While fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) interest is currently on a downtrend, over the long term they have increased since last year. As of October 19, 2018, the current average 30- and 15-year FRM rates are 4.7% and 3.98% respectively. The September 2018 30-year FRM figure was 4.5%. Compare this to September 2017, when the average 30-year […]
2018 saw a few important changes to the tax laws regarding deductions, both standard and itemized. The standard deduction has been nearly doubled, so more people are taking it. This results in lower taxes for people who regularly take the standard deduction anyway, but higher taxes for about half those who used to itemize. It […]
The California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) is predicting a slowdown in the 2019 housing market. Interest rates will continue to go up, straining already weak affordability and reducing demand. The senior Vice President and Chief Economist of C.A.R., Leslie Appleton-Young, says that high prices despite our recovery from the housing shortage are fueling a period […]
This is for all those who have asked my professional opinion regarding Proposition 10, which makes rent control possible in California, basically by voiding the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. In the process of evaluating this ballot item, I researched a number of relatively contemporary studies and reports. Doing so was an interesting study in […]
Some of the highest price-to-income ratios in the nation are found in California. This is even more true in the coastal areas, where the numbers exceed both the national average of 17.5% of income spent on mortgage payments, itself up from 15.4% last year, and also the maximum advised by financial experts of 31%. Zillow […]
As of September, the number of price cuts nationwide was at its highest point since the recession. Throughout the last half of August and first half of September, over a quarter of homes — 26.6% — took a price cut. While it’s normal for price cuts to be more common in the third quarter, as […]
After a long period of builders being reluctant to construct new homes, construction is now on the rise again. In the second quarter of 2018, the number of new constructions was 3336 among four Southern California counties, comprising Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. This amounts to a 19% increase from the prior […]
It’s standard to include photos along with a listing so that agents and buyers can get a good idea of what a house looks like before seeing it in person. Not every agent or seller includes photos, but it’s never problematic to put them up. That is, until the house sells. The photos usually stay […]
The July data for ATTOM Data Solutions’ US Foreclosure Market Report was released in August. 219 metropolitan areas were analyzed, among which 96 had an increase in foreclosure processes started. It’s only up 1% from June, but had been going up for three consecutive months. The small year-over-year increase of less than a percent is after […]
The market had been a seller’s market for quite some time, but now the scales are tipping more towards buyers, leading to what is now a flat market. As of June of 2018, home prices were still on the rise, albeit more slowly. But sellers noticed something — they weren’t selling without a price cut. […]