Current Tenants

The mortgage is just the start. Owning a home comes with a stack of bills that never show up in the listing price. A 2026 report from Zillow and Thumbtack found the typical U.S. homeowner spends $16,566 a year on hidden costs. That's about $1,380 a month on top of the mortgage: $11,171 for maintenance, $3,129 for property taxes and $2,266 for homeowners insurance. That maintenance number is no joke. The water heater gives out. The roof starts leaking. The furnace quits in Jan

Real estate gets sold as a sure thing. Lately, it's been anything but. Mortgage rates have whipsawed all year. Freddie Mac's 30-year average dipped to 5.98% in late February 2026, then climbed to 7.4% by early October. On a loan for a median-priced home with 20% down, that swing adds more than $300 to the monthly payment. Home prices are wobbling too. In the third quarter of 2026, prices fell in 21% of U.S. metro areas, according to the National Association of Realtors, and t

If you've looked at buying a home lately, you've probably felt the sticker shock. And it isn't just home prices. It's the cost of borrowing. The average 30-year mortgage rate was 7.18% in early November 2026, according to Freddie Mac. A year earlier it was 6.22%. In early October it touched 7.4%, the highest level in nearly three years. What does that mean for your budget? The National Association of Realtors puts the typical mortgage payment on a median-priced single-family