2020 Voter's Resource Guide

We’ve compiled a list of resources to assist with the voting process. Have any other questions? Let us know what we should add!

Before this year's election, be familiar with the voting process in your State. The following ten tips from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission may help enhance your voting experience.

(1) Register to vote

Most States require citizens to be registered in order to vote. Make sure you understand the voter registration requirements of your State of residence. If you are not registered to vote, apply for voter registration no later than the deadline to register in your State. Contact your local or State elections office or check their Web sites to get a voter registration application and learn the deadline to register. The National Voter Registration Application form is available here. 

(2) Confirm your voter registration status

Once you register to vote, check your status with your State or local elections office several weeks before the last day to register to vote. That way, you can change your registration information if needed (for example: name, ad - dress, or other corrections) in time to vote. 

(3) Know your polling place location and hours

If you vote at a polling place on Election Day, confirm your polling place location. Make sure you know what time your polling place opens and closes. 

(4) Know your State’s voter identification (ID) requirements

Some States require voters to show ID to vote. You can find out what forms of ID your State accepts by contacting your State or local elections office or checking their Web sites. 

(5) Understand provisional voting

Federal law allows you to cast a provisional ballot in a Federal election if your name does not appear on the voter registration record, if you do not have ID, or if your eligibility to vote is in question. Your State may provide other reasons for voting by a provisional ballot. Whether a provisional ballot counts depends on if the State can verify your eligibility. Check with your State or local elections office to learn how to tell if your provisional ballot was counted. 

(6) Check the accessibility of your polling place

If you are a voter where English is not your primary language or you are a voter with special needs or specific concerns due to a disability, your polling place may offer special assistance. Contact your local elections office for advice, materials in a specific language, information about voting equipment, and details on access to the polling place, including parking. 

(7) Consider voting early

Some States allow voting in person before Election Day. Find out if your State has early voting in person or by mail and if so when, where, and how you can vote before Election Day. If you choose to vote early by mail, know the deadlines for requesting and returning your ballot. Some States provide drop-off stations for mail ballots, and some States allow voters to return mail ballots to polling places on Election Day. 

(8) Understand absentee voting requirements

Most States allow voters to use an absentee ballot under certain circumstances. Check on the dates and requirements for requesting and returning an absentee ballot before Election Day. Absentee ballots often must be returned or postmarked before the polls close on Election Day. Determine your State’s requirements for returning absentee ballots. Because of current mail delays, we recommend getting your ballot in the mail two weeks before Election Day. Make sure you have stamps on your ballot, and get it in the mail on or before 3pm on Election Day, November 3rd.

(9) Learn about military and overseas voting

Special voting procedures may apply if you are in the U.S. military or you are an American citizen living overseas. You may qualify for an absentee ballot by submitting a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA). Contact the Federal Voting Assistance Program or check its Web site: http://www.fvap.gov, for information relating to military and overseas voters. 

(10) Get more information

For more on these tips and for answers to other questions about the election process, contact your State or local elections office.

To check to see if you are registered to vote and find polling places near you visit this link from the U.S Election Assistance Commission.

Are you a student or young adult?

Young adults are lowest in numbers when it comes to registering and voting. In 2014, under 20 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds voted. Roughly 30 percent were not even registered to vote.

From registering to casting the first ballot, becoming a first-time voter is a process, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. Students and other first-timers can ensure their votes are counted fellow Americans by following a few basic steps. There are countless resources available at both the state and federal level to help people unfamiliar with voting walk out of their polling station wearing an “I Voted!” sticker on election day.

F information on voting by state, a first time voter checklist, and how to get involved in the election in your community, go to vote411.org.

Want to get more involved?

If you want to do more than simply cast your vote, here are a few things you can do to make a greater impact during this election season.

• Attend local town hall or city council meetings

• Get in touch with your representatives

• Work with a campaign you believe in

• Attend a rally, protest, or other political event

• Volunteer to register voters

• Write postcards to your friends and family, telling them why you’re voting and what issues are important to you

• As a student, you can join a campus organization that advocates for issues you care about. Can’t find one? Start your own.

The easiest thing you can do is ask everyone you know if they’re registered to vote. And if you’ve made it this far in this post without checking your registration, you can do that right here!

Are people really fleeing cities thanks to the pandemic?

No, the Pandemic Is Not Emptying Out America’s Cities

Despite what cable news is saying every day, a mass migration to the suburbs isn’t happening.

Over the weekend, the New York Times published a story about how there are bidding wars for homes in tristate area suburbs, and how urban apartment dwellers (especially those with kids) are worried about the uncertainties of living in crowded cities come winter. It’s the latest piece to explore the impacts of COVID-19 on national housing markets, and seems to support the theory that cities are being abandoned en masse in favor of suburbs. This theory has frequently been posited by the New York City–based news media, where TV producers and newspaper editors know many professionals with the means to relocate. But it seems to be something of a distorted narrative; The past six months of housing data clearly indicate that the trend is really only visible in two places (both of which were, until recently, among the most overheated housing markets on the planet): Manhattan and San Francisco, which were seeing outbound migration prior to the pandemic because of extremely expensive housing. (Curbed)

There’s no shortage of examples of the COVID-19 urban flight story. CNBC.com doubled down on it with a June headline of “The flight to the suburbs is real and growing.” On its cable network, CNBC recycles this narrative regularly, and opened a segment on the housing market this week by saying, “The housing market is staying hot as people continue to flee the big cities for the suburbs.”

If you live in a city, you probably know people who have left for the suburbs since the pandemic hit. There’s no denying the reality that many people have done this since March; many people also did this prior to the pandemic, and many more will do so in the years to come.

“People move out of New York all the time,” says Nancy Wu, an economist with StreetEasy. “The people who are moving to the suburbs to start a family there or to have a bigger place are looking now and buying their houses now, rather than renting in Manhattan for a few more years.”

But a nationwide, pandemic- or protest-induced urban-to-suburban migration taking place on a scale that impacts both urban and suburban housing markets in a measurable way? There is zero empirical evidence to support such a trend. None. Nothing. Zero.

Earlier this month, real-estate-listings giant Zillow published an exhaustive study examining every conceivable housing-market data point related to cities and suburbia to see if there are major divergences that suggest an urban-to-suburban migration trend.

Are pending home sales between urban and suburban areas different now than they were before the pandemic? They aren’t!

Are suburban homes selling more quickly than homes in urban areas? Nope!

Are suburban homes selling above their list price at a higher rate than urban homes? Not at all!

Are urban homes seeing price cuts at a higher rate than suburban homes? If anything, the opposite!

Are home valuations accelerating faster in suburban areas than in urban areas? Urban zip codes have a slight edge!

Are suburban home listings getting a larger share of search traffic relative to urban areas now than they were last year? The suburban share is actually down 0.2 percentage points!

This list is only a small sample of the myriad ways in which housing-market data do not support the theory of an urban exodus. (See also: People are not searching for larger homes in 2020 compared to 2019.) So why do news outlets keep repeating this thoroughly debunked narrative? Well, there are half-truths to the narrative that — if you string them together — form what sounds like a logical idea.

Yes, suburban housing markets are booming, but that’s not because of outbound migration from cities. When cities went into lockdown in the early days of the pandemic, housing markets completely stalled during what is usually the busiest time of year for home sales. In the late spring and summer, as people came came out of lockdown, markets across the country — suburban and otherwise — began seeing spikes of pent-up demand. At the same time, the number of homes for sale has plummeted and remained down around 30 percent of what it has been in recent years — leaving the market with nearly twice the demand and two-thirds of the supply. Couple that with record-low interest rates, and prices are rising dramatically all over the country.

The two exceptions to this are San Francisco and Manhattan (not Brooklyn, mind you), two of the most expensive housing markets in the country. When the pandemic hit, many did leave, although not always permanently. San Francisco and Manhattan have seen home prices drop, rental prices drop, and vacancy rates soar. (If you own in one of those places — at least for now — the shifts are really slight, and probably not an issue unless you bought very recently and need to sell right away.)

Given that the media industry is concentrated in Manhattan — with another good chunk in San Francisco — journalists seem to be confusing the minor outbound migration from two ridiculously expensive areas with the double dose of demand happening across the country.

More insidiously, some members of the media are willing to peddle stories about nonexistent carnage in the streets, extrapolating that the cities — all cities, but especially the diverse, Democratic–led ones — are headed for inevitable collapse. And it’s hard not to separate that dark fantasy from a Republican talking point.

But, according to the data, it’s just not happening.

If you are wondering how current national and global situations might be impacting your property’s value, your neighborhood, or the Real Estate market in general, we are happy to provide more specific information.

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

Search for Homes in Colorado

Search for Homes in Oklahoma

Mortgage demand from homebuyers is now 28% higher than last year

Homebuyers are rushing for mortgages, but fewer homeowners are refinancing even though rates are heading toward record lows.

Applications to refinance a home loan decreased 3% for the week, although they were 40% higher than a year ago. (CNBC)

Homebuyers are rushing for mortgages, but fewer homeowners are refinancing even though rates are heading toward record lows.

Total mortgage application volume fell 2% last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. Volume was 35% higher one year ago.

The annual gains are getting a big boost from homebuyers. Mortgage applications to purchase a home fell 0.2% for the week but was 28% higher than a year earlier. Last year, annual gains were in the low single digits for purchase demand.

“Lenders are reporting that the strong demand for homebuying is coming from delayed activity from the spring, as well as households seeking more space in less densely populated areas,” said Joel Kan, an MBA economist. 

The demand is also fueled by near record low mortgage rates. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances of up to $510,400 decreased to 3.08% from 3.11%, with points, including origination fee, decreasing to 0.36 from 0.38 for loans with a 20% down payment.

The drop in rates did little to spur current borrowers. Applications to refinance a home loan decreased 3% for the week, although they were 40% higher than a year ago. Earlier this year, refinancing had been around 100% higher annually. 

“Both conventional and government refinancing activity decreased last week, despite 30-year fixed and 15-year fixed mortgage rates declining to near historical lows,” said Kan. “Mortgage rates have remained below 3.5% for five months now, and it’s possible that refinance demand may be slowing and will not significantly increase again without another notable drop in rates.” 

Mortgage rates are falling again this week, now down to a three-week low, according to Mortgage News Daily. Part of that is due to the recent announcement that a new fee imposed on lenders that initially caused rates to go up would be delayed until the end of the year. Another part is simple bond basics.

“The Fed is setting the stage to offer the market lower rates and more bond buying for a longer period of time with less concern about inflation figures derailing their largesse,” said Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily.

If you are wondering how current national and global situations might be impacting your property’s value, your neighborhood, or the Real Estate market in general, we are happy to provide more specific information.

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

Search for Homes in Colorado

Search for Homes in Oklahoma

College is Everywhere Now

Yale students in Barbados. Michigan students in Brooklyn. Berkeley students in Las Vegas? Off-campus housing is way off-campus now.

As the fall semester begins, many college students will be attending classes from the relative safety of their family homes. Others have arrived to live on university campuses, with varying amounts of success; even schools that enforce strict social distancing guidelines are seeing outbreaks of the coronavirus.

But some students are pursuing a third option: Renting giant houses with friends — sometimes in far-flung locales — and doing school remotely, together. Call it the rise of the college “collab house.”

Two groups of students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, have rented large houses in Hawaii for the fall semester. Six rising seniors at Columbia University will be living in a house in Portland, Ore. Several rising seniors at Harvard are renting property in Montana. There are at least seven large houses that have been rented in the greater Salt Lake City area alone, filled with students from different colleges.

These houses range in scale from lavish and pricey productions to smart, budget-friendly solutions for first generation, low-income students.

“The reason people my age are really gravitating toward doing this is we all want new experiences, but that’s been hard to come by,” said Erik Boesen, 19, a rising sophomore at Yale who is living in a house in Durango, Colo., with other Yale students.

His reasons for pursuing this off-campus housing alternative are shared by many students living off-campus this semester: They’re looking to escape their families and replicate at least part of the college experience.

“Everyone has been cooped up in their houses,” he said. “We’re all looking to do something that’s a little unique.”

To read the full article, go to New York Times.

Related Links

• Horoscopes for Home: What's in Your Home's Future?

• Inexpensive Ways to Boost Your Home's Curb Appeal

• The Best + Worst U.S. Cities for Renters

Biden’s $15,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit explained

Consumers would get a payment when they buy a house, not at tax time, according to HousingWire

Former Vice President Joe Biden has proposed a $15,000 tax credit to help first-time homebuyers purchase a property. As is typical for campaign proposals from either party, the details remain to be fleshed out. And before any tax credit would be put in place, it would have to be hashed out in a bill passed by Congress, which controls U.S. tax policy.

Biden’s proposal, as explained on his campaign website, is: “Help families buy their first homes and build wealth by creating a new refundable, advanceable tax credit of up to $15,000. Biden’s new First Down Payment Tax Credit will help families offset the costs of home buying and help millions of families lay down roots for the first time.”

In some ways, it’s similar to the $7,500 tax credit created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act signed by President George W. Bush in July 2008. The credit was raised to $8,000 the following year in a bill signed by President Barack Obama. The programs expired in 2010.

Notice the language of the Biden proposal specifies the credit is “up to” $15,000. The Bush and Obama programs gave a credit equal to 10% of the purchase price of the home, capped at a maximum of $7,500 or $8,000, depending on when the purchase was made.

The Biden plan, once it’s worked out, could use a similar measure. The campaign did not return an email seeking additional details.

Biden’s proposal differs from the prior tax credits in the way it would be redeemed. The prior credits were claimed when buyers filed their income taxes the following year. Biden’s plan would create a tax credit that could be used at the time of purchase.

“There are thousands of dollars in savings that people have to come up with to get into their first home,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst of Bankrate.com. “This could help jumpstart this, and put them on much more stable ground as new homeowners if they don’t have to deplete all their resources.”

The particulars of how that would work remain to be seen.

“Homebuyers receive the tax credit when they make the purchase instead of waiting to receive the assistance when they file taxes the following year,” the Biden proposal said, without specifying how that would happen.

“We don’t know all the details, but we welcome any policy from either the Biden or the Trump campaigns that shows the importance of housing to the economy, and helps first-time buyers,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors.

In February, the Biden campaign outlined a $640 billion housing plan. The Trump campaign hasn’t outlined any housing proposals.

If you are wondering how current national and global situations might be impacting your property’s value, your neighborhood, or the Real Estate market in general, we are happy to provide more specific information.

If there is a home that you would like more information about, if you are considering selling a property, or if you have questions about the housing market in your neighborhood, please reach out. We’re here to help.

Search for Homes in Colorado

Search for Homes in Oklahoma