Author: Lending Agent

Buddy Hughes, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) called on the Trump administration Tuesday to negotiate a long-term softwood lumber agreement with Canada that will end lumber tariffs, help stabilize the volatile housing market and give builders greater price stability. Testifying before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, Hughes told lawmakers that the nation is facing a “fever-pitch housing affordability crisis,” with nearly 77% of households not able to afford a median-priced new home. He said current conditions were making it increasingly difficult for builders to produce housing that is affordable for buyers and…

The Cboe Volatility Index (known as the “VIX”) measures the market’s expectation of volatility over the next 30 days as implied by a weighted strip of S & P 500 Index options. When investors are nervous, options premiums, and therefore the VIX tends to spike, reflecting heightened uncertainty. A very high reading often signals panic or extreme fear. Such spikes sometimes suggest that the market may have overreacted, potentially offering buying opportunities. The problem with using the VIX alone as a buy or a sell signal is that while sometimes fears are overblown, sometimes they’re not. For example, during the…

Baird is moving to the sidelines on Tesla . While the firm is holding on to its outperform rating, it labeled the electric vehicle stock a “bearish fresh pick” on Thursday, predicting risk for the shares through its first-quarter delivery report. So far this year, Telsa has been underperforming the broader market. Analyst Ben Kallo lowered his price target to $370 per share from $440. That is about 33% above Wednesday’s $279.10 close, which means Baird’s new target assumes the stock will be able to recoup its year-to-date losses. TSLA YTD mountain Tesla stock. Kallo said the Model Y refresh…

Key takeaways When you miss a mortgage payment, your lender will often give you a 15-day grace period, during which you can pay without penalty. Most lenders won’t start the foreclosure process until you’ve missed four mortgage payments in a row or are 120 days late on payments. If you are having trouble paying your mortgage, it’s best to contact your lender immediately and discuss your options. Many people use a mortgage to purchase a home. It’s an agreement between a lender and a borrower in which the lender pays a large sum upfront for the home purchase, and the…

Image by PM Images/Getty Images; Illustration by Hunter Newton/Bankrate Mortgage rates dropped this week, with the 30-year fixed rate averaging 6.72 percent, down from 6.84 percent the previous week and the lowest level since October 2024, according to Bankrate’s latest lender survey. Current mortgage rates Loan type Current 4 weeks ago One year ago 52-week average 52-week low 30-year 6.72% 7.02% 7.09% 6.90% 6.20% 15-year 5.94% 6.21% 6.46% 6.18% 5.40% 30-year jumbo 6.86% 7.03% 7.03% 6.95% 6.36% The 30-year fixed mortgages in this week’s survey had an average total of 0.29 discount and origination points. Discount points are a way…

A high-yielding play is getting its moment in the sun as investors look to beef up their ability to generate income and aim to minimize volatility. Enter the interval fund , a structure that holds private credit and other income-generating assets that are less liquid than what’s found in an exchange-traded fund. Because of the nature of their holdings, these funds can’t be sold at will — instead, they have windows of liquidity through share repurchases typically offered once a quarter. The funds can also use leverage to help boost their income, resulting in yields that are in the 9%…

It’s been a great couple of weeks for mortgage rates, largely mirroring the terrible couple of weeks for the stock market. A combination of downbeat econ data and economic concerns helped push investors away from stocks and into bonds (mortgage rates are based on bonds where more demand means lower rates). There have been two notable attempts on the part of stocks to bounce back over these two weeks and today was one of them. Rates have been under pressure at the same time, but they’re not just thinking about stocks.   Rates/bonds prefer to take cues from economic data.  While…

Like elsewhere in the U.S., home prices in Utah have increased in recent years, making it more challenging for first-time homebuyers to make moves. To help you overcome the affordability hurdle, explore these first-time buyer programs, including ones through the Utah Housing Corporation, the state’s housing finance agency. Utah first-time homebuyer programs Utah Housing loan programs Utah Housing Corporation (UHC) or Utah Housing, is the state’s housing finance agency. This organization connects homebuyers with mortgage lenders that offer more affordable 30-year, fixed-rate conventional, FHA and VA loans to eligible first-time and repeat homebuyers. You’re considered a first-time buyer if you’ve…

(Check out Carter’s worthcharting.com for actionable recommendations and live nightly videos.) Amazon’s 19% sell-off from its 52-week high one month ago is seen as a buying opportunity. The stock is in a well-defined uptrend, and uptrends are characterized by countertrends (sell-offs). This pullback, as seen in the charts below, is very similar in terms of magnitude and duration to other countertrend moves in the context of Amazon’s ongoing uptrend. Here are two Amazon charts below for your consideration. DISCLOSURES: None. All opinions expressed by the CNBC Pro contributors are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBC…

New apartment construction hit a record high last year, but all that new supply is apparently not enough to cool the competition in the market. Getting a rental is actually becoming even more difficult, according to a new report from RentCafe, an apartment search site.Last year, developers completed close to 600,000 multifamily units, according to the U.S. Census. That is the highest level since 1974 and a 34% increase from 2023. New York City, Dallas and Austin, Texas, led in the number of new rentals.Despite that, on a national level, rental competitiveness rose at the start of this year, according…