Redfin Ultimatum: Buyers Should See All the Listings
A week after Zillow drew a hard line on off-market listings, Redfin has rolled out its own ultimatum. Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman penned a short statement, saying “Buyers should see all the listings, and sellers should control how their listing appears online.” He went on to say that, “Redfin.com will not publish any listings that […]
Beware of the Mortgage Rate That Ends with .875%
I was looking at ICE’s most recent Mortgage Monitor Report when something struck me. In their rate distribution chart of recent mortgages, I noticed a super wide range of rates during the year 2022. This was because the 30-year fixed began the year around 3%, and ascended rapidly to around 7.5% by that October. It […]
Mortgage Brokers Are Supposed to Shop Around on Your Behalf
A new lawsuit filed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost claims the nation’s top mortgage lender is ripping off Ohio consumers. It’s an interesting one because the role of a mortgage broker is to shop on a consumer’s behalf so they don’t have to. Instead of working with a captive lender like a retail bank, […]
Top Mortgage Lenders in California: UWM Sweeps All Categories, Rocket Second
Thanks to newly-released data, it’s time to take a fresh look at the top mortgage lenders in California in 2024. The Golden State is by far the biggest market for home loans, accounting for roughly 14% of the overall market in the United States. Nowhere else even comes close, including heavyweights like Florida and Texas, […]
The 2% Mortgage Hack Explained
Folks on social media love coming up with so-called “hacks” to excite their followers. In the mortgage realm, this typically means highlighting math that seems unbelievable at first. And it usually revolves around paying down a mortgage ahead of schedule, much to the chagrin of the banks. For the record, the banks probably don’t care […]
For Mortgage Rates, It’s One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
It’s been a pretty solid week or two for mortgage rates. The 30-year fixed, which unexpectedly breached the key 7% psychological threshold in mid-April, is back closer to 6.75%. It’s still a lot closer to 7% than 6%, but after the worsening trade war sent rates flying, they’ve since calmed down a bit. The problem […]