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.
FHA delinquency hit 11.79% in Q2 2026. Before the headlines make your decisions for you, here is what the data actually says, and what escrow shock is really doing to borrowers right now.
Six straight weeks. Freddie Mac’s October 1 survey put the 30-year fixed at 7.28%, the highest weekly average since November 2023 and the largest single-week jump since October 2022. Mortgage News Daily’s real-time tracking touched 7.58% on September 29. The MBA’s weekly numbers showed purchase applications down 14% from a year ago and refinance applications … Read more
Mortgage rates are not credit card rates. They are not car loan rates. Those types of debt are directly tied to the federal funds rate, which is why they move in lockstep with Fed decisions. When the Fed raises rates, those go up. When the Fed cuts, those come down. It is a fairly direct … Read more
Tomorrow, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates for the first time in years. The odds according to CME FedWatch are somewhere between 85 and 90 percent. Financial media will cover it like breaking news. And a lot of homebuyers will be watching, waiting to see what happens to mortgage rates before they … Read more
The Number Getting Shared Is Not the Full Picture Zillow published research in August 2026 showing it takes 15 years on average before buying a home outperforms renting. That number spread quickly. And if your first reaction was something like “that is way too long, I might as well just keep renting” — you are … Read more
Freddie Mac’s latest survey put the 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 6.69 percent, the highest reading in just over a year. Rates have climbed for five straight weeks, and July existing home sales fell 1.7 percent to a 4.06 million annual pace. If you’ve been watching the news, you know this story has gotten plenty … Read more