With the arrival of Fall, we have noted a change in the air! You can feel it when you see the fall leaves in the window displays of downtown Orlando, and you can feel it on a lunchtime stroll through our lovely home-office town of Winter Park.

There is an indefinable upbeat attitude in shops, parks, and on-the-street. We feel this positivity at Palm State Mortgage, as we help homeowners who are gaining new mortgages or refinancing old loans.

Palm State Mortgage Company: Finding Facts behind the Feelings!

Now, we are not the kind of company that believes in unicorns riding rainbows, so we decided to find some research and statistical background to support this new Autumn Optimism about home ownership. We were happy to discover some optimistic and sanguine trends from housing and mortgage industry experts.

Home Ownership and Autumn Optimism–Trend One:  Housing is Still the American Dream, and it’s On the Minds of Consumers!

According to the experts, “Housing is taking the front seat in capital spending in the next U.S. economy growth leg…although; there is still a lot of recovery left in housing.”
Now we know that current statistics tell us homebuilding accounts for 3 percent of gross domestic product and 12 percent accounts for capital spending. How can this be a front seat, you might ask?
According to Michelle Meyer, a senior U.S. economist at Bank of America Corporation, these figures are both meaningful because they possess “broader linkages that will feed back into the economy” to instigate household spending, and inspire wealth, hiring, and confidence.”
A recent Bloomberg article agrees, “Despite the pace of home sales and home price appreciation slowing, most Americans remain optimistic about the housing market. More than half of Americans – 53 percent — recently surveyed say they believe home prices will continue to rise within the next 12 months, according to Bankrate’s September Financial Security Index.”

This is leaving Americans with the buoyant impression that home ownership is a better option now than later, and at Palm State, we specialize in finding the mortgage situation that will help you do that very thing.

Home Ownership and Autumn Optimism–Trend Two:  Positive Equity Is A Beautiful Thing!

You might already know that negative equity means that borrowers owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. In contrast, positive equity means their houses are worth more than they owe–a sublime condition for home ownership.
Thus, we have traced another reason to share some Autumn Optimism with you! We have seen almost a million properties return to positive Equity in 2014. Here is what makes us smile: This brought the “total number of mortgaged residential properties with equity in the U.S. to more than 44 million.”
This positive indicator for home ownership has nation-wide significance. You can not help but be encouraged by an economy that sees “borrower equity increased year over year by approximately $1 trillion in second quarter 2014.”

Sam Khater, deputy chief economist for CoreLogic, stated, “The increase in borrower equity of $1 trillion from a year earlier is evidence that things are moving solidly in the right direction.” He added, “Borrower equity is important because home equity constitutes borrowers’ largest investment segment and, as a result, is driving forward the rise in wealth for the typical homeowner.”
So, we are very pleased to see a diminishing number of homes with negative equity or homes underwater, as they say. When you compare at last year’s statistics with this year’s numbers, you will see year-over-year decrease in the number of homes underwater by 4.2 per cent.

That might not mean much to you  in per cent figures, but it means almost two million homes have pulled out of the downward spiral of negative home equity. That alone should evoke enough positive energy about home ownership, to make any society smile.
Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic predicted this optimism in the housing market, when he stated, “With more and more borrowers regaining equity, we expect home ownership to become an increasingly attractive option for many who have remained on the sidelines in the aftermath of the great recession.”

So, the take-away from this week’s article is that if you have noticed the people around you are smiling more, spending a little more, and enjoying life a lot more, there are some sound economic reasons. Palm State believes “Americans’ overall optimism over home prices may stem from greater confidence over their personal finances. Americans are feeling more financially secure, in
Their job security and net worth, according to the Financial Security Index.”
As our economy continues to recover, Palm State Mortgage Company invites you to investigate the good feelings to be gained when we help you discover the best mortgage for your home ownership situation. We’re optimistic, not only for autumn, but for the future.