Pros and Cons of Buying

In the dynamic landscape of real estate, the decision to purchase a property is influenced by a multitude of factors. One such factor that often impacts the market is the fluctuation of interest rates. As a mortgage advisor, it’s crucial to understand that the current scenario in California, marked by high-interest rates, presents an unexpected…
Read MorePending Home Sales rose 1.1% from August to September

Pending Home Sales rose 1.1% from August to September, much stronger than the 2% decline that was expected, though sales were 11% below the level seen a year earlier. This data measures signed contracts on existing homes, making it a forward-looking indicator for closings as measured by Existing Home Sales.
Read MoreWill the Fed Pause Rate Hikes Soon?

Greetings, dear readers! In this edition of our Economic Insights Newsletter, we turn our attention to a topic that’s been on the minds of many: the Federal Reserve’s approach to interest rate hikes. As the global economic landscape continues to evolve, it’s essential to stay informed about the Fed’s plans and how they might impact…
Read MoreNew Home Sales | April 2023

New Home Sales, which measure signed contracts on new homes, rose 4.1% from March to April to a 683,000- unit annualized pace. Sales are at their best level in thirteen months, and they were also 11.8% higher than in April of last year. The median sales price fell from $455,800 in March to $420,800 in…
Read MoreWhat to Look for This Week

Inflation will be the top story, with April’s Consumer Price Index releasing on Wednesday 5/10/2023. Look for the Producer Price Index on Thursday 5/11/2023, which will give us news on wholesale inflation. Also of note, the latest data on optimism among small businesses will be reported by the NFIB on Tuesday 5/9/2023. Jobless Claims will…
Read MoreRecession Signal Flashing!!!!!

The Conference Board released their Leading Economic Index (LEI) for March, which was down 1.2%, falling to “its lowest level since November of 2020, consistent with worsening economic conditions ahead,” said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, Senior Manager, Business Cycle Indicators. This report is a composite of economic indexes and can signal peaks and troughs in the…
Read MoreDown Payment Assistant Program

CalHFA to introduce the Dream for All Shared Appreciation Loan California state budget has established the Dream For All Program that allocate funds to help first time homebuyers get into their dream home. It is a down payment assistance program for first-time homebuyers to be used in conjunction with the Dream for ALL conventional first…
Read MoreFebruary Housing Market Update

Pending Home Sales rose 8.1% from December to January, which was more than expected. Sales were down 24.1% from a year ago, but was still an improvement from 33.9% decline in December. Pending Home Sales is a very critical data to show how the housing market is doing. Interest rates did rise following the Job…
Read MoreFHA Announcement

The FHA announced today 2/22/2023, that the annual mortgage insurance premiums has been reduced from 0.85% to 0.55% on the monthly. So the monthly payments would be dropped by 30 basis points of the loan amount. With such a big drop, it allows buyers to qualify better and could afford such a monthly premium. For…
Read MoreOctober Market Update

Gas prices have been climbing up since 1989. It went from less than $1.00 per gallon then to close to $1.60 in the 2000, and jumped to around $3.10 in 2010 and did not change for over 10 years till 2020. However, in 2021, the price went up from $3.20 in January to close to…
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