The age-old question: “Should I rent, or should I buy?” The answer, for now at least, is buy! I’m not just saying that because our livelihood depends on it, (although I kind of am) I’m saying that because a recent study from RENTcafé showed the average credit score needed to rent an apartment was 650, while individuals with a score of 538 or lower were being denied. What’s interesting is that the minimum FICO score required in our booming rental markets (Boston, San Fran, Seattle, Philly) is around 700 respectively.
It looks like you’ll need to have better credit to rent then own nowadays. In Philadelphia, building owners are looking for tenants to have a 700 FICO score or higher. The min credit score for an FHA loan is 580. Hmmm… something is off here. It appears to be harder to qualify for an apartment than it is for a home loan. When you rent you literally throw money into the trash when, approximately $20K per/year if you’re renting in the Philadelphia area and it’s even more in some areas. The numbers make sense. We just must do our part as mortgage professionals and make sure our potential buyers understand the value created when buying a home. This is exactly why your role as a broker is super important to our industry. There is no better advocate for the buyer than a broker. You have the industry knowledge, great partnerships with qualified lenders and the best rates in the industry. It just makes sense!
As we near the end of 2017 we really need to consider our country’s obsession with the holidays. It’s November 13th and our stores are packed with red and green, retailers have already moved forward on their annoying holiday commercials and of course Starbucks changed their cups (the true sign of the season change). We’ll be celebrating the holidays for 2 full months and considering there are only 25 or so REAL Christmas/Holiday songs, with an average run time of around 2 and half min per/song… we’ll be listening to the same song around 500 times this season… ugh Happy Holidays!