KEY POINTS When it comes to credit scores, there are a few things many borrowers often get wrong, experts say. Here are the top misconceptions and why it’s so hard to set the record straight. Randy had an 850 credit score. According to FICO, the most popular scoring model, that’s as good as it gets. Still, a line on his credit report said he could lower his utilization rate, so he promptly paid off...
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KEY POINTS Millennials — who are roughly ages 27 to 42 — are in their prime homebuying years. While the combination of high home prices and rising interest rates has caused affordability issues for many buyers, the situation is gradually improving. The median price for an existing house was $366,900 in December, just 2.3% higher than a year earlier and a drop from the $416,000 recorded last June. It...
KEY POINTS Home equity lines of credit, or HELOCs, may be more appealing than a cash-out mortgage refinance or other sources of borrowed money. Last year, HELOC use ticked up as refinancing lost its luster due to quickly rising mortgage rates. However, there are aspects of HELOCs that borrowers should consider before tapping their home equity. When homeowners look for ways to fund home...
KEY POINTS The average rate on the 30-year fixed rate mortgage has fallen to 5.99%, Mortgage News Daily said. The rate started this week at 6.21% and fell sharply Wednesday after the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said inflation “has eased somewhat but remains elevated.” For someone buying a $400,000 home today with a 20% down payment, the monthly payment is $293 less than it would have been...
The numbers: U.S. existing-home sales fell 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million in July, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. This is the sixth straight monthly decline. The sales number matched what economists polled by the Wall Street Journal were expecting. This is the weakest level of sales since May 2020 at the end of the recession caused by the...
Nobody’s buying newly built homes anymore. Just a few months ago, builders were sitting on lengthy lists of homebuyers waiting to purchase new construction and holding lotteries to announce who would be allowed to go under contract. Not anymore. Sales of newly built homes plunged in July, according to a recent report by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and...
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.66% as of Sept. 1, according to data released Thursday by Freddie Mac. That’s up 11 basis points from the previous week — one basis point is equal to one hundredth of a percentage point, or 1% of 1%. The 30-year is at the highest level since June, when rates hit 5.81% the week of June 23. The average rate on the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 13...
Social media firm plans to “reduce” investment in real estate, cut 20% of staff While many companies put up swaths of office space for sublease during the pandemic, one tech firm did not. Santa Monica-based Snap, the parent company of social media app Snapchat, added 510,000 square feet of leased office space worldwide over the last two years, ending 2021 with 1.4 million square feet, according...
On and off the market since 2020, the mansion at 470 Layton Way was designed by Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta. Just like his movies, Joel Silver’s home sale saga has a sequel. The producer behind the franchises “The Matrix” and “Lethal Weapon” has relisted his Brentwood estate at 470 Layton Way for $52 million. Measuring 25,000 square feet, the mansion prices out to $2,080 per square...
Largest US retail deal since 2018 is part of national divestiture Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has sold another mall in L.A., as it continues with a plan to divest its non-core properties in the U.S. The French mall operator sold the 1.5 million-square-foot Westfield Santa Anita complex in Arcadia for $538 million, according to an announcement on Thursday. The deal comes out to around $363 per square...
