know how long it's taking on average for houses in your area and price range to sell. This will help to ensure you and your agent are on the same page, and have a sense of how long to expect your house to be on the market.
• Price your house appropriately. One of the most common mistakes homeowners make is to overprice their house. This is easily one of the biggest causes for houses to linger on the market.
• Make it easy for buyers to see. It can be annoying to have buyers wanting to come see your house on various days and times. But the more agreeable you are to letting as many buyers come at the most convenient time to them, the more quickly your house will sell.
• Adjust the price if necessary. You will almost always see the most serious buyers in the market and your price range come through your house in the first week or two of listing it. If you aren't seeing much activity, interest, or an offer in that time frame, it's probably (although not definitely) a sign that you need to reduce your price. Discuss with your agent whether it's just a matter of being patient at the price you're at, or the activity is an indication that your price is too high and needs to be reduced.

The Takeaway:

There's a lot of talk about houses taking longer to sell. It's true that the number of days it takes to sell a house has risen from a median of 31 days in May of 2022, to 75 in January of 2023, but that's not even a big deal, as long as you're aware of the data. It's only an issue if you have unrealistic expectations that your house will sell in less time than it's likely to take, or you make choices that will cause it to take longer. So, if you're planning on selling, make sure you know how long it's taking in your local area and price range for houses to sell on average, and do what you can to work with your agent to control how long it takes by pricing your house appropriately, making it easy to see, and quickly assessing how the market reacts to your house after a couple of weeks on the market.

MEDIA RELEASE

Monday, February 6, 2023

Jay Mattlin Wins RateMyAgent's Lancaster and Fairfield County Agent of the Year Award 2023

SAN DIEGO, Calif., February 3rd, 2023 -- RateMyAgent, the easiest client review and digital marketing platform for real estate professionals, has announced Jay Mattlin as the winner of its Agent of the Year Lancaster and Fairfield County Award 2023.

The Agent of the Year Awards are the first industry-wide awards based on client satisfaction rather than sales volume. Client reviews provide powerful proof of an agent's trust, transparency and authenticity when dealing with clients. These awards celebrate Agents a...

Click Here to Read More...