Blog
Interest Rates Staying Low; Rent- Not So Much
With inflation remaining well below their target rate, experts are predicting that this week’s meeting of the Fed will move away from any notion of raising interest rates in June. But while the overall interest rate may be below the point the Fed is targeting, that’s...
Spring Housing Market Stifled By Herd Behavior
A healthy housing market, balanced between buyers and sellers, is considered to be one with about 6 months of inventory. Today, there is just a 4.6 month supply, but at the same time, many homes on the market aren’t moving — they’re going stale (where “stale” is...
Let Your Watch Find Your Next Home
The Apple Watch has been all the news the last few weeks, and it’s unsurprising, given that smart watch sales are expected to grow from 4.6 million units last year to 28.1 million units this year. What does that have to do with real estate, you ask? Yesterday, Trulia...
Did Your Home Come with A Maintenance Checklist?
Of course, the title is kind of a joke — it would be more than a little surprising if it had. But wouldn’t it be nice if it had? “A stitch in time saves nine” is a proverb that homeowners would do well to heed, because those proverbial stitches can become quite costly...
The Week for Wonks in Mortgage
If you’re the sort of person who loves following the thoughts of a good policy wonk, and you’re interested in the mortgage industry, then this is the big week for you. The annual American Mortgage Conference is taking place this week, in Raleigh, NC. If there were a...
1/3rd of The Way through Spring: Have You Started Cleaning?
Spring cleaning is a tried-and-true tradition — but that doesn’t make it any more pleasant. We’re already one month past the Vernal Equinox, and if you haven’t yet started your spring cleaning, you’re probably not alone. Thankfully for all of us who dread this annual...
Tax Deduction and Home Renovation
One of the great benefits of home ownership is the ability to take tax deductions unavailable to those who are renting. And that’s not just limited to your interest payment — you can often get great tax benefits from home improvements. But in order to do so, you need...
Your Best Investment May Be Paying Off Your Primary Mortgage Insurance
Primary Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is a payment with which most new homeowners must contend. Generally, you have to pay PMI if your equity (i.e., your down-payment on a new purchase) is below a certain threshold. For many people, that can be worth it, because in...
Future Homes Past
One of the great things that humans can do is make predictions. The quality of those predictions is an entirely different matter. Nevertheless, it’s fun to think about where we’ll be in 10, 20, or 100 years — and for the shorter periods, it can be fun to see which...
More Mortgage Lingo
Based on the success of yesterday’s post, we see there’s a strong interest in getting up to speed on mortgage terminology. Main St. provides this handy guide covering 10 terms that you should learn if you’re thinking about buying a house. They cover the basics of...

