As mortgage rates are locking homeowners in their current houses, many are investing in renovations rather than moving.
A new survey from LendingTree found that 68% of homeowners started or completed a home improvement project in the last 12 months, while 63% plan to begin one in the next year.
Interior painting, landscaping, and bathroom remodeling are the most common projects, but homeowners have diverse reasons for renovating. Of the more than 2,000 respondents, 36% say they need the repairs because their house is aging, 27% say their improvements are relatively small, and 21% say they want to spruce up their home to sell.
Millennials homeowners are poised to take on the most DIY, with 78% engaged in renovation in…
Co-buying has gained popularity as Americans search for ways to afford a home. But for all its benefits, it also comes at a cost.
A new survey from LendingTree found that 29% of Americans would consider co-buying a home with someone other than a spouse or significant other. That number varies by generation, broken down into 36% of Millennials, 25% of Gen Xers, and 13% of baby boomers.
Most of those open to co-buying said they would prefer to buy with a family member who wasn’t their spouse (63%), while a good friend or current roommate would suit just over half (57%).
Six-figure earners are the most likely income group to consider co-buying (38%), while those making between $35,000 and…
Single women who live by themselves are most likely to own a home than single men in 48 of 50 states, according to a new analysis by LendingTree.
LendingTree looked at data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and found that women own about 2.46 million more homes than single men.
Single women own about 10.76 million homes, about 12.90% of all owner-occupied homes in America, while men own only 8.12 million, 10.06%.
Louisiana has the highest share of homes owned by single women, but Florida has the largest gap in ownership rates among single men and women – 4.55% – nearly two percentage points higher than the national average of 2.84%.
North Dakota and South Dakota are the…
Faced with inflation pressure and rising rates, many borrowers are seeking lower monthly mortgage payments in the form of ARMs or longer terms. But lower monthly payments come with a price. LendingTree analyzed 380,000 loans to determine how much more borrowers with 30-year loans pay than those with 15-year loans. They found that borrowers with 15-year fixed rate mortgages saved an average of $215,000 in interest across the loan’s lifetime. Of course, 15-year loans also required borrowers to pay an average of $572 more a month in order to rack up those savings. One reason shorter-term loans save borrowers so much money is that their interest rates are typically lower. The 30-year fixed rate averaged 5.89% last week, while the…
By CHUCK GREEN Alleged bad behavior and fraudulent activity in the mortgage industry have made news headlines in recent years and despite attempts to get lending leaders to shape up their ships, at least one person who reports on these issues says problems are common, even “rampant.” One of the most recent examples of these alleged incidents involved sham job interviews for Black and female candidates at Wells Fargo & Company. Wells Fargo in California has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets. They serve one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of small businesses in the United States. According to former executive Joe Bruno, company leaders at Wells Fargo allegedly put minority candidates through the interview process for positions…
Despite challenging conditions for first-time homebuyers, Millennials are actively engaging in the housing market, especially in the nation’s largest metros, according to a new analysis from LendingTree. The analysis found that Millennials– people aged 25 to 40 in 2021– make up a majority of homebuyers in most of the US’s largest metros, especially Denver, Seattle, and Boston. Of mortgages offered in Denver, 63.3% were offered to Millennials. In Seattle, 61.35% were offered to Millennials, and in Boston, 61.08%. Miami, Jacksonville, and Tampa have the smallest share of buyers in this age group, at 46.54% across all three markets. San Francisco, New York, and San Jose have the greatest portion of older Millennials, with an average age of 33.51%, while Indianapolis,…
Good Morning! Today is Tuesday, January 4. Apple became the first U.S. company to reach $3 trillion in market value. Chuck Schumer threatened to change Senate filibuster rules if Republicans did not allow a vote on voting rights measures. Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty on four counts of fraud related to her failed company, Theranos. And in mortgage and housing news… Bond Market Rally In 2022?: Could a drop in Chinese interest rates spark a bond rally in the US? Some companies think so. Americans On The Move: Vermont, South Dakota, South Carolina, and Florida were the top states to move to in 2021, with most movers saying they chose their new home based on proximity to family, according to…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS More than a quarter of the states in the country have experienced a rental price increase of 20% or more in 2021 and a senior research analyst says people moving out of cities and into more rural communities are partially to blame. Nick VinZant works for QuoteWizard by LendingTree. He co-authored an article that was published this month which shows that Florida had the highest percentage increase in the nation at 29%. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Florida is about $1,425. Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington all saw rents increase by more than 20% for one-bedroom apartments in 2021, according…
A new study by LendingTree found that the average down payment on homes across 50 major U.S. metros has reached $46,283. As interest rates fell to historic lows and the housing market sizzled, high home prices led to larger down payments. Analysts at LendingTree calculated median down payments in the largest 50 U.S. metros and compared how expensive they were relative to their median annual household incomes. “An average down payment on a home costs at least $28,000 in each of the nation’s 50 largest metros,” they reported. In some markets it was almost four times that number. The most expensive cities peaked at over $100,000. San Jose had an average of $115,138 down, which amounts to 88% of the…
