Latest from Blog
- All
- Housing affordability crisis
- Local Denver economic news
- Local Denver real estate news and stats
- National Economic News
- National real estate news and stats
- New construction data and info
- Uncategorized
Average Home Prices Drop Which I Predicted
I received from SMDRA our 7-county REColorado report on home sales for the month of May. Here are the details- Closings plummeted by 44% from May 2019 to just 3,175 closings last month. Closings of both attached and detached homes fell by a similar amount. New listings in May dropped by 19.7% from last May…
2 New Strategies for the Fed?
I read an article written by Mark J. Grant, Chief Global Strategist, Fixed Income, for B. Riley FBR Inc. on 2 strategies the Fed is considering using to jump-start our economy. First, is “yield-curve control” in which the Fed sets short-term rates for maybe as loan as 5 years at very specific low levels to…
FHA Does Something Stupid…Again
FHA announced a new policy last week on FHA loans that enter forbearance BEFORE FHA insures the loan for us. Realize this insurance process can take 30-90 days. FHA will now insure these loans for us; but THERE IS A CATCH. Under the terms of the new policy, lenders must provide an indemnification agreement to…
An Interview with a Top Investment Advisor
Peter Boockvar the Chief Investment Officer for Bleakley Advisor Group was interviewed last week by Barry Habib and I was able to watch the interview live on Facebook. Peter is one of my favorites to read and watch as I have learned greatly from him over the years. Here are several items I am passing…
Our Legislature is Back in Session
The Colorado Legislature is back in session and here are some proposed bills that I read about in the Denver Business Journal- One bill makes a law change that would presume that any employee who contracts coronavirus did so while at work and is now eligible for workers-comp benefits. Holy Cow! This is a great way…
An Exodus to the Exurbs is Coming
Zillow ran a story recently on how the labor market and real estate markets will be impacted for years to come by the virus. Two weeks ago the Harris Poll found 75% of Americans working from home due to Covid-19 say they would prefer to continue that at least half the time, if given the…
Really Bad News for Self-Employed Borrowers
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released a new policy last week that has HUGE implications for self-employed borrowers. Here is exactly their new policy says- Income from a business that has been negatively impacted by changing conditions is not necessarily ineligible for use in qualifying the borrower. However, the lender is required to determine if…
Will Rates Rise or Fall?
JP Morgan strategists believe the Fed’s QE programs may need to grow even more to purchase the huge increase in supply of new debt issued this year by the government. If the Fed doesn’t increase QE JP Morgan is concerned that bond yields and thus interest rates could rise. This makes perfect economic sense to…
How the Pandemic Will Impact RE
Redfin wrote a great story last week after analyzing their April data of home views and an extensive survey on the percentages of people working from home that I want to share with you. First, pageviews of homes in small towns surged 105% year over year at the end of April versus the same time…
Why Our Economy Should Start Growing Soon
Brian Wesbury, Chief Economist for First Trust Portfolios is one of my favorite economists and he is even more of an optimist than I am. One of the reasons he is so optimistic is this-from 2008-2011 Quantitative Easing by the Fed did NOT make to businesses or consumers. Instead this extra money wound up in…
Will Interest Rates Go Negative in 2021?
The Fed Funds Future Market is expecting the Fed Funds Rate which the Fed directly controls to go negative by June 2021 if not sooner. President Trump is also asking for the Fed to cut short-term rates below 0%. JP Morgan Chase’s Strategists said, “Mildly negative rates such as -10 bps for a year or two…
A Very Somber Message from Chairman Powell
Fed Chairman Powell spoke last week on-line and he was pessimistic about our economy to say the least. Here are some his highlights- The path ahead is highly uncertain. He sees significant downside risk A prolonged recession and possible weak recovery if they don’t get relief correct. Additional relief may be needed Liquidity problems could…
