Sometimes there is no shortcut when you want to make a lot of money. Speaking of making money, and creating wealth for clients, owning real estate continues to be a good investment. The National Association of Realtors tells us that more than 85 percent of metro markets registered home price increases in the fourth quarter of 2023. Its latest quarterly report reports that fifteen percent of the 221 tracked metro areas experienced double-digit price gains over the same period, up from 11 percent in the third quarter. In the lending world, according to Curinos, January 2024 funded mortgage volume increased 3 percent year over year but decreased 4 percent versus the previous month. The average 30-year conforming retail funded rate in January was 6.86%, -39bps lower than December and 47bps higher than the same month last year. Curinos sources a statistically significant data set directly from lenders to produce these benchmark figures. (Today’s Commentary podcast can be found here a
Yesterday I listened to the CFPB’s Rohit Chopra discuss home loans. Today I head from Nashville to Chicago, both known all over the world. Here, the United States has everything: mountains, forests, plains, rivers, swamps, tropical jungles, glaciers, beaches… I could go on. But apparently there is a certain attraction for some in Italy, Mexico, Costa Rica, Portugal for U.S. citizens, and those are the top countries for Americans buying real estate abroad. Back in the U.S. of A, the subject of a lack of inventory continues to be discussed from coast to coast. What if the “big companies” sold their holdings? Well, Invitation Homes is the largest single owner of single-family rental homes in the United States, managing more than 80,000 homes. But why should they, or any other corporate homeowner? Speaking of big numbers, among unmarried people ages 18 and over who have never been married, widowed or divorced, regardless of their sexual orientation, the odds of
Amidst the seemingly week mass shootings and violence, individual deaths stand out. Heartfelt condolences go out to Jennifer and Dan Gilbert, of Rocket Mortgage, over the death of their 26 year old son Nick. No parent should have to deal with the death of their child and going through the grieving process. Meanwhile, UWM’s Mat Ishbia was involved in a play during the NBA playoffs. When I was a kid, my grandmother (Edna, and the source of several of my passwords) came to live with us. When you’re 10, sharing a bathroom with an 80-year-old is, uh, memorable, for lack of a better term. But I survived, and so did she (for several years, at least) after the arrangement had ended and she moved to a retirement home. Now, many years later, the dynamics of multigenerational households are shifting. “Historically, these households entailed young adults moving back in with their parents, or aging parents moving in with their adult children. Now, a growing number of parents ar