Articles
Washington Stirs the Pot Again…Mortgage Rates Climb to 15-Month High
Just when it appeared tensions in the Persian Gulf might finally be cooling, Washington stirred the pot again.
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If You’re Going to Be a Bear…Be a Grizzly Bear
Each week I write about what I see happening in the real estate and mortgage markets. Sometimes it’s rates, loan programs or strategies for buyers and sellers. Every once in a while, however, I see something that concerns me.
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Realtors: Are You Targeting the Wrong Buyer?
For decades, Realtors have heavily marketed to first-time homebuyers…and for good reason. They had no home to sell, no sale contingency, and could often make a cleaner offer than someone who needed to sell before buying.
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Oil’s Retreat Gives Mortgage Rates a Brief Respite
After weeks of geopolitical tensions helping drive mortgage rates higher, financial markets finally found a measure of relief as easing concerns over global oil supplies sent energy prices lower.
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Metro Atlanta’s Housing Slowdown Has More to Do With Home Prices Than Interest Rates
If you ask almost any real estate agent why homes are taking longer to sell, you'll likely hear the same answer: mortgage rates.
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The Best Time to Shop for a Mortgage Isn’t After You Find the House
Imagine buying a car, signing the paperwork, and then deciding it's time to compare dealerships. Sounds ridiculous, right? Yet every day, homebuyers do the mortgage equivalent.
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The Most Expensive Question Homebuyers Never Ask
If I had a dollar for every prospective homebuyer whose first question was, "What's your rate?"...well, I could probably buy down my own mortgage rate.
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Rates Hold Above 6.50% — And Washington’s Talking Points Won’t Change That
The 30-year fixed mortgage market continues to hover above the 6.50% mark for a second consecutive week, even as the 10-year Treasury drifted modestly below 4.50%.
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Changing the Ruler: Will Wall Street Buy the Fed’s New Inflation Math???
For decades, investors, economists, and policymakers have relied on familiar inflation gauges such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index to help determine the direction of monetary policy.
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Falling in Love With Houses You Can’t Afford: A National Pastime
There’s a peculiar modern ritual in homebuying: you scroll listings, tour a few homes, imagine where the couch goes, maybe even name the future dog—then discover you can’t actually buy the place.
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