The Federal Reserve slashed interest rates by a half percentage point, or 50 basis points, on Wednesday, its first rate cut since March 2020. Even before the Fed rate cut, some homeowners had already taken advantage of recent declines in mortgage rates to refinance. Refinance activity increased to 46.7% of total applications during the week … Read more
Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images Some young people are splashing out on luxuries like travel and designer clothes instead of saving, in a trend that’s being characterized as “doom spending” on social media. Doom spending is when a person mindlessly shops to self-soothe because they feel pessimistic about the economy and their future, according … Read more
MoMo Productions | Taxi | Getty Images Homeownership has long symbolized the American Dream, embodying stability, wealth creation, and community investment. Yet, for millions of Americans, especially younger generations and first-time homebuyers, that dream is slipping away. Rising home prices, stagnant wages, and restrictive mortgage terms have made it increasingly difficult to take that crucial … Read more
Courtneyk | E+ | Getty Images Mortgages, currency exchange complicates a purchase While there may be similarities to the U.S. market when buying a home overseas, there are also unique challenges on the financial side of the purchase. Oftentimes, Americans buying properties abroad end up financing the transaction with cash outright, experts say. If you … Read more
An employee checks the external casing with a spirit level in a modular house at the Tophat factory in Foston near Derby, UK, on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images The idea of using pre-assembled components in housebuilding is far from new. Modern tech-enabled versions of modular housing promise a faster, … Read more
A group of renters in the U.S. say their landlords are using software to deliver inflated rent hikes. “We’ve been told as tenants by employees of Equity that the software takes empathy out of the equation. So they can charge whatever the software tells them to charge,” said Kevin Weller, a tenant at Portside Towers … Read more
A crane taking four 15-foot-wide by 60-foot-long modular home segments and stacking them one on top of the other to make a new duplex in Aurora, Colorado in 2018. Hyoung Chang | Denver Post | Getty Images A century ago, a first-time homebuyer might begin their search in a catalog for a kit-built home from … Read more
