246 articles and videos on mortgage rates, the housing market and smart home financing, in plain English.
▶ VideoThis week I came across an article talking about how the Biden administration is working on a way to reduce “junk fees” in mortgage lending. They are saying that junk fees are up 36% since 2020. It sounds like a really good idea! Let’s figure out how to reduce the fees so that we can…
▶ VideoNumbers recently came out showing that 30% of mortgage applications are from refinances. It has me asking: how in the world is this possible? Who is refinancing right now? The interesting thing is that we mostly think about refinancing to improve interest rates or shorten the term for amortization. The goal is to put the…
▶ VideoToday, I want to talk about this house, which you can see on the screen. It’s so relevant to what is happening today in the housing marketing. This house is the one that we bought together in 1998. Vicki was 2-weeks away from giving birth to our second baby. I still remember that she found…
▶ VideoIn today’s video, we are building on last week’s topic, which was about the 2 biggest questions I hear: 1) what is going to happen with rates, and 2) when is the right time to buy? It led me to think: what’s the riskiest time to buy? How Long Will You Own the Home? In…
▶ VideoFor today’s topic, I want to share about two questions that I get asked every day: Interestingly, even though these are the two most common questions, I don’t have a very good answer for either one of them! First: What Will Happen with Rates? We all know what impacts interest rates. Generally speaking it is…
▶ VideoToday, we are talking about a program that we just rolled out yesterday: a down payment assistance program. Many people are familiar with these, but this one is worth mentioning because it is so unique. How This Down Payment Assistance Differs from Other Programs There are a few things that are in common with down…
▶ VideoOne of the biggest challenges my clients are facing right now is that they are looking in this limited inventory market – and they just aren’t finding a house that they want. Either it’s a junky house that needs to be fixed up, or the right homes are out of their price range. Thinking Outside…
▶ VideoYesterday, my wife sent me a meme that shared interesting information: in 1971 interest rates were 7.3%, and they didn’t move lower for more than 20 years. During that time, home prices increased significantly. 10 years later, in 1981, rates maxed out at 18.6% because of inflation. It got me thinking: how is that possible?…
▶ VideoEveryone is talking about supply and demand, and it’s true that this is one factor affecting real estate pricing. For example, with housing, the reason we haven’t seen prices come down is that supply is so low. The ongoing demand keeps prices up, which is what we’ve been seeing in the last few years. Debt…
▶ VideoThere is a lot of conversation on the topic of employment and how it relates to inflation – and what The Fed decides to do. The jobs reports come out on the first Friday of every month, showing the previous month’s numbers. The Wednesday before that, we always get the report from ADP: a massive…
▶ VideoTomorrow is PCE, which is the Fed’s favorite inflation read. As we all know, they are trying to get it to 2%. The question is: are we ever going to get there? I watched a podcast yesterday by Barry Habib. Remember, the way inflation happens is comparing the last 12 month-over-month readings. They add them…
Today’s topic came up recently at the State of the Union address. One of the things that was proposed (relating to real estate) is a $10,000 credit, paid in increments over two years. Why a Home Buyer Tax Credit is a Bad Idea I wanted to chime in: on the surface, it seems like a…
