Newsday
In a recent U.S. Census Bureau snapshot of America’s households, there were a lot of real estate-related "ups":
The median home value nationwide was $120,162, up nearly 52 percent from $79,100 in 1990. By comparison, the combined median price of single-family homes and condominiums in Snohomish County has risen above $200,000.
The median size of houses increased from 5.2 rooms to 5.8 rooms, and the percentage of homes with eight or more rooms grew from 13.2 percent to 14.6 percent.
Median household income — the stuff homeowners need to live larger — also was up, to $41,343 from $30,056 in 1990.
But there was one "up" that was more upsetting than uplifting: the median mortgage cost. It rose from $737 a month to $1,307.
Furthermore, more than a quarter of homeowners nationwide now have mortgages that exceed 30 percent of their income. That doesn’t leave much margin for error in the bumpy road of home economics.
Some experts speculate that the increase in home equity loans, which are included in the housing-cost statistics, may partly account for the much higher mortgage payments. But there’s also another likely factor — and this one’s a "down" trend.
American home buyers are putting less and less down on their mortgages, according to San Francisco-based Mortgage Information, the country’s largest monitor of home-loan repayments. Last year, 41 percent of them made down payments of less than 20 percent, and 15 percent put 4 percent down or less.
So in their desire for homeownership, more families appear to be ballooning their monthly payments, a dangerous trend, especially for inexperienced first-time buyers.
The good news, however, is that a growing number of organizations are aware of the down payment dilemma and are providing assistance to qualified first-time buyers.
One program is offered by the Nehemiah Corp. of California.
Started seven years ago in Sacramento, Nehemiah now administers privately funded down payment assistance programs nationwide.
Qualified home buyers, who must meet FHA loan guidelines and take a homeownership education course, can receive up to 6 percent of their down payment and closing costs for either new homes or resales. The costs are picked up by the seller, who usually increases the sales price slightly to balance the cash down payment assistance.
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