Blog - Joanne Fishman

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Home Buyers Gaining Negotiating Power

The national inventory of homes for sale grew at a record pace in July for the third consecutive month, according to data from Realtor.com. The rise in inventory is giving more negotiating power to buyers after two years of a strong, some would say fiery, sellers’ market. “The U.S. housing market continues to move toward […]
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The Real Estate Market Is Shifting

Each month that goes by, we see big and small shifts in our real estate market. For instance this week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage saw the largest weekly decline since 2020, falling to 5.43 percent. It had been 5.74 percent. And the drop in rates led to increases in […]
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Walnut Creek July Sales Report
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Lafayette July Home Sales Report

Uncategorized Home Buyers Gaining Negotiating Power The national inventory of homes for sale grew at a record pace in July for the third consecutive month, according to data from Realtor.com. The rise in inventory is giving more negotiating power to buyers after two years of a strong, some would say fiery, sellers’ market. “The U.S. housing market continues to move toward […]

Uncategorized The Real Estate Market Is Shifting Each month that goes by, we see big and small shifts in our real estate market. For instance this week, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage saw the largest weekly decline since 2020, falling to 5.43 percent. It had been 5.74 percent. And the drop in rates led to increases in […]

Uncategorized Walnut Creek July Sales Report

Uncategorized Lafayette July Home Sales Report

Uncategorized Mortgage Rates Drop The 30-year fixed rate mortgage saw the largest weekly decline since 2020 in the past week, dropping 31 basis points to 5.43 percent, reports Joel Kan, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Vice President of economic and industry forecasting. The rate fell from 5.74 percent, having a positive effect on several areas of the real estate […]

Uncategorized Pending Home Sales Fell 8.6% In June WASHINGTON (July 27, 2022) – Pending home sales decreased in June, following a slight increase in May, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. All four major regions posted month-over-month and year-over-year pullbacks, the largest of which occurred in the West. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI),* www.nar.realtor/pending-home-sales, a forward-looking indicator of home sales based […]

Uncategorized Slowing Demand is Reshaping The Housing Market Mortgage applications nationwide have fallen for two weeks in a row while sales of previously owned homes have fallen for four straight months. JP Morgan Chase & Co., the country’s largest bank, said recently that mortgage originations fell 45 percent in the second quarter from a year ago. Mortgage rates are closely tied to yields […]

Uncategorized The Housing Market Continues To Cool Down The housing market in California continues to cool down, according to the California Association of Realtors’ report today. Existing family home sales in June declined 8.4 percent from May and nearly 21 percent from a year ago. In addition the median home price statewide was 863,790 which is down 4 percent from May but up […]

Uncategorized Easy Steps To Save Water As Severe Drought Continues Californians have been asked to voluntarily reduce water use by a 15 percent. If conservation efforts don’t work, the state may impose mandatory water restrictions. Considering the 50 percent of home water use is for outdoor purposes, here are some steps you can take to make a difference. Turn off your sprinklers when rain is […]

Uncategorized 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Drops Over the last two weeks the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped by half a percent, while concerns about a potential recession continue to rise, Freddie Mac reported today. The average for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage this week now stands 5.3 percent, while the 15-year firm is 4.45 percent. Freddie Mac also noted that “while the drop […]

Uncategorized Housing Inventory Growing Housing inventory nationwide was 19 percent higher in June than a year ago but it’s still nearly half of what it was before Covid, according to Realtor.com. “We expect to see additional inventory growth in July, building on accelerated improvements see throughout June,” saidDanielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. The expanding supply has not yet […]

Uncategorized Walnut Creek June Sales Snapshot

Uncategorized Lafayette June Home Sales Snapshot

Uncategorized Inflation Concerns Behind Mortgage Rates’ Steep Rise Freddie Mac reported today the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate moved up more than a half a percentage point, making this the largest one-week increase in the its survey since 1987. This rate is well above the 2.93 percent recorded just one year ago and is the steepest level since 2008. The Freddie Mac average is […]

Uncategorized Mortgage Rates Surge, Applications Fall Total mortgage application volume was down 52.7 percent last week from a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Sharply rising interest rates are curtailing refinancing and those rates, along with high home prices, are curbing buyer demand. “Mortgage rates followed Treasury yields up in response to higher-than-expected inflation and anticipation that the […]

Uncategorized The Housing Market Is Shifting There’s still a lot of motivation for buyers and sellers in the market and that’s not likely to change much in the coming months. With experts projecting a rise in inventory and mortgage rates remaining relatively low, both sides in the real estate transaction stand to benefit from making a move this year. However, the […]