The Mortgage Brothers Show

Last week, the Phoenix Business Journal ran an article about Scottsdale-based luxury home builder Meritage Homes’ intention to shift its focus from the luxury market toward building more entry-level homes. With home prices and interest rates on the rise, prospective homeowners, especially Millennials burdened with enormous student loan debt, want affordable housing, so Meritage’s shift makes good sense.

Good news for seniors living in Sun City who want to use a Reverse Mortgage. FHA has lifted its two-year old ban against doing forward mortgages and reverse mortgage (referred to as Home Equity Conversion Mortgages or ‘HECMs’) in their West Valley retirement community.

Everyone knows that houses can be inherited, but can homeownership? It would seem that the answer to that question is “yes.”

In a competitive real estate market like metro Phoenix, home buyers–especially first time home buyers–need to use any edge they can to make them more appealing to sellers. Apart from having wheelbarrows full of cash on hand, probably the best thing they can do to increase their chances of making a successful offer on their dream home is to get pre-approved for a home loan. Doing so gives a buyer an advantage over other potential buyers who have not taken this step or who have only been pre-qualified for a loan.

Here in Phoenix, home values have been steadily increasing and the long term trend has favored sellers over buyers. This means, if you’re worried you won’t get your money out of the house you’re thinking of buying when you sell, don’t be. It’s still a good time to buy.

According to real estate website Trulia’s most recent Rent vs. Buy report, the cost of buying a home in the Phoenix Metro area is 25.9% cheaper than renting. This number is slightly less than the national average of 26.3%. The study is based on buyers making a 20% down payment on a 30-year fixed mortgage and staying in the home for seven years.

Trulia has been tracking whether it is cheaper to rent or buy a home in 100 of the largest U.S. housing markets for the past six years. In all markets–with the exceptions of San Jose, CA and San Francisco, CA this year–it has cost less to own than to rent since 2013.

One way to show you're serious about buying your dream home is to get pre-qualified or pre-approved for a mortgage before starting your search. Contact the Mortgage Brothers Team.

A recent report by Street Scout identified the Phoenix Valley neighborhoods with fastest and slowest growing appreciation. Wondering where your neighborhood falls on the list? We’ve organized the Valley’s 10 fastest appreciating and depreciating zip codes in bullet format.

Phoenix Valley might not be the first name that comes to mind when it comes to real estate technology and apps, but that might be beginning to change. Recently, two real estate technology firms announced their plans to expand into the Phoenix market. Who are these vendors and how can local real estate agents and homeowners take advantage of their offerings?

Investment markets have been rocked by threats of an impending trade war with China, sending the Dow and Nasdaq indexes down sharply last week. But is there a connection to the real estate market here in the Phoenix Valley?

For Arizona homeowners, sites like AirBnB, HomeAway and VRBO have sparked a surge in popularity for short term rentals. Vacationers love the ability to rent a fully furnished vacation property in popular locations like the Greater Phoenix Valley, by the day, week or month, without being limited to stay in a hotel and eat in restaurants for every meal. They’re a popular choice for families and groups of friends who are vacationing together. Owners of vacation properties like the fact that short term rentals allow them to drive income from their second homes.

The weather may be cooling down in the Phoenix Valley, but the market – like many across America – remains hot. As real estate prices continue to rise, the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) has increased the conforming loan limit for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae mortgages.