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According to a report entitled, “The Top 10 U.S. Cities to Buy Your Starter Home—or Your Forever Home.” by Realtor.com, America's largest-ever generations, millennials and baby boomers, are entering their prime home-buying years at the same time. Choosing a U.S. city can be daunting with the number of hot metros on the map.
The report indicated that while most millennials are prowling the market for affordable starter homes that will enable them to move out of their parents’ basement or finally trade in their apartment keys for deeds, older Americans are often seeking "forever homes" with amenities and flexible, universal designs that will enable them to seamlessly transition into their twilight years.
There's a reason why the ranks of both forever homes and starter homes have recorded an upward spike, according to Realtor.com. It noted that millennials have waited longer than previous generations to settle down and buy homes, not always by choice—student debt and high home prices delayed pulling the trigger. Recent data suggests that millennials of today are settling into their first homes, making them the nation's largest group of buyers—the biggest chunk of them are just now hitting their 30s.
To find the top places for buying a starter home by the report factored in the percentage of home buyers aged 35 and younger and the percentage of typically more affordable homes under 2,000 square feet. It also looked into median down payment, median mortgage borrower's FICO score as well as the percentage of income of those aged 35 and younger, going toward median monthly housing costs. For buying a forever home, the percentage of residents aged 60 and older, median list price, the number of homes adapted for seniors, and the number of folks aged 55 and older moving in were the key factors taken into account.
Lake Charles, Louisiana topped the list of best cities to buy starter homes, followed by Provo, Utah; Appleton, Wisconsin; Bloomington, Illinois; and Amarillo, Texas.
Read the full report here:
