http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/rss/feedsTeam Ruby of Keller Williams has been serving the Triangle Raleigh, NC area for over 19 years and is ready to help you with your buying or selling journey.Thu, 23 Apr 2026 04:15:08 -0700http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/my-team-ruby-real-estate-newsletter-september-2024http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/my-team-ruby-real-estate-newsletter-september-2024 Mon, 09 Sep 2024 04:15:00 -0700http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/my-team-ruby-real-estate-newsletter-may-2024http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/my-team-ruby-real-estate-newsletter-may-2024 Tue, 30 Apr 2024 07:41:00 -0700http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/my-team-ruby-real-estate-newsletter-april-2024http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/my-team-ruby-real-estate-newsletter-april-2024Tue, 26 Mar 2024 09:32:00 -0700http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/my-team-ruby-real-estate-newsletter-march-2024http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/my-team-ruby-real-estate-newsletter-march-2024 Thu, 21 Mar 2024 19:24:00 -0700http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/my-team-ruby-real-estate-newsletter-december-2023http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/my-team-ruby-real-estate-newsletter-december-2023 Sat, 02 Dec 2023 08:45:00 -0700http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/lifestyle-and-recreational-guidehttp://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/lifestyle-and-recreational-guideThu, 30 Nov 2023 20:03:00 -0700http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/guide-to-the-research-triangle-schoolshttp://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/guide-to-the-research-triangle-schools Thu, 30 Nov 2023 18:38:00 -0700http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/team-ruby-henderson-real-estate-newsletter-november--2023http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/team-ruby-henderson-real-estate-newsletter-november--2023 Wed, 01 Nov 2023 02:44:00 -0700http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/invest-in-yourself-by-owning-a-homehttp://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/invest-in-yourself-by-owning-a-home Are you wondering if it makes sense to buy a home right now? While today’s mortgage rates might seem a bit intimidating, here are two compelling reasons why it still may be a good time to become a homeowner. Home Values Appreciate over Time There’s been a lot of confusion around what’s happened with home prices over the past two years. While they did dip ever so slightly in late 2022, this year they’ve been appreciating at a more normal pace, which is good news for the housing market. And while looking at price movement over just a year or two can make you worry prices are usually this unpredictable, history shows in the long run, home values rise (see graph below): Using data from the Federal Reserve for the past 60 years, you can see the overall trend is home prices have climbed quite steadily. Sure, there was an exception around the housing crash of 2008 that caused prices to break the usual trend for a time, but overall, home values have been consistently on the rise. Increasing home values is one great reason why buying may make more sense than renting. As prices rise, and as you pay down your mortgage, you build equity. Over time, that growing equity gives your net worth a boost. Rent Keeps Going Up Through the Years Another reason you may want to consider buying a home instead of renting is the never-ending rent hike. If you’ve ever felt the pinch of rent increasing year after year, you’re not alone. That’s because, rents have climbed steadily over the past six decades (see graph below): By buying a home, you can lock in your monthly housing costs and bid farewell to those pesky rent hikes. That stability is a game-changer. In the end, it all boils down to this: your housing payments are an investment, and you’ve got a choice to make. Do you want to invest in yourself or your landlord? By becoming a homeowner, you’re investing in your own future. When you rent, that’s money you never get back. When you factor in home values consistently rising, plus the opportunity to get relief from never-ending rent hikes, homeownership can be a path to financial security. As Dr. Jessica Lautz, Deputy Chief Economist and VP of Research at the National Association of Realtors (NAR), states: “If a homebuyer is financially stable, able to manage monthly mortgage costs and can handle the associated household maintenance expenses, then it makes sense to purchase a home.” Bottom Line When it comes down to it, buying a home offers more benefits than renting, even when mortgage rates are high. If you want to avoid increasing rents and take advantage of long-term home price appreciation, connect with a local real estate agent to go over your options. Mon, 30 Oct 2023 08:01:00 -0700http://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/growing-your-net-worth-with-homeownershiphttp://www.myteamruby.com/blog/post/growing-your-net-worth-with-homeownership Take a moment to imagine where you want to be in a few years. You might be thinking about your job, money, wanting more stability, or goals you want to reach soon. Is homeownership a part of that vision? If it is, you should know owning a home has a whole lot of financial benefits. One of the many reasons to buy a home is that it’s a great way to build wealth and gain financial stability. That’s because the value of most homes increases over time, which in turn grows your net worth. Here’s how home values are rising right now. According to Zillow: “The total value of the U.S. housing market – the sum of Zillow’s estimated value for every U.S. home – is now slightly less than $52 trillion, which is $1.1 trillion higher than the previous peak reached last June.” Basically, homeownership is a tremendous wealth-building tool. And with home values back on the rise across the nation, now might be a good time to consider if owning a home is something you want to reach for. Here’s a look at some data to see how much owning a home can really make a difference in your life. Household Net Worth Is Rising Data shows that while those in the top 1% saw the most dramatic net worth increase, people from every single tax bracket have seen their wealth grow over the past few years (see graph below): For many of those people, the rising value of their home plays a big part in that. Owning a Home Helps You Achieve Financial Success You can tell homeownership had a lot to do with that growth because there’s a significant net worth gap between homeowners and renters. As Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors (NAR), says: “. . . homeownership is a catalyst for building wealth for people from all walks of life. A monthly mortgage payment is often considered a forced savings account that helps homeowners build a net worth about 40 times higher than that of a renter.” The big reason why? Homeowner’s build equity. Home equity is the value of your home minus the amount you owe on your mortgage. And for most homeowners, that’s the largest contributor to their net worth. Here’s the data from First American to prove it (see graph below): The blue portion of each bar represents housing as a portion of net worth – and it’s clearly a bigger contributor than other investments like stocks, gold, and cryptocurrencies. As you can see, across different income levels, homeownership does more to build the average household’s wealth than anything else. Bottom Line One of the biggest benefits of owning a home is that it can provide an avenue to grow your net worth. Connect with a local real estate professional so you can start investing in homeownership. Mon, 16 Oct 2023 07:39:00 -0700