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

Something unusual is happening in the American housing market. For years, one of the biggest complaints from prospective homebuyers was painfully simple: There weren't enough homes for sale. Buyers would find a property they liked and discover five other offers. Open houses were packed. Properties sold almost immediately. In some California markets, buyers waived contingencies, bid substantially over asking price and wrote offers on homes they barely had time to think about.

California needs more housing. That statement is repeated by politicians, developers, economists, real estate professionals and frustrated homebuyers throughout the state. But there is another part of California’s housing problem that gets less attention: How long does it actually take to build the housing we say we need? Candlestick Point in San Francisco may be one of the best examples. The former home of the San Francisco 49ers and Giants is finally moving toward

That's the question I had when I saw this story. A 54-unit affordable-housing project in West Marin is moving forward with an estimated development cost of about $55.4 million. That's roughly $1 million per unit. Before everybody loses their mind: That does NOT mean residents are paying $1 million for these homes. This is also a complicated redevelopment of a former Coast Guard property with existing buildings, infrastructure, construction requirements and multiple

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

For the last several years, almost every conversation about the San Francisco housing market has eventually arrived at the same subjects: affordability, mortgage rates, remote work, technology employment and whether buyers still want to pay extraordinary prices to live in the Bay Area. Now another factor is entering the conversation. Artificial intelligence. The enormous growth of the AI industry isn't simply changing the employment landscape in San Francisco. New reporting s

A beautiful condo can have new flooring, an updated kitchen, a great location and a monthly payment that fits perfectly into your budget. Then you discover something that wasn't obvious during the showing. The homeowners association needs millions of dollars for major repairs, doesn't have enough money saved in reserves, and owners may be facing a substantial special assessment. That can change the economics of the purchase very quickly. This is why buying a condomini

Buying a home in Northern California can require a substantial amount of cash, but you may not need to save a 10% or 20% down payment before becoming a homeowner. Eligible buyers may have access to down payment assistance programs that can help cover some or all of the required down payment and, depending on the program, certain closing costs. The key is understanding that down payment assistance is not one universal program. To qualify, you'll generally need to meet re

There was a time when earning $100,000 a year represented a fairly obvious financial milestone. You had reached six figures. You were doing well. Buying a home seemed like something that should naturally come next. For many Californians in 2026, that expectation collides with reality very quickly. You can have a good career, earn more money than you ever have before and still open Zillow and wonder how the math is supposed to work. That frustration isn't imaginary. Ac

What if your neighborhood grocery store became an 848-home residential development? That is essentially the conversation happening around San Francisco’s Marina Safeway. A proposed redevelopment of the site would replace the existing low-rise grocery property with a much larger mixed-use project containing 848 homes, including 86 affordable units, with buildings reaching up to 22 stories. A grocery store would remain part of the new development. Those numbers are attent

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