The United States housing market may be headed for a soft landing, not a collapse, according to at least one new analysis of inventory, home price and construction material data.
In an Aug. 8 video to agents sure to cause a stir, Altos Research founder and CEO Michael Simonsen posits that despite sluggish growth in inventory and mortgage rates that until recently were on an upward march, home prices have largely avoided further acceleration, suggesting that, while the housing market may have already dipped into a recession, the worst the industry may face is a contraction, not a crash.
“Has the U.S. housing market managed to enter a soft landing?” Simonsen said in the video. “It sure looks like that.”
Simonson pointed to several metrics including the slowing growth of inventoryon the market. While there are currently 32 percent more homes on the market than there were at this point last year, there are still 40 percent fewer than there wer ...

8 tips to boost their credit score

How high can their score go?




CONTACT ME







   


What's their credit score? It's an important number for your clients to know because it measures their financial health. Lenders use this number to determine whether or not to extend credit to someone. Credit scores range from 300 to 850. A score of 670 or above is considered good. The higher the score means they'll usually get better terms and lower interest rates on loans and credit cards—which could save thousands of dollars. 
Here are eight tips you can share with your clients to help them raise their credit score: 





01

Review your credit reports—get a free credit report yearly at annualcreditreport.com to know your credit score before applying for a loan. Also, verify that your report is accurate. If there are errors, dispute them with the credit bureau.








02

Pay down high balan ...

Power Buyer Knock believes it’s found a creative way to help take some of the sting out of rising mortgage rates — by letting homebuyers use the equity in their existing home to buy down their mortgage rate or make a bigger down payment on their next home purchase.
The new interest-free home equity advance announced by Knock Tuesday is available to homebuyers using the company’s “Home Swap” product to buy their next home before they sell their existing property.
“With mortgage rates doubling since the start of the year and home prices continuing to grow at double-digits, buying a home has gotten a lot more expensive,” Knock co-founder and CEO Sean Black said in a statement. “At the same time, homeowners have more of their wealth tied up in their home than any other time in history.”
Americans have about $11 trillion in tappable equity tied up in their homes, or about $207,00 on average, according to a recent analysis&nbR ...

Investor purchases made up 9.5% of home purchases nationally in April, just shy of a February peak of 9.7% and an increase of 64% from 2019 levels, according to new data from Realtor.com

Property investors scooped up a record-high number of houses this spring, according to a new report that arrives as Congress begins its investigation into the root causes of the nation’s shortage of homes for sale.
Investor purchases made up 9.5 percent of home purchases nationally in April, modestly below a February 2022 peak of 9.7 percent and an increase of 64 percent from 2019 levels, according to a report Wednesday from Realtor.com.
The report found that investors took more inventory off the market than they added to it during the spring, after the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022 saw reduced buying activity and a focus on home sales.
Buying activity resumed at full speed in the spring and winter, with investors buying more homes than they sold and approximately th ...

The forces fueling home price growth for the past two years have been weakening in recent months as the market finds itself in the midst of a multi-month slowdown.
Home prices rose by 1 percent in May after accounting for seasonal patterns, according to the S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller Index numbers released on Tuesday. Prices were up nearly 20 percent year over year.
By normal standards, this still represents a remarkably high rate of growth for the prices of U.S. homes. 
“Housing data for May 2022 continued strong, as price gains decelerated slightly from very high levels,” S&P Dow Jones Industrial Managing Director Craig Lazzara said in a statement.

But throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, conditions have been far from normal. Cheap mortgages in the first couple years of the pandemic helped drive up demand for homes — and the prices for which they would sell — to previously unseen levels. 
Since the start of the year, howeve; ...