We spend a lot of time in mortgage lending talking about income. How much does the borrower earn? What is the debt-to-income ratio? How much of a monthly payment can the household reasonably carry? What happens to purchasing power when the mortgage rate moves another...
For most of my career around housing, we have talked about a real estate agent’s value as though it were one thing. It isn’t. An agent may help a buyer understand a market, find properties, arrange showings, evaluate price, write an offer, negotiate terms,...
Rocket Companies announced a new CEO for Redfin on Monday morning. Normally, I would consider that an executive personnel story and move on. This one caught my attention because of who Rocket hired and, more importantly, what Rocket said it wants him to do. Alessio...
There is a strange contradiction developing in the mortgage market right now, and I think we need to be careful about how we talk about it. By most broad measures, the mortgage system is still in pretty good shape. There is no national foreclosure crisis, there is no...
Every month, the housing industry gets another collection of national numbers. Home prices are up. Sales are down. Inventory is improving. Affordability is getting worse. Builder confidence moved. Mortgage applications changed. We report those numbers because they...
Hits and Misses for the Real Estate Week of Aug. 31-Sept. 4
