How Much Home People Are Getting For Their Money Compared To The Past

By CHUCK GREEN Home affordability has been a popular topic for the past few years as prices rose and interest rates shot up. First-time homebuyers have complained that they need to spend more to get less than their parents did and industry leaders say they are somewhat right. Andrew Lokenauth, publisher of BeFluentInFinance.com, said that last year the median home price was $428,700 and that with a 20% down payment of $85,740, the mortgage amount would be $342,960. This would require 34.2% of the median household income of $79,900 to cover the monthly principal and interest payments, he said. Lokenauth noted that in 1950, the median home price was $7,400. With 20% down, the mortgage amount would be $5,920, requiring…

Reaction To Wells Fargo Announcement Lukewarm

By KIMBERLEY HAAS Leaders at Wells Fargo announced this week that they are reducing their home lending footprint and some people are saying it may be big news in the lending space, but will likely not make much of a difference to the average consumer. It was announced Tuesday that the company, formerly the nation’s largest mortgage lender, is exiting the correspondent lending channel and shrinking its mortgage servicing portfolio. Plans are to focus on serving bank customers and members of minority communities. Lawrence White, a professor of economics at the New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business, sat down with the Mortgage Note to talk about the news on Wednesday. White said he hopes the move by leaders at…