September is upon us, and Labor Day is behind us; the only thing to do this week and that is to CALL ALL YOUR ACCOUNTANTS! Remember when I shared with you that you were supposed to be collecting accountants from everyone you spoke with when you did your 9’s and 10’s questions? We also talked about connecting with accountants and tax preparers when we reviewed tax returns that our customers supplied to us. Well, now is one of the two times each year we MUST put those efforts to good use!  The first full week of September for most accountants usually is the signal for them to reach out to all their clients they filed tax extensions for. Since those filings are due in October, now is when they begin the process of collecting documents and preparing those returns! Why is this so important to us? Well, it’s time to…
Posted On Monday, 11 September 2023 00:00 Written by
About half of Gen Zers and millennials who don’t plan to buy a home in the near future say it’s because homes are too expensive Nearly one of every five (18%) millennials and 12% of Gen Zers who replied to a recent housing survey believe they will never own a home, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. Lack of affordability is the number-one barrier to homeownership for young Americans. Roughly half of Gen Z and millennial renters who believe they’re unlikely to purchase a home in the near future say the high price of homes on the market is blocking them from buying. That’s the most commonly cited barrier, and it’s followed by several other affordability-related reasons.
Nearly half (46%) of millennials and one-third (33%) of Gen Zers say their lack of ability to save for a down payment is a…
Posted On Friday, 08 September 2023 13:52 Written by
Thursday we got the new jobless claims and continuing claims numbers, and Friday we got the BLS Jobs Report for the month of August. The initial jobless claims and continuing claims number are always important, but they will serve to lay the foundation of the BLS Jobs Report that can really move the markets. For the past several FED meetings, the governors have pointed to the steady decline in initial claims and the growth of jobs in the market to show that the economy is still too robust to stop raising interest rates. Despite the fact that the BLS just released an important report stating that from April of 2022 to March of 2023, they have overstated the number of jobs by more than 300,000 jobs! That’s not a small number. In fact, when put into real terms, that is a miss of more than 9% on a monthly basis.…
Posted On Monday, 04 September 2023 00:00 Written by
Redfin reports that investor market share is down to 16% after hitting an all-time high of 20% in the first quarter of 2022 Investor home purchases fell 45% from a year earlier in the second quarter, outpacing the 31% drop in overall home sales, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. That’s the biggest decline since 2008 with the exception of the quarter before, when they dropped 48%. The decline comes as this year’s relatively cool housing and rental markets makes investing in homes less attractive than it was during the pandemic-driven homebuying frenzy of 2021 and early 2022. The drop in purchases has brought the total number of homes bought by investors below pre-pandemic levels. Real estate investors bought roughly 50,000 homes in the second quarter, the fewest of any second quarter in seven years, with the exception of the start of the…
Posted On Saturday, 02 September 2023 06:21 Written by
Have you ever observed a professional colleague, a friend, or a leader whom you admire, confidently facing uncertainty without any apparent fear? The phrase “fearless leader” must have emerged in our vocabulary for a good reason, don’t you think? Truth be told, those individuals aren’t fearless — no one is. What they have done is mastered the feeling of fear, which has unlocked their innate ability to see disruption and change as an opportunity more quickly.
As I have noted over the years of working with many clients around the world, one common thread that ties humans together in this world of rampant disruption and change is that we all find it unpleasant in many ways. Above all else, from executives down to entry-level employees, everyone finds disruption and change frightening in some fashion. What fear can often do to us is cloud how empowering and full of opportunity disruption and…
Posted On Thursday, 31 August 2023 00:00 Written by
Pending home sales increased 0.9% in July – rising for the second consecutive month – according to the National Association of Realtors®. The Northeast and Midwest posted monthly losses, while sales in the South and West grew. All four U.S. regions saw year-over-year declines in transactions. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI)* – a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings – rose 0.9% to 77.6 in July. Year over year, pending transactions fell by 14.0%. An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.
“The small gain in contract signings shows the potential for further increases in light of the fact that many people have lost out on multiple home buying offers,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Jobs are being added and, thereby, enlarging the pool of prospective home buyers. However, rising mortgage rates and limited inventory have temporarily…
Posted On Wednesday, 30 August 2023 07:02 Written by
Borrowing from an epic line, the new revisions to the BLS Jobs numbers from April 2022 to March 2023 show an overstatement of jobs by more than 300,000 jobs! Reminds me of another classic line, “You had just ONE job to do…” Well, the year-old numbers they shared are already almost six months old. So now you know why the markets continue to be frustrated by the government agencies, The Federal Reserve Board Members, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and even the President, when they continue to spout “facts” about the economy and jobs that clearly are either old, out of date, or just plain fabrications! Remember just two short years ago when inflation was transitory? Remember when we were told that spending more than a TRILLION dollars on something called “the inflation reduction act” wasn’t going to add to inflation? Remember another two TRILLION dollars on something called “Build Back…
Posted On Monday, 28 August 2023 00:00 Written by
More than one-quarter (25.8%) of homebuyers are looking to move to a different part of the country, a record-high share and up from 23.7% a year ago. That’s according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. The portion of homebuyers looking to relocate has steadily risen since the pandemic began; the share stood at roughly 18% in 2018 and 2019. While a record share of homebuyers are looking to relocate, the number is lower than it was a year ago as the frequency of homes changing hands drops to its lowest level in at least a decade amid the cool housing market. There are 7% fewer Redfin.com users looking to move away from their home metro than a year ago. That’s compared with a 17% decline for Redfin.com homebuyers staying in their hometown.
Myrtle Beach, SC has made it onto the list of…
Posted On Sunday, 27 August 2023 06:51 Written by
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