Starter homes: What they are and how to find them
Affordable, entry-level starter homes are hard to come by in today’s high-priced market.
5 min read
May 30, 2024
Zach Wichter
Former Mortgage reporter, Homes
EXPERTISE
- Mortgages
- Real estate
- Home renovations
- Condos and co-ops
- Aviation
EDUCATION
- Bachelor of Science in Journalism, Northwestern University
The key to getting the best deal on a mortgage is shopping around with multiple lenders. If you don't, you could wind up paying thousands of dollars unnecessarily.
— Zach Wichter
About the author
Zach Wichter is a former mortgage reporter at Bankrate. He previously worked on the Business desk at The New York Times where he won a Loeb Award for breaking news, and covered aviation for The Points Guy. He also worked in production on Dateline NBC and wrote anchor copy for New York 1. He graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism in 2013. As president of his co-op board in Queens (it’s like a condo board, but more New York-y), Zach is constantly thinking about real estate and dealing with issues of homeownership, HOA-style house rules and mortgage eligibility.
Highlights
Wichter came to the mortgage beat at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when home financing and the real estate industries were rare bright spots in an otherwise sluggish economy. He got to work looking under the hood of trends in the headlines, and by analyzing address forwarding data from the U.S. Postal Service, learned that the pandemic wasn't the end of cities after all. He also focuses on racial equity issues in the housing market.
Experience
Although Bankrate is the first place Wichter covered the mortgage and real estate verticals full-time, he's an experienced business reporter with a broad range of experience. In addition to covering aviation at The Times, he had a weekly column that highlighted commercial real estate transactions in New York City, and covered all kinds of stories as a general assignment business reporter.
In the media
The key to getting the best deal on a mortgage is shopping around with multiple lenders. If you don't, you could wind up paying thousands of dollars unnecessarily.
— Zach Wichter
Zach's latest articles
-
-
16 first-time homebuyer mistakes to avoid
And the ways to do things right, from perusing the neighborhood to comparing mortgage terms.
11 min read May 21, 2024 -
10 first-time homebuyer tips: How to get that house
These steps will help rookies streamline the process, avoiding bumps on the homebuying road.
8 min read May 06, 2024 -
I’m well into paying off my mortgage. Should I still refinance?
You need to crunch numbers to see if a refi makes sense.
5 min read Apr 19, 2024 -
What to do when your mortgage application gets denied
First, you cry. Then you fix the issue. Here’s how.
9 min read Apr 15, 2024 -
The history of women and mortgages
A half-century of females’ hard-fought right to home financing and ownership.
5 min read Mar 05, 2024 -
What’s the cost to install a swimming pool?
Price tags for pools are in the mid-five figures. But they may be indispensible, depending on your neighborhood.
5 min read May 16, 2023 -
How much does it cost to build a house?
Building a new house is generally pricier than buying an existing one.
8 min read Jan 31, 2023