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Big Reasons Renters Aren’t Buying Homes Despite steadily rising home prices and brutal seller’s markets in some areas, America’s homeownership rate has been inching back up from its 2015 lows, reaching 64.2% in January. That leaves more than a third of American households renting their homes — thought not all of them want to be. Many renters are quite content living lease to lease — especially after the foreclosure crisis laid bare the fact that owning a home isn’t for everyone and can sometimes cause more financial problems than it solves. But according to NerdWallet’s 2018 Home Buyer Report, they’re in the minority: Only 17% of Americans surveyed prefer renting to homeownership. And their top reasons for renting suggest that the choice is sometimes rooted more in financial reality than lifestyle preferences. Reason No. 1: Don’t Have the Money to Buy More than half (56%) of those who said they prefer renting to buying said they lack the funds to buy a home. Whether this means they hav

The Most Clever Tips Real Estate Agents Have Shared With Us When I was buying my first home, my mom nudged me to put in a significantly lower bid on a townhome I really wanted. “Do that, and you’ll lose out on this home,” rebuffed my tenacious real estate agent, who was intimately familiar with the comparable properties in my neighborhood. Mom, as it turned out, didn’t know best in this instance. But my real estate agent did, and my offer was accepted.  Great real estate agents are like the captains of your home-buying team. If I had lowballed the offer, I would have probably lost the house — and done so in an attempt to save about $10 to $20 a month over the life of a 30-year loan.  At Apartment Therapy, we interview a lot of real estate agents on topics that range from TV placement to tips for first-time buyers. Here’s some of the best advice they’ve shared with us over the years. On Home Finance and Budgeting Your home loan could fall through if you open additional credit accounts w