Kline Team Mortgage, Mike Kline

08/28/2026

08/25/2026

More Than 40% of Homes Considered Equity Rich:
When you own a home, you build equity with every mortgage payment. As you pay off your mortgage, you own a larger percentage of your home and the eventual profit you’d make when selling it. You also build equity through home price increases. As the value of your home goes up, whatever amount you owe becomes a smaller share of its total value. That’s the financial benefit of homeownership. It’s also the reason ATTOM Data Solutions’ U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report tracks what share of mortgaged properties can be considered “equity rich,” meaning the amount owed is less than half what the home is estimated to be worth. According to the second quarter results, 41.1 percent of residential properties across the country can be considered equity rich. That’s still a higher percentage than before the pandemic-era buyers’ boom but it is lower than it’s been. In fact, that’s down from 47.4 percent one year ago at the same time. Rob Barber, ATTOM’s CEO, says the trend is one worth watching. “The two measures of home equity strength, the rates of equity rich and seriously underwater homes, remain healthier than they were prior to 2020,” Barber said. “However, both have been moving in less favorable directions over the past year, suggesting a trend worth watching.” (source)

SOCIAL CAPTION: The share of equity rich homes fell in the second quarter but remains above 40 percent of all mortgaged residential properties.

08/10/2026

Walkable Neighborhoods Remain a Top Priority:
Large majorities of Americans say they want to live in a neighborhood they can walk, according to a new survey from the National Association of Realtors. Walkability ranked high among surveyed buyers, who made clear that they’d prefer to live in a mixed-use neighborhood with easy access to amenities. In fact, 89 percent said sidewalks and places to walk are important when deciding where to live and 63 percent said they’d be willing to pay more to live in an area where they could easily walk to parks, shops, and restaurants. Shannon McGahn, NAR’s executive vice president and chief advocacy officer, says American home buyers know what they want. “It’s clear that Americans place a high value on making sure the place they call home has the amenities they need to lead a happy and healthy life,” McGahn said. Walkable neighborhoods are so popular with buyers that when given the choice between a larger home but more driving versus a smaller lot in a walkable neighborhood, a full 59 percent said they’d take less space and walkability over a bigger house. (source)

SOCIAL CAPTION: Walkability remains a top priority among American home buyers, according to a new survey. Eighty-nine percent of respondents said places to walk are important when deciding where to buy.

08/07/2026

Luxury Homes Sell Faster Than Starter Homes:
First-time home buyers are seeing better market conditions these days, according to a new analysis. The data shows the inventory of available entry-level homes has grown 4.5 percent over the past year, with price cuts rising and bidding wars falling. That means buyers have more negotiating power and more options. But while that may be the case, it hasn’t resulted in an uptick in starter-home sales. In fact, sales fell in May. On the other end of the market, though, luxury home sales spiked - moving 6.2 percent higher year-over-year during the same period. So, what’s behind the divergence? Well, the simple explanation is that first-time home buyers are more susceptible to overall economic conditions and are likely feeling more financial pressure than buyers shopping in the luxury market, who are less affected by the economy, mortgage rate fluctuations, and the upfront costs of buying a home. (source)

SOCIAL CAPTION: The market for luxury homes has tightened, while first-time home buyers are seeing more options, fewer bidding wars, and rising price cuts, according to a new analysis.

07/28/2026

Majority of New Homeowners Expect to Refinance:
Trying to calculate your financial future is always difficult. After all, none of us can know for sure what’s ahead. But when purchasing a house, buyers have to spend some time thinking about how their current expenses will be impacted by the cost of a monthly mortgage payment, maintenance, and the responsibilities of homeownership. Of course, mortgage rates are a big factor in that calculation, especially when they’re elevated. Rates fluctuate and are always on the move, so while buyers have to buy their house based on today’s rate they can hope to obtain a lower, more affordable rate in the future, should rates begin to drop. It’s a common, and hopeful, scenario. It’s also one a lot of recent buyers – who purchased when rates were higher – are expected to follow. In fact, one recent survey found 85 percent of recent buyers with a mortgage said they expect to refinance within the next three years. Seventy-three percent said they were planning to refi from the start. (source)

SOCIAL CAPTION: The vast majority of recent home buyers say they expect to refinance their mortgage within the next three years, according to a new survey.

07/23/2026

Purchase Applications Rise Despite Higher Rates:
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Applications Survey, average mortgage rates increased for 30-year fixed-rate loans with conforming loan balances last week, moving higher than the week before along with rates for loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, and 5/1 ARMs. But while rates moved higher week-over-week, MBA’s senior vice president and chief economist, Mike Fratantoni, says demand from home buyers still rose. “Mortgage rates reached another high point last week, with the 30-year conforming rate now at … its highest level since last August,” Fratantoni said. “However, purchase volume increased modestly for the week. Growing home inventory in many markets is supporting more purchase activity.” In fact, demand for home-purchase loan applications was up 6 percent last week from one week earlier. The MBA’s weekly survey has been conducted since 1990 and covers 75 percent of all retail residential mortgage applications. (source)

SOCIAL CAPTION: Demand for home purchase loans rose 6 percent last week from the week before, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

07/15/2026

Local Markets Continue to See Better Balance:
While most buyers and sellers would probably prefer a market that was heavily weighted in their favor, a balanced housing market is actually good for everyone. When the number of homes for sale and the number of interested buyers is relatively equal, the market is more stable, predictable, and easier to navigate. For years, there’s been imbalance, with the number of homes for sale lagging behind demand from buyers. There were more interested home shoppers than there were homes for sale and it drove prices higher and gave sellers all the negotiating power. These days, though, balance is returning to the market, as the inventory of available homes grows. In fact, according to one recent survey, the share of real estate agents who say they’re seeing a balanced market has jumped 14 percent since the third quarter of last year. At that point, just 30 percent of surveyed agents reported their local market was balanced, while the most recent survey found 44 percent reporting balance. (source)

SOCIAL CAPTION: Forty-four percent of recently surveyed real-estate agents say their local market is balanced – a 14-percent increase from last fall.