Deciding Which Way to Err, or, “A Picture Showing is Worth 1,000 Words” In medicine, a “false-positive” refers to a test result that is incorrect because the test indicated a condition or finding that does not exist. Unsurprisingly, the opposite of a “false-positive” is a “false-negative” — a test result that is incorrect because the test failed...Read More
“Recently, Overstock.com — an online retailer — agreed to accept bitcoins; the Sacramento Kings basketball team will do likewise. According to coinmap.org, about 2,600 stores and businesses worldwide accept bitcoins, with concentrations in Western Europe, California and New York.” –“Bitcoin: Is it a Boom, Or a Bubble?”; Robert Samuelson (Jan. 20, 2014) Sooner or later,...Read More
Listing Inventory: How Many Months’ Supply? It takes a little deciphering, but those four numbers represent how many months of housing supply are currently available in St. Louis Park, Southwest Minneapolis, Golden Valley, and Minnetonka, respectively. The significance? All four of those markets are well below the 4-6 months considered indicative of a “balanced” housing...Read More
Halloween Scream? Not This Year After almost touching 5%(!) barely a month ago, interest rates on a 30-year mortgage for well-qualified borrowers have dropped almost a full point, to just above 4%. Jumbo loan rates are even lower. Chalk that up to 3 reasons: 1) the debt ceiling has been raised, however temporarily; 2) the...Read More
Older, More Cautious First-Time Buyers “Low interest rates and relatively low prices can take the housing market only so far. For the market to truly heal, the economy must also heal.” –“Who Wants to Buy a House“; The New York Times (9/28/2013) My clients know that I regard the housing market as a dependent variable,...Read More
First-Time? Yes. Buyers? Not Exactly When is an uptick in new household formation BAD for home sales? When it’s the non-human kind. According to a wildlife contractor I’m working with now, Fall is when juvenile squirrels, mice, and raccoons look to establish their own “new households.” Unfortunately, their preferred real estate is often attics, crawl...Read More
