Empty Nest: If your children have moved out, leaving empty bedrooms and unused spaces, it might be a sign that your current home is too large for your needs.
Financial Strain: If you’re struggling to keep up with mortgage payments, property taxes, maintenance costs, and other expenses related to your current home, downsizing can relieve financial stress.
Maintenance Overload: If you find it increasingly difficult to maintain your current home due to its size or age, downsizing to a smaller, more manageable property can save you time and money.
Health Considerations: If you or your partner’s health has changed, and your current home isn’t accommodating those changes (e.g., difficulties with stairs), downsizing to a more accessible property may be necessary.
Excessive Clutter: If your home is filled with belongings you no longer use or need, downsizing can provide an opportunity to declutter and simplify your life.
Desire to Travel: If! ...

PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. It is an insurance policy that lenders often require borrowers to obtain when they have a conventional mortgage loan with a down payment of less than 20% of the home’s purchase price.
The primary purpose of PMI is to protect the lender in case the borrower defaults on their mortgage payments. If the borrower stops making payments and goes into foreclosure, PMI helps reimburse the lender for the remaining loan balance after the sale of the property. It provides an additional layer of security for the lender since a smaller down payment represents a higher risk for potential losses.
PMI is typically an additional monthly cost that the borrower must pay on top of their mortgage payment. The exact amount of PMI depends on factors such as the loan amount, loan-to-value ratio (LTV), and the borrower’s credit score. The cost of PMI can vary, but it is usually a percentage of the loan amount and ranges from 0.5% to 1% of the tota ...

PMI stands for Private Mortgage Insurance. It is an insurance policy that lenders often require borrowers to obtain when they have a conventional mortgage loan with a down payment of less than 20% of the home’s purchase price.
The primary purpose of PMI is to protect the lender in case the borrower defaults on their mortgage payments. If the borrower stops making payments and goes into foreclosure, PMI helps reimburse the lender for the remaining loan balance after the sale of the property. It provides an additional layer of security for the lender since a smaller down payment represents a higher risk for potential losses.
PMI is typically an additional monthly cost that the borrower must pay on top of their mortgage payment. The exact amount of PMI depends on factors such as the loan amount, loan-to-value ratio (LTV), and the borrower’s credit score. The cost of PMI can vary, but it is usually a percentage of the loan amount and ranges from 0.5% to 1% of the tota ...

If you were worried buyer demand disappeared when mortgage rates went up, the data shows there are plenty of interested buyers still out there. The housing market isn't as frenzied as it was during the ‘unicorn’ years when buyer demand was through the roof, mortgage rates were historically low, and home values rose like we’ve never seen before. But that doesn’t mean the market is at a standstill.
Nationally, demand is still high compared to the last normal years in the housing market and plenty of buyers are making moves right now. Here’s the data to prove it.
Showing Traffic Is Up
The ShowingTime Showing Index is a measure of how frequently buyers are touring homes. The graph below uses that index to show buyer activity over the past eight Octobers:
 

In the graph, the ‘unicorn’ years are shown in pink. You can see demand has dipped some since then. That’s in response to highe. ...

People Want Less Expensive Homes – And Builders Are Responding

In today’s housing market, there are two main affordability challenges impacting buyers: mortgage rates that are higher than they’ve been the past couple of years, and rising home prices caused by low inventory. To overcome those challenges, many people are working with their agents to find less expensive homes. And with newly built homes making up a historically large percentage of the total available inventory today, that search often includes brand new homes.
People Are Spending Less on Newly Built Homes
The graph below uses the latest information from the Census to show, in June, more of the newly built home sales in this country were in lower price ranges than in 2022:Last year, only 58% of newly built home sales were less than $500,000. This June, that number was up to 65%. This means more people are buying less expensive newly built homes r. ...