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San Antonio nests on Zillow list of best cities for first-time homebuyers

San Antonio was No. 7 on the list.

It's not easy to buy a home anywhere, but folks in San Antonio are doing way better than average, according to Zillow. The Alamo City ranked No. 7 among the top 10 U.S. cities for buying a first home.

In 2023, new homebuyers occupied the largest slice of the market since the report started in 2018, making up about half of all buyers. The demographic was only 37 percent in 2021. It cites the "rate lock" effect for keeping "repeat buyers" from moving on too quickly and abandoning their lower mortgage rates. Hopefully strength in numbers gives newcomers a little more power against flippers and developers.

The new Zillow report further helps follow purchasing power, identifying places with a larger selection of homes and more bang for each buck. That meant measuring how affordable rent is (considering that most first-time homebuyers are still renting), how many current for-sale listings a typical household can realistically afford, how much competition Zillow expects for those listings, and how many households exist in a similar age range for first-timers.

Here's how San Antonio stacked up:

Share of households aged 29-43: 31 percent
How much a median income household would spend on rent: 23 percent
Share of listing that are affordable: 33 percent
Competition: 2.6 listings per 100 renters

"More affordable rent shortens the time it takes to save for a down payment," explains the report, "and a higher number of active for-sale listings relative to the potential homebuyer population means more options – and more bargaining power – for potential first time home buyers in those markets."

The only other Texas city that made the list was Austin, which scored No. 5. Metrics were extremely similar between the two. The biggest difference was the competition ratio; Whereas San Antonians have 2.6 listings per 100 renters, Austinites have only 1.3. Austin also had the highest occurrence out of any city of households in the 29- to 43-year-old age range. Zillow points this out that this means those who do buy their first homes have a strong chance of finding community together.

The top city on the list was St. Louis, Missouri, which had a staggering 67 percent of available homes falling within the "affordable" range. Houses were not significantly more affordable than they are for San Antonians — with 20 percent of a St. Louis household's income going to rent — but there were certainly more of them. Zillow did not rank or share data on cities outside of its top 10.

"Affording a home is a tough hill to climb, and it's especially steep for those buying their first home. Headwinds like mortgage rates, low inventory and rising rents are still strong, but easing," said Zillow Senior Economist Orphe Divounguy in a press release.

"Attractive homes are moving fast, so those looking to buy this spring should get their finances in order now, including getting pre-approved for a home loan," Divounguy continued. "The increase in new listings this spring, due both to new construction and to more homeowners choosing to sell, will give buyers more options and help to ease price growth. The housing train is slowing down just enough to give more first-time buyers an opportunity to hop on board."

If all these numbers feel like a lot to keep track of, consider letting a computer do the work. Zillow uses this opportunity to promote its first-time homebuyer's tools including an affordability calculator, loan advice, and recommendations for down payment assistance programs.

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Movie Review

Movie musical Emilia Pérez makes the right choices in the strangest ways

Photo courtesy of Netflix

Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofía Gascón in Emilia Pérez.

Musicals have been used as a medium to convey all sorts of different stories, from the Old West, to cats, to one of the Founding Fathers. But it takes a certain kind of imagination to think that a cartel boss making a gender transition as she quits the drug business is a prime candidate for an original movie musical, as is done in Emilia Pérez.

The person with that unusual thinking is French writer/director Jacques Audiard, who in addition to making the film a musical, decided to do it almost entirely in Spanish, a language he doesn’t even speak. Adding to all the other atypical aspects, the main character of the film is not the one after whom the film is named. Instead, the main character is Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldaña), the lawyer hired by cartel boss Manitas Del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón), to help her achieve her dream of becoming a woman.

Of course, that dream comes with consequences, most importantly how to separate the soon-to-be Emilia Pérez from her wife, Jessi (Selena Gomez), and her kids without arousing suspicion. The solution, as well as the “death” of Manitas, is elegant, but after a period of time Emilia finds herself longing for her kids again. Rita re-enters to set up the arrangements, setting in motion a series of events that are both predictable and unpredictable.

The musical sequences of the film are fascinating, mostly because they don’t adhere to the rules typically used in musical films. More often than not they pop up out of nowhere, with a character speaking normally and then deciding that the next line needs to be the start of a song. This allows Audiard to utilize all sorts of locations as the settings for the sequences, as well as the incorporation of unorthodox elements, such as the loading of guns as musical beats.

Even though 90 percent of the film is in Spanish with English subtitles, none of the feeling of the story is lost in translation. Several of the songs are certified bangers, with the repetition of phrases giving them a great rhythm even if you have to keep glancing down to understand what they’re singing. Each of the main three characters get a chance to shine even though none of the songs require the actors to belt them out.

Audiard does a subtle job of commenting on the experience of being a transgender woman in the position that Emilia finds herself. Her desire to live her life as she’s always wanted is in conflict with still wanting to see her kids, as she doesn’t want to reveal the person she used to be. Her personal life is also in conflict with a newfound urge to help families that were victimized by Manitas. The ever-changing story keeps both the characters and the audience on their toes.

Saldaña, whose time in the worlds of Star Trek, Marvel, and Avatar the past 15 years has been her biggest exposure, digs deep into this character, putting on a compelling performance. So too does Gascón, a Spanish transgender actor who embodies every aspect of her role in a manner only someone like her could. Gomez seems slightly miscast, but she has enough solid scenes to justify her presence in the film.

Emilia Pérez is a film that upends expectations at almost every turn. While it might have also worked as a non-musical, the music side of it supports the story in unconventional ways, drawing the audience deeper into a story that itself is out of the ordinary.

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Emilia Pérez is now streaming on Netflix.

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