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Financial News Update
The August Producer Price Index fell 0.1% versus the 0.2% expected increase due in part to a decline in food prices and a range of services. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August rose 0.2%, in line with estimates as higher costs for gasoline and rents were offset by declining costs for healthcare and apparel.…
Optimism Abounds
“I’m hearing every day from small business owners that business is booming. As the tax and regulatory landscape changed, so did small business expectations and plans,” said NFIB President and CEO Juanita D. Duggan. Small businesses make up a large portion of those employed across the U.S. According to data from the Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of…
The Best Home Remodeling Projects
The Denver Post 2 Sundays ago had a great story titled, “Colorado homeowners can get the biggest bang for their home-improvement buck with these projects.” According to HomeAdvisor the average homeowner spent $6,649 in home improvements from March 2017 to March 2018, an increase of nearly $1500 from the previous year. Second, Millennials completed…
The Best RE Markets in the Country
WalletHub released a BIG report on the best cities to buy real estate in. The states of Colorado and Washington dominated their lists. How was this determined? WalletHub compared 300 cities across two key dimensions, “Real-Estate Market” and “Affordability & Economic Environment.” Then they evaluated those dimensions using 22 relevant metrics with 80% of the…
Are You a Trusted Advisor?
I read that 79% of business buyers say it’s absolutely critical or very important to interact with a salesperson who is a trusted advisor — not just a sales rep — who adds value to their business. Second, customers demand smarter sales experiences, and they want sales reps who are personal consultants that help them…
CO a Top 10 State for Retirees
Haven Life, an online life insurance agency ranked Colorado the 10th best state for retirees. Why? Our well-being, access to quality health care, access to arts and entertainment, and our relatively mild winters helped us place 10th. The top 6 states for retirement were all neighbors in this order—Idaho, South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, Utah,…
Freddie is Making it Easier for People With Student Loans
Effective November 1st, Freddie Mac is making it easier for us to calculate a minimum monthly payment on student loans. There will no longer be different rules for loans in repayment stage, loans in deferment, and loans in forbearance. Here’s how. If the monthly payment on the credit report is $0, use 0.5% of the…
Downtown Apartment Market is Over Built
In downtown Denver builders are building too many new Class A apartments, thus rent concessions are increasing or actual rent amounts are decreasing in submarkets like Cherry Creek and the Golden Triangle. Charlie Williams, a Senior VP at KeyBank said, it may take 18 months instead of 14 months to fill a building, but it…
Why are They Not Downsizing?
According to Trulia nearly 60% of Denver senior households (aged 65+) that own a house has no younger generations living with them and on average have 2 extra bedrooms in their home. Trulia calls these households “downsizable”. Why are they not downsizing then? One reason is 19% of them are still working, up from 16%…
$6 Trillion of Home Equity
Black Knight revealed that America’s 44 million homeowners now have a combined $6 TRILLION of tapable home equity. This is 21% more than in 2006. Still, this year equity withdrawals by new first mortgages and Helocs are down 3% from last year, the lowest share of equity withdrawn since the first quarter of 2014. …
Total Wages Up 5.1%
One of my favorite national economist is Brian Wesbury, Chief Economist for First Trust Portfolios. Brian last week dug DEEP into the August Jobs Report and discovered that Total Wages, which factors in both hourly earnings and hours worked, are up 5.1% in the past year. Second, Total Wages (net after taxes) have increased by…
Financial News Update
The S&P Case-Shiller 20-City Index rose 6.3% from June 2017 to June 2018, below the 6.5% recorded in May. Consumer Confidence for August came in at 133.4 versus the 126.5 expected, highest level since October 2000. The second reading on Q2 2018 Gross Domestic Product ticked up to 4.2% from 4.1%. Annual Core PCE, ticked…
