I still keep an unopened envelope in my desk from BofA after they bought State Street // those bastards rejected me despite State Street sitting on my money in trust for over 30 years. I have never forgiven them. They sent a jackass over to do a fair value estimate and again my fault I had recently broken my upper deck railing and had caution tape up there... that was not a good look- BofA intentionally came up with a low estimate<-- totally crooked number. This is the part of the mortgage game that is fixed. Then when I went with JP Morgan who has been with my family for years and I have always banked with Chase they sent this great lady over who put our estimate way up/ to over $1 mil. Problem solved, ratio solved, my income now qualified. The system is rigged.
Word of Advice: Have your house checked out by the bank in the Spring & summer when everything is in bloom.
U.S. housing market could lose nearly $1.5 trillion in value due to rising costs of climate change By Diana Olick, CNBC • Published 3 hours ago • Updated 1 hour ago Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Wind pushes embers into a home as the Eaton Fire moves through the area on Jan. 8, 2025 in Altadena, California.
Building costs, replacement costs, insurance costs, local taxes... especially insurance... makes the price of home ownership more and more out of the reach of the majority of young folks out there. It's pretty simple really, this will put downward pressure on home prices. That's why I wrote the above 6 months ago. WS and the financial media is just starting to catch on. Reading the writing on the wall is not that hard.... I mean if you're half-way in tune with things. Which they're not. But whatever. It takes em a minute.
U.S. Pending Home Sales Hit Historic Low in Early 2025 Residential News » Washington D.C. Edition | By Monsef Rachid | February 28, 2025 6:48 AM ET According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), pending home sales in the U.S. dropped 4.6% in January 2025. The Midwest, South, and West saw month-over-month declines in transactions, with the South experiencing the steepest drop. The Northeast was the only region to post a slight increase. On a year-over-year basis, contract signings fell across all four regions, with the South seeing the most significant decline. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) - a leading indicator of future home sales based on contract signings - decreased 4.6% to 70.6 in January, marking a record low. The previous cyclical low from July 2024 was revised upward from 70.2 to 71.2. Compared to January 2024, pending transactions were down 5.2%. For context, an index of 100 represents the contract activity level from 2001. Lawrence Yun "It's unclear whether the coldest January in 25 years kept buyers out of the market. If so, we may see increased activity in the coming months," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "However, the bigger issue is affordability, as elevated home prices and higher mortgage rates continue to put pressure on buyers." In January, mortgage rates ranged from 6.91% to 7.04%, further straining affordability. Compared to a year ago, the monthly mortgage payment on a $300,000 home rose by $50, reaching $1,590.
That sound logical, but all I see here in northern CA is bidding wars for crappy houses. Townhouses in sleepy towns like Fremont, CA going for $2M+. I can only imagine what they go for in Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Palo Alto, etc.