Where are the Top 10 Best Places to Live? Austin Makes The List

The best cities have affordable housing, low crime, high-quality health care, and lots of cultural amenities. Taking into account these and other factors, Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine created a list of the top cities in the U.S.

Kiplinger teamed up with Bert Sperling, co-author of Cities Ranked & Rated (John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2004), to compile a database of potential home towns that meet their criteria for a great place to live. These are their top 10:

1. Nashville, Tenn.

The top pick offers affordable homes, a mild climate, and a phenomenal entertainment scene that goes far beyond country.

2. Minneapolis-St. Paul

A great sports town that is hip, progressive, and sensible in the Midwestern sense.

3. Albuquerque, N.M.

This laid-back city offers resort-town ambience, a boomtown economy, and cow-town prices.

4. Atlanta

Vibrant, beautiful, and genteel.

5. Austin, Tex.

A college town that offers a sophisticated salsa of culture, history, and politics.

6. Kansas City

This city offers everything from world-class museums to mouth-watering barbecue.

7. Asheville, N.C.

World-class cuisine, amazing crafts, live music venues and fine arts make this city tucked into the Blue Ridge mountain range one of a kind.

8. Ithaca, N.Y.

An Ivy League outpost with great food, beautiful scenery, and liberal politics.

9. Pittsburgh

Distinctive neighborhoods, tree-lined streets, glittering skyscrapers, upscale shops, and a diversified economy make this a great place to live

10. Iowa City, Iowa

This wholesome middle-American city is bursting with creative and intellectual energy.

Source: Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine (05/09/2006)

Tough for Mortgage Bankers, Great for Borrowers

The Mortgage Bankers Association on Tuesday predicted that 30-year fixed rate mortgages would end the year around 6.90 percent, considered low historically, but high enough to stifle home refinancing and thus overall loan volume.

"From the perspective of the mortgage banker it will be a tougher year," says Doug Duncan, the MBA’s chief economist. "From the perspective of the borrower, it will be a great year because the mortgage banker will be passing through every penny of cost savings they can to the consumer to keep their business."

The MBA says total home loan creation will decrease by 17 percent this year. Lenders will issue about $2.4 trillion in loans in 2006, the fifth highest year on record, but down from $2.9 trillion last year and a substantial reduction from the all-time high of $3.9 trillion in 2003.

Source: Reuters News, Kristin Roberts and Lynn Adler (05/09/2006)

Benefits, Risks of the Half-Century Mortgage Loan

Some home buyers who can’t afford a standard 30-year mortgage, and aren't comfortable with a 40-year mortgage either, are finding a 50-year loan to be an attractive option.

While many banks offer the 40-year product — which accounts for 5 percent of loans — 50-year mortgages are harder to find, according to LoanPerformance, a real estate data firm. So far, only a few small lenders have rolled out the five-decades-long mortgages.

Statewide Bancorp in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., has had about 220 applications since March when it began offering the 50-year term. The loans are luring cash-strapped buyers who are having a hard time coping with soaring home prices. Although 50-year mortgages come with lower monthly payments, but borrowers build equity very slowly and risk owing more than the home is worth.

Also, because rates on the loans are adjustable, monthly payments could rise over time. Still, observers say, the 50-year mortgages are less risky than interest-only or option mortgages.

Source: USA Today, Noelle Knox and Mindy Fetterman (05/10/2006)

HUD Gives Evacuees Break on Housing Purchases

Gulf Coast hurricane evacuees will get a chance beginning this week to buy properties owned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the first five days they are listed for sale anywhere in the country at 10 percent below fair market value.

HUD expects up 20,000 properties to be made available.

Families living in HUD-owned properties since last year’s hurricanes also will have a chance to buy the houses in which they’ve been living. HUD provided interim rental housing in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas after the storms.

To get the discount, evacuees must make an offer within the first five days. They are required to submit their purchase offers through licensed real estate professionals.

HUD will select successful buyers using a lottery drawing if multiple offers are made on the same property.

Buyers Regret Not Asking: Anyone Die Here?

(May 3, 2006) -- Prospective home buyers usually don't inquire about whether someone has died in the house. But in retrospect, many wish they would have.

For example, last year a couple bought an condo on New York's Upper East Side only to learn weeks later that the previous owner had committed suicide there. ''They were very, very upset,'' says Andia Smull the couple's real estate practitioner.

Homes can be stigmatized if they are the scenes of murders, suicides, hauntings, and even peaceful deaths. Some buyers will avoid these properties due to concerns about bad luck or ghosts, while others back out of such deals due to cultural beliefs.

Experts notes that the value of these properties often hinges on the deceased person's status in the community, how long ago the death occurred, the manner in which the person died, and whether the incident was widely publicized.

For instance, the price of the Beverly Hills home where Lyle and Erik Menendez used shotguns to murder their parents fell more than $1 million at the time of resale; but the Manhattan apartment where Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died presently is going for $32 million.

Sellers and real estate agents in New York, New Jersey, and other states are not required to disclose deaths or hauntings — although most will do so if the prospective buyer asks.

However, Connecticut's "Ghostbusters law" requires agents to inform buyers in writing of homicides, suicides, and other felonies if requested to do so by the buyer.

Source: New York Times, Stephanie Rosenbloom (04/30/06)

Loan Pre-Approvals Put Buyers in the Drivers Seat

(May 2, 2006) -- Urging a potential buyer to get a loan pre-approval prior to house hunting can put that buyer in a powerful position. Unlike a pre-qualification, a pre-approval is supported by documentation that certifies income, debts, and credit history and tells a real estate professional, home builder, or seller that the buyer has the proven ability to buy a home.

The pre-approval process is identical to the loan application process except that the buyer hasn’t identified a property. Many lending companies will process the pre-approval free of charge to the potential home buyer. Other companies charge for the credit report and some charge an application fee.

Loan applications and pre-approvals take about an hour, more if there are questions.

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jeff Tomlinson (04/26/06)

Gen Y Buyers Are Thrifty and Picky

(May 2, 2006) -- Generation Y home buyers are fearless shoppers who are changing the way moderately priced homes are sold, say observers of this tech-savvy generation.

“They already have their minds made up before they get in the car,” says Justin Juarez, broker-owner of Metro Brokers Liberty Home Group in Denver.

The 65.3 million members of Generation Y — people born between 1979 and 1994 — are always looking for the best deal, says Angela Burdick, owner of Angela Burdick Real Estate.

“Location is very important to this group,” Burdick says. “They like light rail and public transportation and walking where they want to be. They value their recreational time, and they don't want to be home mowing lawns.”

Gen-Y also doesn't shy away from spaces as small as 500 square feet. “They're really into organization and multifunction of furniture,” Burdick observes. “You see a lot of Murphy beds, and they like multifunctional rooms.”

Source: Denver Post, Margaret Jackson (04/30/06)