The economic news has been wild recently with GDP soaring, consumer confidence down, and the federal reserve holding monetary policy (interest rates) steady. It is challenging to decipher what is actually going on with the economy with so many mixed messages. With...
We keep hearing that the spring real estate season is just around the corner, yet the April housing numbers came out showing a 4.4% decline from 2018 and continuing a downward trend of declining sales for the 14th straight month. What is driving this trend? What are...
Federal Reserve Chairman Powell recently announced that inflation is transitory. Sound familiar? Janet Yellen, the prior fed chair, used this same term 2017 and 2018. Seems like we are in an extended “transit”. Why? Are we headed for the next...
Recently the news has been overwhelming. Originally there was a deal with China then there wasn’t; now China is referring to the trade differences as a trade war. The US markets sold off and then they recovered then sold off again. What is going on? Why are we...
Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Cool with the smallest gain since 2012. At the same time mortgage rates have dropped off their highs by 20% to around 4% for a 30-year mortgage. Why are lower mortgage rates not spurring more demand and helping home prices? Why is...
I’ve mentioned many times that house flipping is getting a little “long in the tooth”. This week I was featured in BusinessWeek/Bloomberg on this topic ( great article here is the link in case you missed it). Nationwide flipping has grown exponentially....
The National Association of Realtors came out with their 2019 forecast saying: “the economy is "good." And noted that we have low unemployment, record high job openings, historically low jobless claims, job additions for eight straight years and wages beginning to...
GDP numbers came in great far exceeding expectations at 3.2%. President Trump tweets “we knocked it out of the park”. At the same time inflation remains low/nonexistent which has enabled mortgage rates to fall over 1%. Even with all this good news, home sales...
We are well into 2019 and recession risks seems to have faded into the rear view mirror. Is this a facade? Are we out of the woods yet? What changed? The biggest wildcard going into 2019 was the pace and number of increases from the federal reserve. What has...
Recently zestimates have been on an upward trajectory, far outpacing typical gains in the market (the graph above shows a 50% increase in two years). Why is the zestimate suddenly increasing? Why is it increasing so rapidly? Is the zestimate really the market value? ...
Credit scores have been skyrocketing recently. Is this a good thing? Have 15 million consumer’s credit habits changed drastically in the last 10 years? What are the risks from “grade inflation” of credit scores? Why are scores rising so rapidly? How does this...
Last week, I woke up, checked my phone only to see it blowing up with alerts. I was getting alerts about random charges that were not mine from my credit card. Not the best way to wake up, but not surprising since it has been about 6 months since the largest hack in...
The Federal housing administration over the last several years has been quietly easing the lending standards to increase home ownership. Montgomery, the director of the FHA, did an abrupt change this month tightening standards “to maintain a better balance of...
The Yield curve inverted for the first time since 2007! What does this mean and why is this so important for real estate? Can the animals predict our next “storm”? Should we all be listening to our “primal” instincts a bit more? We probably should. I was doing a...
No, I’m not talking about democrats vs. republicans. I am talking about the actual color blue! Regardless of your political affiliations, I would recommend you only invest in areas on the map that are blue. The Brookings institute developed a map ranking the...
It’s like getting a free scoop of ice cream 😊 Experian is rolling out a new product called Experian Boost which will allow you to “instantly boost your credit score”. Experian expects over 65% of consumers will see a boost to their credit score. Will...
Lenders issued 34 billion of non QM (Qualified Mortgage) loans in the first three quarters of 2018, a 24% increase from the same period a year earlier. Why is this mortgage segment growing so quickly while conventional loans are languishing? How are these loans...
Why would a truck rental company provide a list of the top real estate markets to invest in? Penske, the truck rental company, revealed the top 10 moving destinations in the country. They have been compiling the list since 2010 to track one-way rentals to cities...
BB&T agreed to buy SunTrust in the world’s biggest bank merger in a decade. This will create the sixth largest bank in the country. Bank of America CEO, Brian Moynihan predicted another round of consolidation that could produce another “megabank”. Why is this...
Sorry to send this out during the “month of love”. Divorces now impact over 41% of all marriages and from what I have seen they are the number one reason for credit scores falling. This article will focus on what happens during a divorce regarding real estate. Why...
The National Association of Realtors came out with their 2019 forecast saying: “the economy is "good." And noted that we have low unemployment, record high job openings, historically low jobless claims, job additions for eight straight years and wages beginning to...
In the fall of 2006 my wife, a high school teacher, left for school in a small sleepy town SW of Denver. Shortly after school began shots rang out and a hostage situation ensued (See Article). At the end of the day one student and the gunmen was dead. This all...
Although it is impossible to predict the future unless you were a star in the movie back to the future , history does provide a good indicator of what might happen. With all the recession talk recently it is important to relate the current economic environment back...
As the government shutdown continues to drag on, how is commercial and residential real estate being impacted? What does Vail resorts, the largest owner of ski resorts in the country, have to do with the government shutdown. How are existing property owners...
The economic news has been wild recently with GDP soaring, consumer confidence down, and the federal reserve holding monetary policy (interest rates) steady. It is challenging to decipher what is actually going on with the economy with so many mixed messages. With...
We keep hearing that the spring real estate season is just around the corner, yet the April housing numbers came out showing a 4.4% decline from 2018 and continuing a downward trend of declining sales for the 14th straight month. What is driving this trend? What are...
Federal Reserve Chairman Powell recently announced that inflation is transitory. Sound familiar? Janet Yellen, the prior fed chair, used this same term 2017 and 2018. Seems like we are in an extended “transit”. Why? Are we headed for the next...
Recently the news has been overwhelming. Originally there was a deal with China then there wasn’t; now China is referring to the trade differences as a trade war. The US markets sold off and then they recovered then sold off again. What is going on? Why are we...
Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Cool with the smallest gain since 2012. At the same time mortgage rates have dropped off their highs by 20% to around 4% for a 30-year mortgage. Why are lower mortgage rates not spurring more demand and helping home prices? Why is...
I’ve mentioned many times that house flipping is getting a little “long in the tooth”. This week I was featured in BusinessWeek/Bloomberg on this topic ( great article here is the link in case you missed it). Nationwide flipping has grown exponentially....
The National Association of Realtors came out with their 2019 forecast saying: “the economy is "good." And noted that we have low unemployment, record high job openings, historically low jobless claims, job additions for eight straight years and wages beginning to...
GDP numbers came in great far exceeding expectations at 3.2%. President Trump tweets “we knocked it out of the park”. At the same time inflation remains low/nonexistent which has enabled mortgage rates to fall over 1%. Even with all this good news, home sales...
We are well into 2019 and recession risks seems to have faded into the rear view mirror. Is this a facade? Are we out of the woods yet? What changed? The biggest wildcard going into 2019 was the pace and number of increases from the federal reserve. What has...
Recently zestimates have been on an upward trajectory, far outpacing typical gains in the market (the graph above shows a 50% increase in two years). Why is the zestimate suddenly increasing? Why is it increasing so rapidly? Is the zestimate really the market value? ...
Credit scores have been skyrocketing recently. Is this a good thing? Have 15 million consumer’s credit habits changed drastically in the last 10 years? What are the risks from “grade inflation” of credit scores? Why are scores rising so rapidly? How does this...
Last week, I woke up, checked my phone only to see it blowing up with alerts. I was getting alerts about random charges that were not mine from my credit card. Not the best way to wake up, but not surprising since it has been about 6 months since the largest hack in...
The Federal housing administration over the last several years has been quietly easing the lending standards to increase home ownership. Montgomery, the director of the FHA, did an abrupt change this month tightening standards “to maintain a better balance of...
The Yield curve inverted for the first time since 2007! What does this mean and why is this so important for real estate? Can the animals predict our next “storm”? Should we all be listening to our “primal” instincts a bit more? We probably should. I was doing a...
No, I’m not talking about democrats vs. republicans. I am talking about the actual color blue! Regardless of your political affiliations, I would recommend you only invest in areas on the map that are blue. The Brookings institute developed a map ranking the...
It’s like getting a free scoop of ice cream 😊 Experian is rolling out a new product called Experian Boost which will allow you to “instantly boost your credit score”. Experian expects over 65% of consumers will see a boost to their credit score. Will...
Lenders issued 34 billion of non QM (Qualified Mortgage) loans in the first three quarters of 2018, a 24% increase from the same period a year earlier. Why is this mortgage segment growing so quickly while conventional loans are languishing? How are these loans...
Why would a truck rental company provide a list of the top real estate markets to invest in? Penske, the truck rental company, revealed the top 10 moving destinations in the country. They have been compiling the list since 2010 to track one-way rentals to cities...
BB&T agreed to buy SunTrust in the world’s biggest bank merger in a decade. This will create the sixth largest bank in the country. Bank of America CEO, Brian Moynihan predicted another round of consolidation that could produce another “megabank”. Why is this...
Sorry to send this out during the “month of love”. Divorces now impact over 41% of all marriages and from what I have seen they are the number one reason for credit scores falling. This article will focus on what happens during a divorce regarding real estate. Why...
The National Association of Realtors came out with their 2019 forecast saying: “the economy is "good." And noted that we have low unemployment, record high job openings, historically low jobless claims, job additions for eight straight years and wages beginning to...
In the fall of 2006 my wife, a high school teacher, left for school in a small sleepy town SW of Denver. Shortly after school began shots rang out and a hostage situation ensued (See Article). At the end of the day one student and the gunmen was dead. This all...
Although it is impossible to predict the future unless you were a star in the movie back to the future , history does provide a good indicator of what might happen. With all the recession talk recently it is important to relate the current economic environment back...
As the government shutdown continues to drag on, how is commercial and residential real estate being impacted? What does Vail resorts, the largest owner of ski resorts in the country, have to do with the government shutdown. How are existing property owners...
