Two numbers came out this week that you’ll see covered very differently depending on where you read them. NAR’s pending home sales index for September came in at 66.0, down 11.3% from a year ago. And the Case-Shiller index for August showed Dallas home prices in slightly negative territory year-over-year, at -0.79%. That’s real data … Read more
I’ve had hundreds of conversations about Private Mortgage Insurance over 37 years in mortgage lending. Most of them started the same way. A borrower would look at their Loan Estimate, see “PMI” in the line items, and say something like: “I don’t need that. I’ll get my own life insurance.” That’s not what PMI is. … Read more
If you’ve been in the mortgage business long enough, you remember when these homes were called mobile homes. Before that, just trailers. Now they’re tiny homes or manufactured homes, and the rebranding actually reflects something real: the product has changed dramatically. Today’s manufactured homes look nothing like the rectangle sitting on cinder blocks in a … Read more
New-home sales data shows 8.5 months of supply, 38% of builders cutting prices, and a median price down 5.8% year over year. Before you take a builder’s incentive package at face value, here is what the numbers actually mean and how to negotiate in this market.
There’s a number that gets cited a lot right now: 2,746 down payment assistance programs available nationwide, per the Q2 2026 Homeownership Program Index from Down Payment Resource (published July 22, 2026). Here is the problem with that number. Just 49 of those programs are Mortgage Credit Certificates. MCCs reduce your federal tax liability after … Read more
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now allow FICO 10T and VantageScore 4.0. Here is what the credit score overhaul means for mortgage borrowers in 2026.
First-time buyers make up just 24% of home purchases, a 40-year low. Here are the down payment options most buyers don’t know about.
A 37-year mortgage banker explains the gap between what lenders approve and what you can really afford, with a simple framework and the math behind both numbers.