Wedding Gift Idea: Down Payment Registry:
A new marketing campaign from a home builder is reaching out to engaged renters and showing them how they 
can start married life as first-time home owners. Keystone Custom Home’s campaign is urging engaged couples to sign up for a Wells Fargo Bank gift registry called the New Home Bridal Registry to help save for a down payment on a home. Family and friends can make deposits into the account as a wedding gift, but they must keep a record of who gave what amount, in order to follow tax rules. The couple can then use the money in the account to buy a home. They’re not obligated to purchase a Keystone home either. However, they are obligated to use Wells Fargo as their mortgage lender, Learn more.
Smart Homes -Living in Shipping Container be the Next Trend?
Home owners are showing a bigger appetite for smart home technology. Nearly half of consumers — 46 percent — say it’s important their current home or the next home they purchase have smart home 
technology, according to a survey conducted by Real Estate and HGTV of nearly 2,500 consumers who recently participated in an HGTV national focus group on smart home technology. Home owners and buyers say they see the value in smart home technology for comfort, safety, and cost savings, and 51 percent surveyed say they would consider installing smart home technology in their home to make their home more marketable to future home buyers. Here one more New Trend: Live in a Shipping Container of Your Very Own Have home, will travel? If you have $49,500 to spare and a small plot of land, you could drive to Utah
and pick up a sweet shipping container home read more.
More Americans Ready to Sell
Real Estate Professionals and more Americans are growing optimistic about home-price appreciation and selling, 
according to Fannie Mae's October 2014 National Housing Survey of 1,000 American adults. Home-price expectations rose significantly in the latest survey, largely reversing a dip over the past four months, says Doug Duncan, Fannie Mae's chief economist. Also, the share of consumers who say now is a good time to sell a home reached another survey high this month. "These results may help drive a healthier housing market in 2015." See Pending Home Sales Stay at Healthy Level
Is FHA Drafting a Major Condo Proposal for 2015?
FHA tightened its financing of condo projects after being faced with significant foreclosures during the housing crisis. 
However, the agency may be considering a change: The Times reports that FHA is drafting a major condo proposal for 2015, which could potentially bring back financing to more buyers and existing unit owners. Demand for condo units is rising in urban areas nationwide, but mortgage financing continues to squeeze out entry-level buyers, Times reports. List prices for condos in major markets are rising faster than prices for single-family detached homes in many areas. Condos are surging in popularity as boomers look to downsize and other owners seek to live closer to urban workplaces and cities, read more.
Rents Are Shooting Up Well Beyond Wages
With increased competition for units, rents are shooting up, and the increases are biting renters’ 
wallets as they find themselves increasingly getting priced out of the market, with wages failing to keep pace. Nationwide rents have risen about 6 percent from a year ago,due to rising demand and still-limited supply, CNBC reports. Nationally, the average monthly cost to rent a one-bedroom apartment in August was $939, according to CoStar housing data. "So landlords should still be able to push asking rent increases on to their tenants." Rental demand is strong and likely will remain so for the foreseeable future, analysts note. read more.
Drag on Housing: Down Payments or Debt?
Housing attitudes were decidedly more mixed. According to Fannie Mae,
Americans surveyed last month expect home prices to rise 2.8 percent over the next year, reflecting a bounce after price expectations stagnated throughout the summer. 20% Down Payment Takes 12 Years of Saving. First-time buyers have a whole lot of saving to do — possibly more than a decade of saving for a home purchase. How ever the Federal Housing Administration allows buyers to get a mortgage with a down payment as low as 3.5 percent with a 30-year fixed rate, Learn more.
Slight Uptick in Markets and Mortgage Rates
Mortgage Rates Push Back Above 4%: For the second consecutive week, average fixed-rate 
mortgages inched higher, taking the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage back above 4 percent for the first time in three weeks, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey.The Federal Housing Administration allows buyers to get a mortgage with a down payment as low as 3.5 percent with a 30-year fixed rate. Markets Returning to ‘Normal. "Nearly half of all the markets on the Leading Markets Index are up, See The top major market.
