BassNBrew
Footballguy
I may be misunderstanding the situation if he has these two professionals involved. That said, if he's paying any type of significant consideration for a potential future purchase or paying rent significantly above market rate he should probably run the transaction details by a real estate attorney for his protection.You mean beyond his loan officer and agent?Just have him check with a real estate attorney. Lots of scammers in that field. The NC Real Estate Commission bans agents from being involved with those.Believe it's similar there. He'd offer a monthly payment asking for part of it to go to closing costs. He can also offer some lump sum as evidence of his commitment etc.Unless Florida is different, there is no such thing as a "rent to own". Usually it's a lease with an option to buy where you pay some consideration to the owner for the option to buy during a given time frame. In my state, this option has to be recorded for it to be binding.Funny you should say that. He's looking for someone to do a "rent to own" sort of thing for the next year.Dad is looking for a house because of divorce. He's in Florida. Housing prices have been shifting down for a few months now as they are finalizing details. I guess that's good for him, but sucks that interest rates are likely going to stay relatively high for the foreseeable future after initial thoughts were a couple drops this year.I haven’t seen this in Pennsylvania. Houses are still selling fast and at high prices.I'm a little more bearish. I thought GDP expectations were +.4% (Link). My fear is that the federal employment cuts are still to come in the reporting and companies are not going hire into this environment with so much uncertainty.So this is moderating a bit. To be honest the employment print is more worrisome than the GDP print. GDP taking a small hit with the effect of the govt. juiced spending spigot being turned off was expected (GDP was expected to be -.2% and was -.3%, so pretty much in line with expectations). That employment print isn't great, though.
No mention of the housing market starting to wobble? Because I think that's yet another shoe that's about to drop. Buyers are gone. Sellers are getting nervous. Homes aren't moving. Ruh Roh Raggy.
Just some national news on home sales and mortgages....could be booming in pockets but we got some issues....
Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey
Mortgage applications decreased 12.7 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 18, 2025.www.mba.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 23, 2025) — Mortgage applications decreased 12.7 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 18, 2025.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 12.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 11 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 20 percent from the previous week and was 43 percent higher than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 7 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 6 percent compared with the previous week and was 6 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
Home Sales in March Fell 5.9%, Biggest Drop Since 2022
Many buyers, spooked by rising economic uncertainty, stayed away from the housing market during the start of the crucial spring season
Unless he's just dying to get into a house through purchase, maybe the best course of action would be to hole-up in a short-term rental (as if those are easy to find) and wait this one out? I think we see home prices dip, especially since the 'buying season' is getting off to a sluggish start.
The FED is in a tough spot with rates. Having your job threatened if you don't lower them is uncomfortable but god help him if he lowers and inflation spikes. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. If the Simpsons taught me anything (and I'd like to believe that they have) it's that this is called a "Paradox".