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
There’s a number that gets cited a lot right now: 2,679 down payment assistance programs available nationwide. Here is the problem with that number. A large portion of those programs are Mortgage Credit Certificates. MCCs reduce your federal tax liability after you buy. That is a real benefit, but it is not cash at the … Read more
The Number Getting Shared Is Not the Full Picture Zillow put out research this month 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
That Number You’re Shopping With Is Not Your Payment You found a calculator online, ran the numbers, and the payment looked like something you could work with. So you started shopping. This is how most buyers enter the market, and it is also how most buyers end up in an uncomfortable conversation with their lender … Read more
Most online mortgage calculators give you a number. The problem is that the number is usually wrong. It’s a principal-and-interest estimate that gets dressed up to look like a payment, and by the time a lender runs the actual figures, buyers are often caught off guard by how different the real total is. We built … 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
The July jobs report was bad by most measures. The U.S. economy shed 23,000 jobs when forecasters were expecting a gain of around 83,000. On top of that, May and June numbers were revised down by over 100,000 combined. If you follow economic news at all, you know that’s a significant miss. And mortgage rates … Read more
ATTOM’s mid-year report shows foreclosure filings up 21% year-over-year. Before first-time buyers panic, here’s why this is a pandemic forbearance hangover being cleared, not a sign of a broken housing market.
The 30-year fixed just hit an 11-month high and purchase applications went up anyway. Here’s why pent-up buyer demand and a shift in affordability thinking are driving the market more than rate headlines or inventory.
A record 19.1% of buyers are searching outside their home market. Moving somewhere cheaper can work, but the math is more specific than most people realize. Here’s what to actually compare before you relocate for affordability.