NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) – Nashville resident Divya Reddy is looking for her first home. “The biggest challenge in general is how expensive everything is right now,” she said.
Reddy hopes to trade a life as a tenant for a life as a landlord.
“The rental, the amount you put there, might as well be my mortgage and like I could own something by paying the same amount,” Reddy said.
But for many first-time home buyers, that’s easier said than done. Nationally, the number of first-time home buyers is down.
“I think it’s a double-edged sword,” said realtor Amanda Peterson of RE/MAX Advantage’s Ashton Property Group. “I think it’s very difficult for people who rent.”
New the data show the average Nashville renter earns only about half the income needed to afford a first home.
“I think it’s hard for them right now to do anything because rent rates are going up, then housing prices are going up, and then we’ve also got gas prices going up, so they’re like, ‘well, I could afford more house but I can’t afford to buy eggs,’” Peterson said.
But unlike two years ago when the market was at its peak, estate agent Peterson said first-time home buyers now have a better chance.
“Now things are negotiable,” Peterson said. “So first-time home buyers, although their interest rate is higher, their down payment is often lower because they don’t have to come on the appraisal with extra cash for l ‘to buy.”
And she says the notion of a 20% down payment is a thing of the past thanks to homeownership programs — something Reddy hopes will help her in the future. “Just, I don’t know, it’s like being in a nice house, relaxing on a porch, having your cup of coffee,” she said.