Some Highlights:

• ­Interest rates are projected to increase steadily throughout 2019, but buyers will still be able to lock in a rate lower than their parents or grandparents did when they bought their homes!
• Home prices will rise at a rate of 4.8% over the course of 2019 according to CoreLogic.
• All four major reporting agencies believe that home sales will outpace 2018!

DID YOU KNOW? Bigger state and local tax collections, propelled in part by an acceleration in sales-tax receipts from consumer spending, is boosting capital projects and driving a municipal borrowing boom. Spending on transportation infrastructure in October was up 15% from a year earlier. State tax revenues grew 6.3% in the second quarter [...]

In George H. W. Bush's famous "thousand points of light" nomination acceptance speech on August 18, 1988, he called for a "kinder, gentler nation" specifically referring to volunteering and giving back. In his lifetime it is estimated he helped raise around $1 billion for various charities. As we all know, this past week President George H. [...]

I spent most of this past Thanksgiving away with my partner's 89-year old mother who was in a rehab facility recovering from a fall. One of the magnificent nurses told me the thing she enjoys most about her job is hearing all the stories of her 'guests' and learning from those who are near the end of their lives who have lived full, [...]

DID YOU KNOW? U.S. consumer spending increased by the most in 7 months in October. (Reuters)

DID YOU KNOW?  Pending US Home Sales slid 2.6% in October. Contract signings were down 6.7% compared to 2017. Pending sales rose in the NORTHEAST by 0.7%. In the MIDWEST sales fell 1.8%, in the SOUTH they fell 1.1%, and in the WEST they were down [...]

Many sellers believe that spring is the best time to place their homes on the market because buyer demand traditionally increases at that time of year, but what they don’t realize is that if every homeowner believes the same thing, then that is when they will have the most [...]

Some Highlights:

• Historically, the choice between renting or buying a home has been a tough decision.
• Looking at the percentage of income needed to rent a median-priced home today (28.4%) vs. the percentage needed to buy a median-priced home (17.5%), the choice becomes obvious.
• Every market is different. Before you renew your lease again, find out if you can put your housing costs to work by buying this year!

Everyone knows that housing affordability has been negatively impacted by rising prices and increasing mortgage rates, but there is another piece to the affordability equation – [...]