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That’s according to business leaders and economic experts who gathered Tuesday at an annual real estate and economic symposium at Loyola University.

Bill Bliss, managing broker of Latter & Blum’s Lakeview office, said the New Orleans area is currently experiencing a neutral market, meaning it is neither a buyer’s nor a seller’s market. It is also a market that is in transition.

Bliss said unit sales and prices are decreasing while available inventory is increasing. That’s a contrast from 2016, when unit sales and prices were increasing while inventory was decreasing, which is termed a “peak” phase. According to numbers from the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors and Gulf South Real Estate Information Network, the high water mark for price appreciation in New Orleans was from 2014 to 2015, when values surged from $151 to $172 per square foot, or 13.9 percent.

Figures presented Tuesday show that homes in the luxury range – identified as properties priced $700,000 and above – in Lakeview, Gentilly and Mid-City are on the market for an average of 14 months. If the submarkets are taken as a whole, homes spend on average 3.8 months on the market.

“There will also be downward price pressure because the buyers have choice,” he said.

Bliss predicted this trend would continue in the luxury housing market and start to trickle down to properties in other price points. He said prices are flat and will start to slowly decrease. Affordability is the biggest factor in this shift.

“By next summer, we’ll know a little more where this market is headed and how long the duration of this will last,” he said.

Local real estate analyst Wade Ragas touched on the rising interest rates during the past year. The Federal Reserve has raised rates for a conventional 30-year mortgage to 5.1 percent from a little more than 4 percent at this time last year.

Ragas was hopeful there would only one more increase for a while. He predicted this would occur in December.

“These rising interest rates will affect all mortgage transactions,” he said.

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In case you don’t know where to go on New Year’s Eve, Airbnb just released a list of top destinations where you can get the party started. Buzz60’s Natasha Abellard has the story. Buzz60

Ap Short Term Rentals New Orleans A File Usa La
(Photo: Gerald Herbert, AP)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A ban on “whole home” short-term vacation rentals in New Orleans was proposed Thursday by a City Council member, a move long-awaited by critics who say investors were helping drive up housing costs and marring the character of historic neighborhoods by buying up properties and renting them to out-of-towners.

Kristen Gisleson Palmer’s measure had also been awaited with dread by some property owners who own short-term rental properties. And it drew rebukes from Airbnb and HomeAway, two of the best known online platforms for short-term rentals.

Airbnb’s emailed statement said the plan would “devastate” some New Orleans property owners who depend on short-term rental revenue.

More: 19 hot destinations for 2019, according to Airbnb

HomeAway spokesman Philip Minardi said the proposal was an “extreme” measure that would penalize property owners who have invested in the community.

“This framework would jeopardize those responsible homeowners without cause, decrease tax collections, and prevent tourism dollars from being spread across the city,” Minardi said in a news release. Backers of non-owner-occupied short-term rentals also say the practice can help revitalize blighted neighborhoods.

A homeowner who wanted to rent out parts of his or her home to vacationers could still do so under the proposal, as long as that owner remains on the premises. But Palmer aims to stop investors from buying up houses in neighborhoods strictly for the purpose of making them into vacation rental spots.

Complaints about short-term renters taking the place of long-term residents have been especially strong in the Marigny and Treme neighborhoods, where critics have said vacationers have sometimes noisily pushed the limits of the city’s tolerance for revelry.

“If you kill the neighborhoods you kill the reason people come here,” Palmer told reporters Thursday.

Palmer’s proposal also extends an existing ban on short-term rentals in the French Quarter to include the city’s Garden District. And it requires that building owners in some commercial areas match their short-term rental units with an equal number of affordable housing units.

Opponents of short-term, whole-home rentals won council approval in May of a temporary ban on the issuing of any new licenses for whole-home rentals, a precursor to Thursday’s proposal. The council is expected to get its first official look at Palmer’s proposal next week. A final vote is expected in April.

Cities and states have been grappling with the issue of how best to regulate short-term rentals for years.

More: Traveling with pets this holiday season? Read this first

In November, for instance, news outlets reported that Washington’s city council voted to restrict short-term rentals to primary residences, and limit rentals in which the owner is absent to 90 days per year. In South Portland, Maine, the Portland Press Herald reported that a ban on non-owner-occupied short term rentals takes effect Jan. 1.

San Diego City Council’s October vote to repeal its regulations that, among other things, barred the short-term rentals of second homes.

Airbnb’s statement says its polling indicates residents support short-term rentals, including those used as full-time Airbnb rentals. The company said Palmer’s proposal was “crafted in a backroom without input from key stakeholders.” Palmer countered that there were months of meetings and public input that went into the proposal. And there will be more public hearings and study before the proposal comes up for a final vote.

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The common reason to refinance a mortgage is because rates have gone down. This in turn raises the question of just how much lower rates must be to justify the refi. We’ll answer this question below, and look at three other good reasons to consider a mortgage refinance.

Interest Rates Have Gone Down

The primary reason many homeowners refinance their mortgage is to lower their interest rate. It’s why we refinance just about any loan, whether it’s a mortgage, student loan, or even credit card debt (think 0% balance transfer cards). According to the White House, the average homeowner could save $3,000 a year by refinancing their mortgage.

As you evaluate whether lower rates justify refinancing, consider the following:

While rates have ticked up, predicting future interest rates is a fool’s errand. Most predict that rates will rise over the coming months and years, and I agree with this assessment. I also thought the Indians would win the World Series. The point is that you should evaluate whether to refinance a mortgage based on today’s rates, not a prediction of future rates.
How much you’ll save each month is a function of more than the interest rate. Mortgage brokers often tout the lower monthly payment, but keep in mind that the lower payment is also a function of the term of the new loan. If you have 20 years left on your mortgage and refinance back to a 30-year mortgage, the extended term will lower your monthly payment even at the same interest rate.
It’s important to factor in the tax consequences of a refinance. Lowering your interest rate saves money, but perhaps not as much as you may think once you adjust the lower interest payments for the smaller tax deduction.
And that brings us to the question of just how much lower must rates be to justify refinancing. There are numerous “rules of thumb” that range from 0.50% to as high as 2%. A better approach is to do the math. It takes just a few steps:

The post When to Refinance? appeared first on Sun Premium Financing.

You’ll need just seven pieces of information to use our Rent vs. Buy Calculator, things you may already know or have been tossing around in your mind:

• Where you want to live
• The home’s purchase price (wondering how much house you can afford? There’s a Home Affordability Calculator for that)
• Your down payment (We’ve got a Down Payment Calculator for that, too)
• The term of your mortgage (a 30 year mortgage is most common)
• How long you think you’ll live there
• The cost of renting a similar home

To make things easy, we made a number of assumptions about other typical costs that factor into this calculation. They’re visible and you can easily change those numbers for a more customized result. You can see, for example, that we assume your security deposit for renting is equal to one month’s rent, and that you’re making a 20% down payment. But again, you can adjust these figures to exactly what applies to you.

What factors should you consider when deciding whether to rent or buy?

Location

Location counts. Where you choose to live may decide the buy vs. rent question for you. In high-priced real estate markets like San Francisco, renting could be the only affordable option. In addition to home prices and monthly rents, important factors when deciding where to live include safe neighborhoods, good schools, proximity to public transportation, walkability, drive times to work, shopping and recreation. Also consider the supply of rentals or newly built homes: Are they appealing, plentiful and affordable? Style — of a home, an apartment, a town or a neighborhood — plays a role, too.

Intangibles

Some pieces of our decision are not easily quantifiable, but they could be the most important, such as:

• Stability (you, not the landlord, can choose when you’ll move)
• Financial predictability (a fixed-rate mortgage payment doesn’t change)
• Freedom to renovate
• Pride of ownership
• Growing home equity that you can borrow against
• Flexibility (renters are free to move and are exempt from home maintenance)

Costs of a home purchase

The upfront cost of buying a home is the biggest barrier for many would-be buyers. In addition to a down payment, you’ll need to save for closing costs, which will run you about 3% to 5% of the loan amount.

Costs of owning

You can’t put your wallet away once you’ve solved the buy or rent problem by buying a home. You’ll keep paying mortgage insurance (for a period of time, anyway), property taxes, homeowners insurance and HOA dues (if they apply). And then there are repairs, upkeep and the cost of furnishing and upgrading your new crib.

To use the Rent vs Buy calculator visit this page: https://www.nerdwallet.com/mortgages/rent-vs-buy-calculator

The post Rent vs. Buy Calculator appeared first on Sun Premium Financing.

And it’s not always the right decision.

Many factors come into play when deciding whether it makes sense to buy, including: your current cash flow, the local markets, how long you plan to stay, interest rates and potential tax deductions, just to name a few.

But it’s not just about finances: It’s also important to consider the lifestyle ramifications that come with owning a home.

Here’s what people should take into account when deciding whether to take the leap into homeownership:

Your monthly budget
The first step when deciding your housing future is to figure out just how much you can afford to spend.

First calculate how much money you bring in every month. Next, consider what you spend on essentials like food and transportation.

A good rule of thumb is to keep total housing costs — whether renting or owning — at around 28%-30% of your gross monthly income, according to Bill Engel, a certified financial planner at Fort Pitt Capital Group.

“You don’t want to bite off more than you can chew,” he said. “Plan on having a cash reserve.”

Related: Is 2018 the year to buy a house?

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Do you have a money question for our experts? Email us here.

The financial impact
To help make a buy vs rent comparison, Fidelity recommended running a simple price-to-rent ratio: divide a home price by the annual rent of a comparable rental unit. If the ratio is less than 20%, buying is probably a better bet.

And it’s not just home prices. Interest rates will also play a big role.

“When mortgage rates are very low, your buying power is much higher, with rates now that picking up again the dynamic has changing a little bit, said Cheryl Young, senior economist at Trulia.

But other factors should be considered as well when making the buy vs rent decision. For instance, how long do you plan to stay in the area? Typically, the longer you stay in a home, the more financial sense it makes to buy.

Some online calculators can tell you how long you’d need to live in a city to make buying the more affordable option. Look for calculators that include things like insurance, maintenance, home price appreciation and selling costs. While the figures will be assumptions, they can help paint a more accurate financial picture.

In many cities the favor tips to buyers in as little as two years, while in more expensive cities it can take closer to 10 years.

But buying a home is also investment and can be a key component of building wealth. Every mortgage payment means you own more of your home, which you will get back when you sell it (hopefully at a higher price than you paid for it, but that’s not always the case).

“Part of the mortgage payment s is defacto investing into something that appreciates over the long term, and that is a big deal,” said Skylar Olsen, senior economist at Zillow.

Related: Your step by step guide to becoming a homeowner

The opportunity costs
Buying a home comes with more upfront costs, including a down payment, closing costs and other legal fees. For renters, the upfront cost is typically a month or two of rent for a security deposit. Homeowners also have more reoccurring costs like property taxes, home insurance and maintenance costs.

Renting means you could save all that money for a down payment and closing costs and invest in the stock market instead. The return on that investment could potentially be worth be more than a home’s price appreciation.

“You are sinking a lot of money into a home, which means you aren’t investing in stock market,” said Joe Kirchner, senior economist for Realtor.com.

Related: First time home buyer? Here’s what you need to know

Tax benefits
Homeowners can also take advantage of tax deductions, which can lessen the cost of owning a home. But keep in mind, the newly-passed tax reform dampened some of the deductions. Buyers are now only able to deduct interest on the first $750,000 of mortgage debt on a home. Plus, homeowners can now only deduct up to $10,000 in state and local taxes, including property taxes — a deduction which used to be unlimited.

While the changes mostly affect buyers in high-cost markets, the deductions have become less valuable because of the near doubling of the standard deduction, which means fewer homeowners will itemize and take advantage of them.

Your lifestyle
Becoming a homeowner means committing to fixing the leaky roof, backed up toilet or heat pump that stops working on the coldest night of the year. Some people just don’t want the responsibility. Renters can pick up the phone and call the landlord. Landlords also tend to pick up the tab for utilities, trash pick up and landscaping

Also, consider the source of your income. If your paychecks aren’t steady or your job security is uncertain, it might make sense to hold off on buying a home. Renters can always pick up and move to cut back or follow a new job.

The post Renting vs. Buying appeared first on Sun Premium Financing.