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

For decades, the idea of a “starter home” was pretty easy to picture. A young couple bought a small single-family home. Maybe it needed some work. Maybe it only had two bedrooms and one bathroom. They lived there for several years, built equity, earned more money, and eventually moved into something larger. In much of California, that traditional path has become increasingly difficult. And that raises an important question: What if the California starter home isn’t dead? What

For years, renters have heard some version of the same advice: “Renting is throwing your money away.” I work in the mortgage industry, so you might expect me to agree with that statement. I don't. Buying a home can be one of the best long-term financial decisions someone makes. Homeownership can provide stability, potential appreciation, principal reduction and the opportunity to eventually own a significant asset outright. But that doesn't mean buying a home is always smarte

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

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

If you're buying your first home in Sonoma County, one of the first decisions you'll probably face is whether to use an FHA loan or a conventional loan. The short answer: neither one is automatically better. FHA can be a great fit when your down payment is limited, your credit profile needs some flexibility, or your debt-to-income ratio makes conventional financing difficult. Conventional financing can be the better choice when your credit is stronger, you qualify for a 3% or

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

Imagine finding a home you love and discovering something potentially even better than the house itself: the seller financed it several years ago with a mortgage rate in the 2% or 3% range. Your first question would probably be the same one I hear from buyers: “Can I just take over their mortgage?” Sometimes, the answer is yes. Certain mortgages are assumable, which means an eligible buyer may be able to take over the seller's existing mortgage obligation rather than obta

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

Mortgage markets received several pieces of encouraging economic news this week, but there is still one major obstacle preventing interest rates from moving significantly lower. Inflation, employment and consumer spending are all beginning to show signs of cooling. July's Producer Price Index was unchanged for the month, coming in below expectations. Core wholesale inflation was also softer than forecast. The labor market is showing weakness as well. July payrolls declined by

One of the most common negotiations in real estate sounds incredibly simple. A buyer likes a house, but they think it's overpriced. The seller is willing to negotiate, so the buyer asks for $10,000, $20,000 or $30,000 off the purchase price. That feels like the obvious move. After all, paying less for the house has to be better, right? Not necessarily. Depending on the buyer's financing, the seller's willingness to negotiate, the appraisal and the buyer's financial goals,