The costs of buying a home has hit an all-time high: report

It is more expensive than ever to buy a home in the U.S., according to a new report from the real estate company Redfin.

The median home price hit a record $383,725 during the four week period ending April 21. That’s up 5.2 percent from a year ago, Redfin found, one of the largest leaps in home prices since October 2022.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit 7.1 percent this week, the highest it’s been since November 2023. Mortgage rates dipped briefly at the end of last year after the Federal Reserve signaled it would cut interest rates this year, but have steadily climbed as strong economic data has extended the timeline for those initial rate cuts.

The median monthly housing payment also jumped to a record $2,843, up 13 percent from the same period last year.

Ive been looking into Property Trust funds, that might be a way to go....but I dont know.

Investigate thoroughly regarding Trusts. We got a living trust on our home, so if we die it will pass to our adult kids. But we had some regrets about doing it. My wife's mom had a trust on her property, and my wife and a brother were trustees. Became a nightmare for my wife to handle, to the point where a few of her siblings unfairly took legal action against her. Every point of the way, she could not do anything without dragging her elderly mother along to sign, even though wife had trustee authority. Our lawyer successfully challenged her siblings and their lawyer, got them to drop any legal challenge. Mother-in-law passed 4 years ago, and my wife settled the estate, glad to no longer have to deal with a few siblings. You would be surprised how siblings can turn on each other when inheritances loom.

Alternatively, one of our friends added their adult sons onto the house title, thinking if she dies it will automatically go to them. One son moved out and married, the other remains there. And the two sons are fighting over who gets the house. Our friend can't kick out the adult son living there, because he says he owns the house since his name is on the title. Oops. Same situation for a couple other friends.

No easy answers. Thankfully our adult kids have their own homes and families and get along very well, no problems. If we die, they'll sell our home and split whatever is left. We've been giving what we can to them, all along, because we know we can't take it with us when we die.

The rules are too expensive to comply with so there is no point in maintaining a home. No point in maintaining a home if it will be obsolete within 20 years. Either buy new or rent.

I also read that about Japan. Lots of vacant homes outside the cities. Government begging people to come and get them for almost free. But... you have to spend a lot of money to bring them up to new standards and it is too expensive.

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