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Wednesday, January 26, 2011
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13 comments:
Pat-
I would think the low tier is more impacted by interest rates than the higher tiers. People in the low tier tend to be less financially educated and tend to have smaller downpayments, so changes in interest rates have a more direct impact on what they can afford. I imagine if interest rates rise the lower tier will be harder hit, but if they stay roughly at this level the lower tier will probably hold up fine.
It appears that there are more stories saying that Gen Y wants more urban walkable areas than the boomers Gen Y housing They even mention Arlington & Bethesda as examples of a walkable suburb that Gen Y wants.
HB,
I saw that article, and others similar. I'm interested in this trend. I've seen the same change in preferences, but I'm not sure how to square it with the continued outward, suburban, car culture development that I see in this area. For example, MoCo is approving building a new hospital in Germantown (Similar situations have occured in multiple sites in VA). Private and parochial schools have moved furhter out. There seems to be a lot of develpment and infrastructure moving to accomodate a planned increase in outer suburbs. Are planners/developers just a couple of steps late? Or, is the trend overstated?
eponymous-
I think the difference may be that Gen Y wanting to live in cities could be a national trend, but this area is already fairly built up and growing quickly so a bunch of suburbs are becoming smaller city centers. 20-30 years ago places like Tysons and Reston were empty, but do to the rapid growth of DC and the height limitations of buildings in the city we needed to make additional work areas.
does anyone know why a seller would remove all occurrences of the word 'survey' in a standardized contract? e.g. "...to obtain the title report (strikethrough)and survey(strikethrough)..."
tks!
It seems as though a lot of articles are being written based on the same data source - the article I liked earlier about the builders convention survey also mentioned Arl & Bethesda.
FWIW, my guess is that there is not a huge generational difference--it's more a question of stage of life and tradeoffs people make given how most budgets won't buy everything on the wish list. I think that, in this area, a lot of people across the age spectrum would like:
a) a spacious, updated home, big enough for family and entertaining in a great neighborhood
b) a big enough yard
c) walkable distance to restaurants and other amenities
d) close to work
e) and all of the above for less than $500K.
The problem, of course, is that this is impossible in our area. So each group has to make tradeoffs. These surveys would be a lot more interesting if they forced people to make those tradeoffs given an assumed budget.
In your 20s/30s, you may be more constrained by e), and willing to give up some of the space and yard to get the other things. You may also be willing to share space with a roommate to get more of what you want. As you get older, you may still not have enough income to get everything, but need more space and no longer want to deal with roommates (except possibly for a spouse/partner) so you give up some of the walkability or commute time savings. You're still in the same generation but at a different life stage. In your 50s, you may be able to afford more of it all, so you may like the walkability as much as the 20s. As health problems loom later, you may need to be close to metro or other services because you can't walk and drive as easily.
"linked", not "liked"
Ace,
I agree. I'm barely Gen X and I wanted the same thing when I was younger (though I loved, loved, loved my beat-up Peugeot). but I grew up in a city so that may have skewed my view :)
WSJ Article (This should be interesting ... "keep the government out of my government guarantees"):
A push by Republican lawmakers to scale back government backing for home mortgages is meeting resistance from the housing industry, a longtime ally of the party.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling said Fannie and Freddie's role should be transferred to the private sector.
In recent months, banking executives and mortgage investors from groups including the Financial Services Roundtable, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts have met with Republican lawmakers and their staffs to press them on the need for a permanent government role in guaranteeing mortgages.
. . .
"If I were the industry, I would be doing the same thing because I would love to make loans and if they failed, let the taxpayers make up the loss," Mr. Bachus said. "That's a pretty sweet deal."
Since the 1930s, the federal government has backed the housing market through Fannie Mae and, later, Freddie Mac. The two firms bundle mortgages into securities that are sold to investors, who are then protected against any losses if borrowers default.
That support, the housing industry argues, is key to lenders' willingness to offer the traditional 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage at low rates.
. . .
Many investors and the housing industry argue that guarantees are needed to ensure the availability of home loans during downturns, when private lenders retreat. Under several proposals, the mortgage industry would pay the government fees for support, much as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. collects fees from banks to handle failures.
If investors in mortgage-backed securities don't have that government guarantee, they will demand higher interest rates and some may not invest at all, said Jeremy Diamond, managing director of Annaly Capital Management, who has met with GOP staff. His message to lawmakers considering full-scale privatization: "You will end up with a mortgage market that is smaller, less liquid and more expensive."
The idea of any kind of government guarantee raises the hackles of many in the GOP, especially members sympathetic to the tea-party movement, which made a mantra of opposing bailouts.
"You're going to be setting the housing industry, who have traditionally had a tremendous influence on the Republican Party, against the tea party," said Mark Calabria, director of financial regulation studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.
Last week, Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the House's fourth-ranking Republican, said he would introduce legislation to transfer Fannie and Freddie's role to the private sector within five years with no future guarantees. "My goal is to get the taxpayer off the dime," he said.
Critics say reformulating the system to look like the FDIC wouldn't relieve taxpayers of the burden because the government isn't likely to charge enough for the insurance protection, resulting in a rerun of the government's takeover of Fannie and Freddie, which has cost taxpayers $134 billion.
"The government's guarantee eliminates an essential element of market discipline—the risk aversion of investors," said a paper released last week by the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "So the outcome will be the same: the underwriting standards will deteriorate, regulation of issuers will fail and taxpayers will take losses once again."
In the months ahead, GOP lawmakers—especially those who remain cautious about privatization—are likely to face a lobbying blitz from home builders, community bankers, real-estate agents and other businesses in their home districts that depend on federal housing support.
The burden on the industry is to "show that the risk to the taxpayer is going to be minimized," said Paul Leonard, chairman of the Financial Services Roundtable's Housing Policy Council.
Pat There is a good duplex for sale at 2809 13th Rd in Arlington and just off Columbia Pike. Price is $475,000
reecon, cute but it looks like just half the property,
it looks like it was originally a 4/2 with unfinished basements and then they added a basement apartment.
Cute but overpriced if it's half the unit.
a similiar one sold 901 S Glebe
and that was 280K
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