Moira Ritter

3 weeks ago | homes.com | Moira Ritter

A down payment is when you pay a fraction of the cost of a home upfront and take out a loan to cover the rest. A common misconception is that 20% is the standard down payment on a house. That’s not the case, according to Melissa Cohn, regional vice president at William Raveis Mortgage. Instead, depending on what kind of mortgage you take out and what kind of homebuyer you are, you can pay as little as 3.5% down.

3 weeks ago | homes.com | Moira Ritter

The mortgage market rollercoaster might be on hold, but the volatility has been traded for stickiness as rates remain stuck just beneath the 7% threshold. As of Thursday, the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage had increased slightly to an average of 6.81%, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac, a buyer of loans from banks. The 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage also increased, averaging 5.92%. Though it’s a marginal shift, this week’s data is part of a larger trend: Mortgage rates are stuck.

3 weeks ago | homes.com | Moira Ritter

Sam Palmer and his wife have a hard time staying in one place. “Me and Petra can never sit still for more than two minutes,” Palmer said in an interview, referring to his wife, Petra Ecclestone. “We get the itch.”That’s what inspired them to purchase a newly built mansion in Brentwood, California, for $30.5 million in 2023. They’ve spent much of the past two years making the seven-bedroom, 12-bathroom, 13,500-square-foot property their own, according to Palmer.

3 weeks ago | homes.com | Moira Ritter

Home price growth slowed even more in April, a sign that there could be a shift from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market, according to new data from Homes.com. Last month, costs for single-family homes, townhouses and condos grew by just 1.3% compared to a year earlier. It’s the fourth consecutive month of a slowdown since price growth peaked at 5.6% in the second half of 2024. Translated to prices, the median price for all home types was $385,000 in April, the data showed.

3 weeks ago | homes.com | Moira Ritter

Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country — but it hasn't always been like that. "For the longest time, Charlotte was known sort of as a banking city, and it didn't have that entertainment value," according to Abigail Hines Miller, a real estate agent and managing partner at The Agency Charlotte. "But it's becoming much more family oriented ...