Housing As A “Nest Egg” – Why Homeowners Have Far Higher Net Worths
Thursday, August 25
The average net worth of Americans who own homes is $1.1 million. The average net worth of Americans who don’t own homes is about $96,000 – according to this Business Insider article. Do homeowners have high net worths because they came from wealth, or do they have high net worths because they b...
The Car Wash Indicator (Scariest of All)
Monday, August 22
New Jaguar Owner Changes His Own Oil – A “Sign” Of Things To Come When I was in law school in the late 1980s, I went to an auto parts store to get a part for my Nissan and ran into a young developer I knew. We exchanged pleasantries and I would have thought nothing of the meeting but for the fac...
Zillow: Prices Down 0.1%! NOT. A. CRASH.
Friday, August 19
Good Gravy! “Good gravy” is what my South Dakota grandma used to say whenever she saw or heard something absurd – and she would be screaming that now if she saw all the headlines alluding to a “housing crash.” Zillow’s Latest Terrifying Report (Is Not Terrifying At All) The following is from thi...
LoanDepot Stock Fell From $32 to $2 & There's So Much To Learn
Thursday, August 18
MORTGAGE BANK STOCKS CRASHED! COVID caused rates to plummet – which in turn ushered in the mother of all refi booms. Several large mortgage banks** had initial public offerings at the height of the refi boom – with valuations that were based largely on revenues from refis. **“Mortgage banks” on...
Nervous Homebuyers Taking Advantage of More Inventory
Wednesday, August 17
We recently had a very nervous homebuyer (a single mom) come back to the market after sitting on the sidelines for about a year. This is despite the fact that higher rates reduced her buying power. She came back to the market because she saw the increase in inventory and the corresponding price ...
“Gross Living Area” For A Home & Why Finished Basements Don't Count
Friday, August 12
When I was a kid growing up in Southwest Minnesota, everyone had basements. Basements initially served as “root cellars” to store potatoes and carrots all winter (which we actually did) and as protection from tornadoes (something we needed often on the prairie). But the basements were also neces...