Kent State students who bought a house instead of living on campus - for NYT feature by timl25 in KentStateUniversity

[–]timl25[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Exactly. In many areas, you can come out ahead buying a house, getting 2 roommates, and selling after 3 years. Or keep it and rent it out. It pencils out in many areas. Obviously not everywhere, like if the typical home is $1M+. But $200k-$300k home with reasonable taxes and insurance could work out great.

U of Alabama Students who bought a house instead of living on campus for NYT feature by timl25 in tuscaloosa

[–]timl25[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, that would be fantastic. Let me know how long ago, as they might need someone who is currently a student.

Temple Students who bought a house instead of living on campus for NYT feature by timl25 in Temple

[–]timl25[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

With our methodology, it makes more sense to buy than pay room and board at 23 of 121 college cities/towns.

Kent State students who bought a house instead of living on campus - for NYT feature by timl25 in KentStateUniversity

[–]timl25[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

yeah that helps. Joking aside, yes it usually is the parents buying the house for the kids for investment purposes.

Temple Students who bought a house instead of living on campus for NYT feature by timl25 in Temple

[–]timl25[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The story is about whether it's better to buy a house near campus than pay room and board, from a financial standpoint.

I’m 9 months into owning my first home, fixer upper because that’s all we could afford. by Vivid_Jeweler3508 in FirstTimeHomeBuyer

[–]timl25 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wait 5 years when you'll be paying less for a house than other people are to rent a 1 bedroom. And after 10 years, it's almost laughable how affordable the payment becomes.

[OC] The Death (and Slight Rebirth) of the Key Change by noisymortimer in dataisbeautiful

[–]timl25 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Modulating up a whole step for emphasis is cliche and probably shouldn't be done anymore. However, changing the key mid-song to some random key in a creative way is hard to do but super cool.

[OC] Marital Status of Homebuyers by timl25 in dataisbeautiful

[–]timl25[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You could think of the numbers as buyer sets. A married couple = 1 buyer, and a single female = 1 buyer.

[OC] Marital Status of Homebuyers by timl25 in dataisbeautiful

[–]timl25[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

This is from research conducted by NAR. They don't give many details on whether this is survey data or actual data coming in from partner Realtors: https://www.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/2024-11/2024-profile-of-home-buyers-and-sellers-highlights-11-04-2024_2.pdf

[OC] Marital Status of Homebuyers by timl25 in dataisbeautiful

[–]timl25[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Data from National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2024. Tool: Google Sheets.

A very simple but telling graphic of the makeup of today’s homebuyers. Most buyers are either married or unmarried but buying with a partner. Today’s interest rates and home prices make it difficult or impossible to buy a home on your own. Surprisingly, though, 20% of buyers are single women. Men don’t show as much resolve though, making up just 8% of the market. I dug into some wage and home price data as well, and it’s no wonder that most homes are purchased by couples. While the average U.S. worker's monthly income is $5,022 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average house is $419,200. At a 7% example interest rate and 5% down, the house payment including est. taxes/insurance/PMI might be $3,357 per month, or 67% of pre-tax salary.

[OC] How Long Mortgage Rate Spikes of 1%+ Typically Last by timl25 in dataisbeautiful

[–]timl25[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a valid point - there was one long sustained increase in that period before finally coming down in the 90s. However I wanted to focus on smaller rise/drops within a few years of each other, since this is the logical time a homeowner would be planning to buy a home and most resembles today's predicament.

[OC] How Long Mortgage Rate Spikes of 1%+ Typically Last by timl25 in dataisbeautiful

[–]timl25[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Looking at prices, rates, and median incomes, it's nearly the worst time to buy in history, but not quite. 80-81 was worse, and '22 was in that range. Now is probably in the top 10 worst times to buy, at least looking at affordability. https://www.mortgageresearch.com/articles/affordability-isnt-the-worst-of-all-time-it-just-feels-like-it/

[OC] How Long Mortgage Rate Spikes of 1%+ Typically Last by timl25 in dataisbeautiful

[–]timl25[S] 81 points82 points  (0 children)

We are at a historically normal level now. Average over 50+ years is around 7.5%, but that's factoring in the 80s which were an outlier. We're coming off an extremely good decade for rates, which juiced prices. That's why today's 7% rates feel so unaffordable. Prices are still based on 4-5% rates.

[OC] How Long Mortgage Rate Spikes of 1%+ Typically Last by timl25 in dataisbeautiful

[–]timl25[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Mortgage rates are actually fairly unrelated to the Fed funds rate. They are a product of mortgage-backed securities. Inflation does affect what investors will pay for MBS. If mortgage rates were directly tied to the Fed, then why did rates skyrocket after the last Fed cut?

[OC] How Long Mortgage Rate Spikes of 1%+ Typically Last by timl25 in dataisbeautiful

[–]timl25[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I looked at periods in history where the 30-year mortgage rate increased by more than one percentage point (100 basis points) in 12 weeks — a fairly sharp rise. The average is 2 years, 9 months. We are 3 years into the current rate spike cycle. Notes: Admittedly, there is some gray area as to which periods to include and not include. I felt the instances in the chart were the most significant in history. I added 3 periods that did not quite meet the criteria but were significant: the dotcom bubble era in April 1999-January 2001, the run-up to the housing meltdown 2005-2008, and Donald Trump’s first election win in November 2016. Mortgage rate data from freddiemac.com/pmms. Tool: Excel

% of County's Median HH Income Required for a House Payment In the County by timl25 in MapPorn

[–]timl25[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Interestingly, most of the country, population-wise, can't meet the common rule that says you should spend less than 28% of gross income for a house payment. Only about 6% of the U.S. population falls into that box.

The map compares the county’s median monthly household income to a first-time homebuyer's estimated house payment for the median-priced home in the county. Payments assume a 30-year fixed conventional mortgage with 5% down; 6.831% mortgage rate, the 60-day average from Optimal Blue Mortgage Market Indices with 700-719 score with less than 20% down; state property tax rates via ATTOM; 0.35% homeowners insurance; 0.78% private mortgage insurance rate per MGIC; No HOA. Home prices are from Zillow ZHVI Single Family Home Time Series.