Landlords Can Now Sniff Out Fake Assistance Animal Requests

Property owners have struggled with how to enforce no-pet policies on their properties with the growing number of renter requests for assistance animals.

That’s why the housing market is welcoming the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s newly released guidance and clarity on how to comply with the Fair Housing Act when receiving a request for an assistance animal.

News reports in recent years have grown accusing some renters of using dubious third parties over the internet to buy certifications or registrations that say they need an emotional support animal.

Under HUD’s new guidelines, landlords and property managers now can require reliable verification of the tenant’s need for an assistance animal and can require documents other than an online certification.

A person with a disability may require the assistance of an animal to help do work, perform tasks, or provide therapeutic emotional support. The requested accommodation must be met if it affects that person’s major life activity and serves as a reasonable request. HUD’s new guidance offers housing providers step-by-step practices for complying with the Fair Housing Act when such requests are made. It includes guidance on assessing accommodating requests and information needed from the applicant about their disability-related need for the accommodation.

“This law exists to protect millions of Americans with disabilities who rely on the support of their assistance animals—like those living with depression, military veterans suffering from PTSD, and countless other deserving individuals,” says Vince Malta, president of the National Association of REALTORS®. “But as NAR has stressed to HUD over recent months, these protections are jeopardized when a small minority seeks to exploit weaknesses in the system.”

NAR welcomed HUD’s new guidelines for moving to stop fraudulent use of assistance animals while protecting the rights of those who require one.

HUD’s guidance offers landlords a tool to navigate requests and ensure that reasonable accommodations are provided while complying with fair housing laws. The guidance also includes information on the type of animals that are usually appropriate as well as best practices for when the requested animal is not a typical one used in accommodation situations.

“Countless Americans rely on assistance animals to fill a void, providing individuals with disabilities with the means to have a home that supports their quality of life,” says HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “In my many discussions with housing providers and residents impacted by the need for assistance, I recognized the necessity for further clarity regarding support animals to provide peace of mind to individuals with disabilities while also taking into account the concerns of housing providers. The announcement responds to the ambiguity surrounding proper documentation for assistance animals with clarity and compassion to provide an equal opportunity for a person living with a disability to use and enjoy their home.”

Read the notice from HUD.

The Age of Buyers is Skyrocketing

One of the more fascinating trends from the recent 2019 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers is the rising age of home buyers.

Overall, buyers’ ages have jumped from a median of 31 in 1981 to 47 in 2019. While many attribute that increase to the rising age of first-time buyers, there is more to the story.

From 1981 to 2018, the first-time buyer age was actually a pretty boring, flat line which fluctuated between 28 and 32, according to the National Association of Realtors. The only movement outside of this was in 2019, when it slightly increased to the median age of 33. Not a huge change, but enough to know there are other factors at play.

First-time buyers are facing a number of hurdles to enter homeownership. Many have difficulty saving for a downpayment with rising home prices, rising rental costs, and getting their debt-to-income ratio in check with student loan debt. First-time buyers also face a housing desert with the lack of affordable entry-level properties. First-time buyers who do enter the market often overcome these hurdles with family help such as downpayment assistance, or the ability to move directly from a parents’ home into homeownership.

The number that has changed dramatically since 1981 is the rise in the age of repeat buyers. Repeat buyers were a median age of 36 in 1981, and are now at 55. This incremental climb can be attributed to a number of factors. Many are staying in their homes for longer periods of time—either because they want to or because they had to as their home was worth less than their mortgage after the Great Recession. Tenure holding a home increased from six to seven years and is now at 10 years.

Also, Americans are also living and working longer, so the idea of moving and purchasing a new home, even with a mortgage, is a trend many feel comfortable doing past the traditional retirement age. As Americans are having children later in life, many life decisions get pushed further into the future. Working and assisting a grown child through college now takes precedent over downsizing. Many parents are holding onto their family home as adult children boomerang back after college.

Now many homeowners are in a positive home equity situation, as home prices have risen, and they are making the move to a home that fits their family’s needs better. Some are moving to be closer to friends and family, others to a larger home, and some just to a better area. Sellers who were holding back, are now finally to break and make that move. Repeat buyers are able to lock in the same low interest rates they likely have on the existing home—another factor that may have delayed their move in the past. What is of note of these home buyers who are a median age of 55 is that the plan on staying in their homes for 15 to 20 years, and many are never planning to move. If that holds, that is yet to be seen.

Dr. Jessica Lautz is the Vice President of Demographics and Behavioral Insights at the National Association of REALTORS®.

Volunteering to Build with Giveback Homes in El Salvador

I am so proud that we were invited to spend a weekend in El Salvador, building two homes for families in need. We joined in on a project funded by the Key For Key™ initiative started by Concierge Auctions and Giveback Homes to fund hundreds of homes over the last few years.

My colleagues at West + Main Homes enthusiastically sponsored my part of this trip when given a chance to participate, and we are now planning a build day for our agents in April.

Caroline Pinal from Giveback Homes brokered a partnership with Techo, a nonprofit organization that mobilizes young people to fight extreme poverty in Latin America. 

She also nailed the logistics, gets full photography credit, and made sure everyone had fun.

Youth of Tomorrow

The children of these communities are what bring the most hope to residents and the volunteers. They possess an infectious optimism that makes you want to fight for them.

They are enterprising and strong. Besides offering to sell us cold drinks on-site, we put in a bulk order of the best donuts I’ve ever had from an aspiring young baker named Angela. 

Caroline met a little girl who was carrying big jugs of water back and forth to her home several times a day. There are only a couple of sources of safe water in the neighborhood.

The kids showed us around a beautiful cemetery and down to the river where they wash clothes and jump in to cool off. We played games and chased each other around to wind down.

They’ve known some of Techo volunteers for years and enjoy meeting new visitors too. I wondered if they knew that I still felt like I wasn’t doing nearly enough for them, though.

One billion children worldwide are living in poverty, and more than 750 million people lack adequate access to clean drinking water, and we have the power to change it if we want to.

Building Basics

My team was tasked with building a new home for Juana, a 60-year-old lifetime resident who lived on her own. She was living in a dilapidated structure made of scrap metal and dirt floors.

We started out with the grueling task of digging the foundation, which tested my tolerance for the tropical heat. Just when I thought I was going to need a time out, Juana surprised us with a late morning snack of homemade pupusas that brought me back to life so I could carry on.

I didn’t know quite what to expect when arriving in the La Agujita community early Saturday morning. I had seen photos and videos of past trips, but it feels surreal when observed from a tiny screen in the comfort of your own home where you can can scroll to something else.

I’ve seen homelessness and poor neighborhoods before, but I had never felt like I could help, so it felt good to be able to build in one of these communities with my own two hands. 

Day Two was less physically taxing and was focused on the roof, paint, and finishing touches.

Building homes is just the first step in a long transformation. The community needs an upgraded water supply, flood abatement on their recreational fields, and other shared infrastructure.

All Hands on Deck

It is common for people to question a focus on worldwide endeavors when we have problems to solve in the United States. Our agents are involved in the community and build homes in Colorado. But we also believe we can and should help our global neighbors out of poverty too.

What struck me about building a home in Latin America was how quick and seamless it was to finish a project that would take several years to discuss, let alone approve in the U.S.

That’s what makes funding homes and volunteering labor so useful in other countries. We can use our knowledge and resources to eliminate poverty here, in El Salvador, and wherever else it exists. While it can feel overwhelming to decide where to start, our company feels a moral obligation to do everything we can and will expand our work further with Giveback Homes.

We are proud to have enough interest to send a group of West + Main agents down in April.

Thank you to Chad (and your family) for welcoming me and to Betsy, Jane, and Torin of Concierge Auctions for being such incredible teammates. Thank you, Stacie and Madie, at West + Main Homes for prioritizing new opportunities for our agents to pitch in. And thank you, Caroline, at Giveback Homes for championing this and helping our companies do more.

Is a Recession Imminent? Industry Economists Share Predictions

There’s been widespread news that the market is healthy. Job growth is up, unemployment is down and the real estate market is thriving, for now. An undercurrent of concern, however, may be keeping consumer confidence low, and that’s related to fears that another recession is imminent. Is that apprehension warranted?

The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) answered that question and others in its first-ever Real Estate Forecast Summit on Dec. 11, featuring the insights and market forecasts of 16 economists.

“We’re excited to bring you unique perspectives of the real estate market; where it’s been and where it’s going,” said John Smaby, immediate past president of NAR, kicking off the summit. “There’s a lot of brain power in this room. You’ll hear educated forecasts of tomorrow’s real estate market and hear from top economists on the top challenges and opportunities.”

While they all had varying opinions about the state of the market, and where we are headed, the biggest takeaway is that chances of another recession in the short-term are low, tallied at an average 29 percent chance by the economists.

“This time of year, I get the same question from our 1.4 million members: ‘What’s going to happen next year?'” said Lawrence Yun, PhD, NAR’s chief economist and senior vice president of Research. “I thought it would be good to assemble a group of economists to give their perspectives.”

Here’s what they had to say about today’s economy and real estate market:

“We are in a great economy,” said Yun, “and the job market data certainly reflects that. There is consistent job creation, leading to a super low unemployment rate of 3.6 percent in the U.S. The stock market is touching an all-time high, and homeowners have been accumulating wealth thanks to price appreciation.”

But there are segments of the population that are not participating in this wealth gain, said Yun.

“The younger buyer and African American homeownership rates are still struggling to gain traction,” said Yun. “We want to look into what could be the barriers or perhaps the housing conditions. We have more people, affordability conditions are better, yet home sales are actually lower, so something is not matching up with the current environment.”

Home values are increasing, but the growth is leveling out in certain price points, while others are a little livelier, reported multiple economists.

“We see a much higher increase at the low-end and it is far outstripping the wage increases at the entry level,” said Edward Pinto, resident fellow and director at the AEI Housing Center of the American Enterprise Institute.

For many places across the country, the home affordability gap is increasing because of this.

“The bad news is that house prices have been increasing much faster than household incomes,” said Kermit Baker, PhD, senior research fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, who added that there is a lot of regional variation, and so metro areas along the Pacific Coast and Northeast corridor are where the home price-to-income ratio is not really sustainable.

Lack of inventory continues to be an obstacle, especially at the entry-level, affordable price points. Danushka Nanayakkara-Skillington, assistant vice president of Forecasting & Analysis for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), said one of the biggest issues is a lack of skilled labor in construction.

“There are 338,000 jobs open in construction, but we’re finding it really difficult to fill these jobs,” she said. “Many left the labor force for good after the Great Recession, and not many are now going into construction or to trade schools. The immigration platform has also choked off supply.”

According to NAR, there are markets, however, that are expected to outperform the challenged areas over the long term because of their housing affordability and local economic expansion:

1. Charleston, S.C.

2. Charlotte, N.C.

3. Colorado Springs, Colo.

4. Columbus, Ohio

5. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas

6. Fort Collins, Colo.

7. Las Vegas, Nev.

8. Ogden, Utah

9. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.

10. Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.

“Potential buyers in these 10 markets will find conditions especially favorable to purchase a home going into the next decade,” said NAR President Vince Malta, broker at Malta & Co., Inc., in San Francisco, Calif. “The dream of owning a home appears even more attainable for those who move to or are currently living in these markets.”

According to Yun, economists agreed that these top 10 markets shared the following strengths:

• Domestic migration into the area

• Housing affordability for new residents

• Consistent job growth outperforming the national average

• Age structure of the population

• Attractiveness for retirees

• Home price appreciation

Moving forward, what can we expect of the market?

“We expect mortgage rates to tick up slightly, finishing up between 3.8 and 3.9 percent,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com®. “We expect median home prices to move up slightly, which is surprising given the limited inventory in the market. We expect slight weakening in home sales, similar to what we saw in 2019, driven more by lack of supply than lack of demand.”

Hale also predicts millennials will make up half of all purchase mortgages in 2020, and that while there will be new opportunities for buyers from an increase in new construction, inventory levels will remain challenging depending on the price point. In higher price points, she said, there will be more availability.

“My opinion is that rates are going to stay on hold at least for the next year,” said James Chessen, PhD, executive vice president and chief economist at the American Bankers Association, who believes there are five drivers of change: consumer health, which is strong; business sentiment, which is weak; trade—currently uncertain; global GDP, on slowdown; and fed rates, on hold.

“We’re expecting a considerably weaker U.S. economy in the next year, and that’s going to really be reflected at the start of 2020,” said Mike Fratantoni, PhD, chief economist and senior vice president of Research & Industry Technology at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). “But it’s going to be something much milder. Think 2001—very slow growth, enough where the unemployment rate might come up a bit. We expect rising home sales, rising originations and some additional supply coming onto the market.”

Yun agreed, stating that if we did go into a recession, “it would be a much shallower recession.”

The following predictions are averages based on the responses of all participating economists:

• Mortgage rates will rise incrementally, possibly hitting 4 percent in 2021—still favorable according to historical conditions

• 60,000 more housing starts in 2021

• Slower price appreciation that is more manageable and more closely in line with income growth

• Rents expected to rise a little faster than home prices

Overall, predictions for the future were relatively optimistic, with concerns over a recession low—a one in three chance.

For more information, please visit www.nar.realtor.

Millennials Just Don't Want Houses Built by Baby Boomers

According to Business Insider, millennials tend to make different lifestyle choices than baby boomers do, from waiting longer to get married and have children to spending their money on health, wellness, and experiences rather than material goods.

But boomers and millennials also want very different types of houses, and it's creating a major problem in the real-estate market.

Fifteen years ago, boomers were building large, elaborate houses in states like Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina, Candace Taylor reported for The Wall Street Journal earlier this year. Now, faced with the effort of maintaining such houses, they're looking to downsize.

The only problem? Young people aren't interested in buying their houses, according to the Journal.

"Homes built before 2012 are selling at steep discounts — sometimes almost 50%, and many owners end up selling for less than they paid to build their homes," Taylor wrote.

Boomers are looking to downsize, but millennials aren't interested in their huge houses

"These days, buyers of all ages eschew the large, ornate houses built in those years in favor of smaller, more modern-looking alternatives, and prefer walkable areas to living miles from retail," Taylor wrote.

Younger buyers are also uninterested in outdated interior design.

"Design trends have shifted radically in the past decade," Taylor wrote. "That means a home with crown moldings, ornate details and Mediterranean or Tuscan-style architecture can be a hard sell, while properties with clean lines and open floor plans get snapped up."

In addition to their love of open floor plans, millennials are known for being partial to minimalist, low-maintenance designs and sleek, discreet appliances, elements not always found in older homes.

Another hurdle for boomers looking to sell is that most younger buyers want to buy modern, newly constructed homes to avoid paying for renovations or plumbing and electric issues, according to a 2018 report from Nationwide Mortgage.

Thanks to crushing student loan debt and rising prices, it's much harder for millennials to buy homes at all

Millennials are often seen as a generation of renters, but many of them want to buy homes — it's just much harder for them to do so.

Millennials buying their first home today are likely to pay 39% more than baby boomers who bought their first home in the 1980s, Business Insider's Hillary Hoffower previously reported. And there's a limited supply of starter homes on the market, which is causing prices to shoot up.

The millennial generation is also working on paying off record levels of student-loan debt, making it difficult to take on a mortgage loan.

In lieu of traditional multi-bedroom homes favored by baby boomers, millennials love alternative living situations such as tiny homes, which are much cheaper and can offer a unique, flexible lifestyle.

When millennials can finally afford to buy a home, it makes sense that they'd hold out for something that's exactly to their taste.

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