Last week a thought-provoking article appeared on PYMNTS.com (the leading news channel for the payments industry). In case you’re one of the St. Cloud residents who’s never even heard of the payments industry, you aren’t alone: it’s the ensemble of companies and workers who process and transmit credit and debit card data. When you think about the astronomical number of transactions sent and received every second throughout the world—and how important it is that they are flawlessly transmitted and stored—you get the picture. These pros register what’s going on as it’s going on: they are the gatekeepers.

The article in question dealt with the “own-to-rent” phenomenon and its impact on residential real estate sales—St. Cloud sales included. It pointed out that the current economic dip isn’t at all like the 2008 crash that triggered the Great Recession, when “the U.S. housing market more or less fell into a gutter, where it remained for years.” The spectacular contrast is in the resilience of residential real estate: “a home-buying boom.”

By way of breaking down where the buyers are coming from, PYMNTS points out, “Clearly, young households not only want to become homeowners, but they are actually doing it.” In June, for instance, the proportion of buyers younger than 35 rose to the highest level in almost 12 years. The payment pros are reporting that not only are home loan applications up significantly—there is also a rise in average loan sizes.

That’s where the “own-to-rent” theme comes in, summed up in a homey observation made by one financial CEO: “There is a common experience that millions of people go through, which is they are starting to move, and it’s time to sell the home they live in, and they say to themselves, ‘Wait a minute, this is my best investment. What kind of an investor just walks away from their biggest best investment?”

Hence, the decision to own-to-rent: keep the old house and move to the new one. For St. Cloud homeowners who have reached the same conclusion, it’s reassuring to know that the folks who track financial comings and goings are remarking on the same trend.

Whether your next move involves selling and buying (or just one of those), I’m here to help make it happen with a minimum of hassle. Call me!

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