The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield has crossed 5%, reaching territory that immediately takes me back nearly 20 years. I remember 2007. I was 27 years old, living in a loft South of Market in San Francisco and originating mortgages. Britney Spears had shaved her head a few months earlier. Paris Hilton was dominating the news. The iPhone was brand new. It was a completely different world. And the 10-year Treasury was above 5%. I remember watching the bond market and thinki

There are few pieces of real estate more quintessentially California than a house overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Dana Point. Laguna Beach. Newport Beach. San Clemente. Huntington Beach. Malibu. You open the doors in the morning, hear the waves and look out at a view that people travel across the world to experience for a few days. But every once in a while, the Pacific Ocean gives California homeowners a reminder: The view comes with risk. That happened recently in

Inheriting your parents' home sounds straightforward. Mom or Dad passes away. The house transfers through their estate or trust. The family decides whether to keep it or sell it. But there's a situation that can make that process much more time-sensitive: The house has a reverse mortgage. A recent Realtor.com story highlighted something many adult children don't know until they're already dealing with the death of a parent: inheriting a home with a reverse mortgage ca

California's backyard-housing boom may be about to take another significant step. For years, accessory dwelling units—or ADUs—have become an increasingly important part of California's attempt to create more housing without requiring entirely new subdivisions. Homeowners have converted garages. They've built backyard cottages. Families have created housing for parents and adult children. Investors have added rental units. And California lawmakers have repeatedly c

Why Mortgage Rates Jumped — Even Though Core Inflation Is Falling Mortgage rates had an extremely difficult week. The 10-year Treasury yield broke through 4.80%, surged toward 5%, and mortgage-backed securities experienced a significant selloff. That pushed mortgage rates to some of their highest levels of 2026. Then something interesting happened Friday morning. The August Consumer Price Index showed another relatively hot month for inflation — and bonds improved. That sound

A house in California can mean three completely different things depending on who is standing in front of it. To a local family, it is a place to raise their kids. To a second-home buyer, it might be weekends at the beach. To an investor, it could be an income-producing property with hundreds of potential nightly rental opportunities each year. All three buyers may want the exact same house. And in California's coastal, mountain and vacation communities, that competition rais

There is a strange financial experience happening to a lot of California families. They are making more money than they ever expected to make. They have careers. They may own a home. On paper, their household income might look excellent. And yet at the end of every month, they look at the checking account and wonder: Where did all the money go? For families with young children, one answer is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Housing is expensive. Childcare is expensi

For years, one of the assumptions about America's housing market seemed almost inevitable. Baby Boomers would get older. Their children would move out. The four-bedroom suburban house would become unnecessarily large. Eventually, millions of older homeowners would sell those properties, purchase smaller homes or condos and release a significant amount of housing inventory for younger generations. There's just one problem. A lot of Baby Boomers aren't leaving. Recent reporting

Buying a home in California has always required buyers to think carefully about price, location, property condition, taxes and financing. But there is another question that has become increasingly important: Can you actually insure the house? For years, homeowners insurance was often treated as one of the routine items buyers handled after getting into contract. You found the house, negotiated the purchase, completed inspections, worked through the mortgage process and ob

Homebuyers naturally gravitate toward new listings. A house hits the market Thursday, the photos look great, and by Saturday everyone wants to see it. That's understandable. But if I'm trying to find negotiating opportunities for a buyer, I also want to look in the opposite direction. Show me the houses nobody is talking about anymore. Show me the listing that's been sitting for 45 days. Show me the property that went pending and came back. Show me the house with

Getting pre-approved for a mortgage feels like you've crossed the finish line. Then you find a house, your offer gets accepted, the appraisal is completed, and suddenly closing day is right around the corner. That's usually when buyers start making plans. They shop for furniture. They look at appliances. They start moving money around. Maybe they decide it's finally time to buy a new car. And that's exactly when I want borrowers to become incredibly boring. A mortgage

If you feel like people are buying their first or next home later in life than they used to, you're not imagining it. A new Los Angeles Times analysis of Southern California housing data found something striking: The typical Southern California homebuyer was about 40 years old in 2005. Today, that buyer is around 45. Five years may not sound dramatic. But it says a lot about what has happened to homeownership in California over the last two decades. California Homeo

There’s an interesting shift happening in California housing right now: buyers aren’t necessarily giving up on homeownership. They’re changing the map. New Realtor.com data released August 25 found that 94.4% of home-shopping traffic originating in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro went to homes outside the area during the second quarter of 2026. That was the highest percentage among the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country. And when you look at San Jose home

Should You Wait for Mortgage Rates to Drop Before Buying a Home? The Math Isn't That Simple “I'm going to wait until mortgage rates come down.” I hear some version of that constantly, and on the surface it makes perfect sense. A lower mortgage rate can reduce the monthly principal-and-interest payment on the same loan amount. If rates fall enough, a buyer who couldn't comfortably afford a particular home today may suddenly be able to make the numbers work. But there's a

Should You Put 20% Down on a House? Why a Bigger Down Payment Isn't Always Better For decades, one of the most common pieces of homebuying advice has been remarkably simple: save until you have a 20% down payment. Putting 20% down can reduce the amount you borrow, lower the monthly principal-and-interest payment and, on many conventional loans, avoid private mortgage insurance. Those are real advantages. But they don't mean 20% down is automatically the best financial dec

One of the first questions almost every mortgage borrower asks is, “What's the lowest interest rate I can get?” It's an understandable question. Your mortgage rate affects your monthly payment and the amount of interest you'll potentially pay over time, so naturally a lower number sounds better. The problem is that mortgage rates don't exist independently of cost. A lender may be able to offer several rate options on the same loan, with some requiring additional upfront dis

Mortgage markets received several encouraging economic reports this week. Inflation is showing signs of cooling. Employment is weakening. Wage growth has slowed. And now consumers appear to be pulling back. Normally, that combination would be exactly what mortgage borrowers want to see. So why aren't mortgage rates falling dramatically? The answer is that today's mortgage market is being influenced by two very different forces. ## Inflation Continues to Modera

Most buyers search for essentially the same house. They want the remodeled kitchen, updated bathrooms, newer flooring, fresh paint, good landscaping and a property they can move into without immediately spending another six months dealing with contractors. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting turnkey. The problem is that everybody else wants it too. A beautifully renovated property can attract more buyers and command a premium because someone else already dealt

One of the strangest problems in mortgage lending happens when someone is objectively wealthy but looks weak under traditional income underwriting. They may have $1 million, $2 million or considerably more sitting in investment and retirement accounts, own other properties outright, and have very little debt. Yet when they apply for a traditional mortgage, they can still hear the words: “You don't have enough qualifying income.” That sounds ridiculous until you understand h

One of the strangest conversations I have in mortgage lending is with successful business owners who are convinced they can't qualify for a home loan. Their company is profitable, they have money in the bank, their credit is strong, and they may have been self-employed for years. Yet when their income is analyzed through traditional mortgage guidelines, the numbers suddenly don't look nearly as impressive. This doesn't necessarily mean the business owner can't afford the hous