[/caption]Carol Forsloff - Recently mortgage rates dipped below 3% on 30-year notes, as home values tumble along with the affordability of purchasing housing, while the economy sputters indecisively along with potential customers, as real estate winners and losers have changed in the new economy.
Freddie Mac shows the present mortgage rates at 3.94. Experts tell us this is the first time in history that mortgage rates have been this low.
In the old economy, real estate wealth was discussed as finding that expensive home and stretching the budget to buy it, as prices surged upward. The goal was to transfer real estate equity increases to other financial arenas. The problem became, however, that those upward movements of money had the downside because of financial risks that went beyond the capacity of many people to pay. These days, those who are able to make their mortgage payments or to sell homes at a value that doesn’t bankrupt either buyer or seller are considered fortunate, as values have slipped, leaving many property owners “under water” and without equity.
As real estate experts talk about the future of real estate, the worry is the length of time it may take for the market to turn around. This has brought a variety of opinions from different experts in different locations of the country, each sensing the arena where they work and then trying to determine how sales are measuring up to months past. The problem, however, is that most of the country’s real estate remains if not seriously in trouble stagnant with respect to overall sales.
The new economy looks at green alternatives and ways of maintaining a budget without incurring the large expenses of the past. As food prices increase along with the cost of medical care, combined with the cost of housing, people are looking for options that won’t put them in financial jeopardy if a job is lost or an illness strikes.
Optional housing alternatives are increasingly popular, as living simply becomes the goal for more and more folks who need those alternatives or find them the true path to restoring financial security.
Small houses that use resources of the environment in a way that balances affordability and environmental security are popular ways of addressing housing needs while saving the environment. Gizmag writes of Simon Dale, who built a “Hobbit” house in West Wales, with the assistance of his father in-law, at under US$5,000 (GBP3,000) - In order to accommodate the environment, local and natural materials were used. That included the use of lime plaster for the interior, scrap wood for flooring and fittings, a wood burner for heating and refrigerator cooling by an underground airflow. Water is pumped from a spring nearby and solar panels generate electricity. Dale provides housing plans for those who want to replicate his project.
Solargon's Smart Cabins that are LEED certified are octagon-shaped very small houses that can be set up in hours. An article on home energy efficiency reviews the type of home that is set up in panels, is 20 feet in diameter and that has plans allowing expansion to nearly 700 square feet or 30 feet in diameter. The base price is approximately $24,000. Those looking to saving money in this economy point to less living large, as people did in buying more house than they needed and at inflated prices. But folks wonder if living very small will be the wave of the future or a fad that fades like hula hoops and paper dresses when the economy turns around.