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☆ The problem with home-flipping giants
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Aj Latrace | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Meanwhile, the corporate scalpers of the housing market — companies that buy and relist homes by the thousands without doing much, if any, work on them to make a profit — are struggling. Last week, two of the biggest remaining corporate home-flipping companies, Opendoor and Offerpad, reported dismal earnings, another sign that their business model is incredibly risky. Kelman also said one "problem is that iBuying is a staggering amount of money and risk for a now-uncertain benefit. At its core, the main business model of home-flipping firms doesn't create a ton of immediate value. Opendoor, Offerpad, and other companies that rushed to purchase homes are now discounting the asking prices of those homes to get them off their books.

☆ UK house prices post sharpest annual fall for a decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

March 1, 2023: U.K. house prices saw their sharpest annual decline since 2012 in February, according to Nationwide. LONDON — U.K. house prices fell by 1.1% annually in February, their first annual decline since June 2020 and the sharpest contraction since November 2012, according to a widely-watched report from building society Nationwide. February saw a 0.5% month-on-month fall, with prices now 3.7% lower than their August 2022 peak as higher mortgage rates and a cost-of-living crisis continued to deter homebuying. "While financial market conditions normalised some time ago, housing market activity has remained subdued." February's fall likely reflects the lingering damage to confidence and squeeze on household incomes, with inflation continuing to outpace wage growth and mortgage rates remaining substantially higher than their 2021 lows, Gardner explained.

☆ Millennials are building up a mountain of debt in pursuit of the middle-class American dream — and they're starting to miss credit card payments at an alarming rate
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

This debt load is beginning to takes it toll — the NY Fed's report found that millennials are missing credit card and auto loan payments at rising rates. Millennials are starting to miss credit card paymentsAfter falling over the last few years as borrowers paid down their balances, US credit card debt rose $61 billion in the fourth quarter, the largest increase in the history of the NY Fed's data, which dates back to 1999. This increase brought total credit card balances to $986 billion, surpassing the pre-pandemic high of $927 billion. Inflation has caused many millennial consumers to spend more, save less, and ultimately turn to credit card debt as pandemic-era savings have run out. While there are surely several factors fueling credit card debt among millennials, the high cost of childcare and related expenses surely aren't helping.

As mortgage rates dropped over the last few months, homebuyers started re-entering the market. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage CalculatorUse our free mortgage calculator to see how today's mortgage rates will affect your monthly and long-term payments. But whether mortgage rates will drop in 2023 hinges on if the Federal Reserve can get inflation under control. If the Fed acts too aggressively and engineers a recession, mortgage rates could fall further than what current forecasts expect. This means your entire monthly mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, shouldn't exceed 28% of your pre-tax monthly income.

If you're ready to begin your home shopping journey, make sure you get a mortgage pre-approval first. A mortgage pre-approval letter is an essential step in the homebuying process. Below, CNBC Select breaks down how a mortgage pre-approval works and when you want to get one. What is mortgage pre-approval? Bottom lineA mortgage pre-approval can help you gauge how much mortgage you can afford and position yourself as a serious homebuyer.

☆ I bought a house at age 23. Here's what the process was like and my tips for other young first-time homebuyers.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Eboni Boykin-Patterson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Stephon Solomon bought his first home at 23 and has advice for first-time homebuyers. He put only $12,500 down to buy the house and did his own research to find the right mortgage. I couldn't really talk to them about the process; they didn't really know anything about it. After I had a good idea of what was out there and where and how to look, I looked into different mortgage loan programs that were offered and read the fine print. But because I had familiarized myself with the different loans and their requirements, I knew exactly what to tell them or knew what they were saying wasn't really true.

The latest consumer price index report showed that inflation is still stubbornly high at 6.4% year over year. This will likely keep mortgage rates elevated for at least the next couple of months, though rates should start to trend down later this year. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage CalculatorUse our free mortgage calculator to see how today's mortgage rates will affect your monthly and long-term payments. But whether mortgage rates will drop in 2023 hinges on if the Federal Reserve can get inflation under control. If the Fed acts too aggressively and engineers a recession, mortgage rates could fall further than what current forecasts expect.

This will likely keep mortgage rates high, though they're expected to trend down later this year. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowToday's refinance ratesMortgage type Average rate today This information has been provided by Zillow. But whether mortgage rates will drop in 2023 hinges on if the Federal Reserve can get inflation under control. If the Fed acts too aggressively and engineers a recession, mortgage rates could fall further than what current forecasts expect. This means your entire monthly mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, shouldn't exceed 28% of your pre-tax monthly income.

☆ Jim Cramer sees signs of easing in food and wage inflation, but housing stays hot
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

CNBC's Jim Cramer on Wednesday explained why inflation has been so persistent for food, housing, and wages, but said there are signs of progress. FoodHigh food prices reflect the supply squeeze driven by cutting off Russia after it invaded Ukraine, along with obstacles like tough weather and bad harvests. But for Cramer, Walmart offered some hope. Since Walmart can price its "Great Value" products at such steep discounts relative to the name brands, Cramer said he's "a lot less worried about food inflation." WagesUnionization and hiring struggles have put an expensive price tag on labor, but Cramer said the Fed might be on the right track.

Mortgage rates have increased over the last couple of weeks as markets adjusted to the expectation that the Federal Reserve won't be cutting rates this year. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage CalculatorUse our free mortgage calculator to see how today's mortgage rates will affect your monthly and long-term payments. But whether mortgage rates will drop in 2023 hinges on if the Federal Reserve can get inflation under control. If the Fed acts too aggressively and engineers a recession, mortgage rates could fall further than what current forecasts expect. This means your entire monthly mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, shouldn't exceed 28% of your pre-tax monthly income.

☆ Wall Street has purchased hundreds of thousands single-family homes since the Great Recession. Here's what that means for rental prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Carlos Waters | In Carloswaters | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Institutional investors may control 40% of U.S. single-family rental homes by 2030, according to MetLife Investment Management. And a group of Washington, D.C., lawmakers believe that Wall Street needs to back away from the market. Khanna is the lead author of the Stop Wall Street Landlords Act of 2022. "What's outrageous is your tax dollars are helping Wall Street buy up single-family homes," he said in an interview with CNBC. Since the early 2010s, Tricon Residential, Progress Residential, American Homes 4 Rent, Invitation Homes have each bought thousands of homes.

See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage Refinance Rates TodayMortgage type Average rate today This information has been provided by Zillow. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage CalculatorUse our free mortgage calculator to see how today's interest rates will affect your monthly payments. 30-Year Fixed Mortgage RatesThe current average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is 6.32%, according to Freddie Mac. 15-Year Fixed Mortgage RatesThe average 15-year fixed mortgage rate is 5.51%, an increase from the prior week, according to Freddie Mac data. Mortgage rates increased dramatically in 2022, but they've started to trend down over the past couple of months.

☆ Here are the US cities where home prices are actually falling
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Anna Bahney | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

San Jose, California, was the most expensive place to purchase a home in the United States in the fourth quarter. Prices for San Francisco homes are already down 21% in the fourth quarter from the peak median price of $1,550,000 in the second quarter. Among the most expensive cities that saw prices falling are Anaheim, California, with the median price of $1,132,000, down 1.6% from a year ago; Los Angeles, with the median price of $829,100, down 1.3%; and Boulder, Colorado, with the median price of $759,500, down 2.0%. Other places with falling prices saw the big price increases during the frenzied home buying market of the past few years. Instead, prices for single-family homes climbed in nearly 90% of metro areas tracked by NAR in the fourth quarter: 166 markets out of 186 saw prices still going up.

This will likely keep mortgage rates elevated for at least the next couple of months, though rates should start to trend down later this year. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage Refinance Rates TodayMortgage type Average rate today This information has been provided by Zillow. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage CalculatorUse our free mortgage calculator to see how today's mortgage rates will affect your monthly and long-term payments. But whether mortgage rates will drop in 2023 hinges on if the Federal Reserve can get inflation under control. If the Fed acts too aggressively and engineers a recession, mortgage rates could fall further than what current forecasts expect.

☆ A 27-year-old real-estate investor who rehabbed 7 Austin properties last year is now targeting San Antonio, where homes can cost less than $100,000. Here are 3 reasons it's the next big investor hot s
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Aj Latrace | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

San Antonio. You can buy homes for relatively cheap"A lot of people have overlooked San Antonio," Crenshaw said. January data from Redfin pegs the median home price in San Antonio at $255,000, which is less than half of Austin's $530,000. San Antonio — the fastest-growing large city in the nation between 2020 and 2021, gaining nearly 14,000 people, per census data — remains attractive to newcomers. Relocators get affordability in San Antonio, Crenshaw said, without sacrificing exciting nightlife and other big-city attractions such as museums and professional sports teams like the NBA's Spurs.

☆ Be on the lookout for these six red flags in the homebuying process. It could save you thousands, a real-estate attorney said.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

He said real-estate agents can work in their best interest, not their clients', if a contract is weak. Purposefully confusing contracts and some real-estate agents' self-serving motives have some homebuyers getting themselves into tricky positions, said Douglas R. Miller, a veteran real-estate attorney in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Commissions are usually around 6% of the home's sale price and split between the buyer's agent and the seller's agent. Negotiating your broker's fee can be key in saving you moneyIn a home sale, buyers' agents are actually paid by the seller. "Affiliated business arrangement" is the textbook term, and it can be dangerous for buyers, Miller said.

Mortgage rates have increased for the second week in a row, according to Freddie Mac, following four consecutive weeks of decreases. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowToday's refinance ratesMortgage type Average rate today This information has been provided by Zillow. But whether mortgage rates will drop in 2023 hinges on if the Federal Reserve can get inflation under control. If the Fed acts too aggressively and engineers a recession, mortgage rates could fall further than what current forecasts expect. This means your entire monthly mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, shouldn't exceed 28% of your pre-tax monthly income.

As inflation slowed, mortgage rates trended down thanks to market expectations that the Fed would soon be able to stop hiking rates and even start cutting them later this year. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage CalculatorUse our free mortgage calculator to see how today's mortgage rates will affect your monthly and long-term payments. But whether mortgage rates will drop in 2023 hinges on if the Federal Reserve can get inflation under control. If the Fed acts too aggressively and engineers a recession, mortgage rates could fall further than what current forecasts expect. This means your entire monthly mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, shouldn't exceed 28% of your pre-tax monthly income.

☆ Mortgage rates will drop to 5.2% this year despite the uptick this month, said a top economist
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Mortgage Bankers Association forecasts mortgage rates will fall to 5.2% from above 6% in 2023. The prediction rests on a drop in the 10-year Treasury-bond yield, which influences mortgage rates. For a few weeks, it looked like mortgage rates were well on their way to sub-6% levels. Despite the whipsawing rates, the Mortgage Bankers Association is sticking to its forecasts, Kan said. "A lot of people that bought or refinanced in 2020 and 2021 have 3% mortgage rates.

☆ 3 questions that will help you decide where to save in today's high-rate environment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Jason Stauffer | Elizabeth Gravier | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

And with so much uncertainty in the stock market and rising interest rates, it can feel more complicated than normal. Right now, high-yield savings accounts (such as the LendingClub High-Yield Savings account) and CDs are more appealing than they were a few years ago when rates were low. However, interest rates tend to have a bigger influence on short or mid-term planning, not long-term decisions. Wealthfront Learn More Minimum deposit and balance Minimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle selected. For example, if you save $1,000 in a high-yield savings account at 4% interest you'd earn about $41 in a year.

See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage CalculatorUse our free mortgage calculator to see how today's mortgage rates would impact your monthly payments. 15-Year Fixed Mortgage RatesThe average 15-year fixed mortgage rate is 5.25%, an increase from the prior week, according to Freddie Mac data. Mortgage rates started ticking up from historic lows in the second half of 2021 and increased significantly in 2022. Inflation remains elevated, but has started to slow, which is a good sign for mortgage rates and the broader economy. Just keep in mind that HELOC rates are variable, so if rates start to trend up further, yours will likely increase, as well.

Mortgage rates have dropped significantly over the past few months, and it's likely they'll continue falling this year. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage refinance rates todayMortgage type Average rate today This information has been provided by Zillow. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage calculatorUse our free mortgage calculator to see how today's mortgage rates will affect your monthly and long-term payments. But whether mortgage rates will drop in 2023 hinges on if the Federal Reserve can get inflation under control. If the Fed acts too aggressively and engineers a recession, mortgage rates could fall further than what current forecasts expect.

Mortgage rates ended the week slightly higher than they started it, but they're still relatively low compared to recent highs. Just keep in mind that HELOC rates are variable, so if rates start to trend up further, yours will likely increase, as well. But whether mortgage rates will drop in 2023 hinges on if the Federal Reserve can get inflation under control. If the Fed acts too aggressively and engineers a recession, mortgage rates could fall further than what current forecasts expect. This means your entire monthly mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, shouldn't exceed 28% of your pre-tax monthly income.

Black families face unique, racist barriers to creating wealth, from homeownership to business ownership, says Salene Hitchcock-Gear, president of individual life insurance at Prudential. To work towards closing the racial wealth gap and building generational wealth for Black Americans, it's important to understand what obstacles stand in the way. Black Americans face lower median credit scoresWhile the credit scoring system was created to take the bias out of lending, it's become yet another hurdle that prevents many Black Americans from building wealth. The bottom lineAfter many generations of being excluded from wealth-building, Black Americans still face a unique set of challenges stemming from racial discrimination. However, making homebuying and financial literacy more accessible could start to narrow the wide racial wealth gap in the US, and help Black families build generational wealth.

Average mortgage rates increased very slightly this week, with 30-year fixed rates ticking up just three basis points, according to Freddie Mac. See more mortgage rates on Zillow Real Estate on ZillowMortgage CalculatorUse our free mortgage calculator to see how today's mortgage rates will affect your monthly and long-term payments. But whether mortgage rates will drop in 2023 hinges on if the Federal Reserve can get inflation under control. If the Fed acts too aggressively and engineers a recession, mortgage rates could fall further than what current forecasts expect. This means your entire monthly mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, shouldn't exceed 28% of your pre-tax monthly income.

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