Omid Fakouri Mortgage Advisor

04/21/2026

Spring Home Maintenance Checklist -
Spring is officially here! As the weather warms, consider checking a few seasonal home maintenance items off your list. And don't forget to schedule an air conditioner service so you know it's in working order before you really need it!

Spring is officially here! As the weather starts to warm, consider checking a few seasonal home maintenance items off your list. And don't forget to schedule a service for your air conditioner so you know it's in working order before you really need it!

03/19/2026

Home Builder Sentiment (Mar 2026)-
Builder confidence rose one point in March to 38, and the February figure was revised up one point to 37. While encouraging, both figures remain well below the 50 threshold between bearish/bullish sentiment. Despite much lower mortgage rates than a year ago, construction costs remain elevated for builders, and affordability remains a major issue for buyers.

Builder confidence rose one point in March to 38, and the February figure was revised up one point to 37. While encouraging, both figures remain well below the 50 threshold between bearish/bullish sentiment. Despite much lower mortgage rates than a year ago, construction costs are still elevated for...

11/21/2025

Existing Home Sales (Oct 2025)-
Existing home closings rose 1.2% from September to October, the second straight monthly increase. Inventory dipped slightly from September but was nearly 11% higher than a year ago.

Existing home closings rose 1.2% from September to October, the second straight monthly increase. Inventory dipped slightly from September but was nearly 11% higher than a year ago.

11/21/2025

BLS Jobs Report (Sep 2025)-
September job growth beat expectations with 119K jobs added, compared to the 50K forecast. July and August figures were revised down by a combined 33K, and the unemployment rate inched up from 4.3% to 4.4%.

September job growth beat expectations with 119K jobs added, compared to the 50K forecast. July and August figures were revised down by a combined 33K, and the unemployment rate inched up from 4.3% to 4.4%.

06/11/2025

Consumer Price Index (May 2025)-
Inflation update: In May, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 2.4% year-over-year, slightly up from April's four-year low of 2.3%. The Core CPI remained unchanged at 2.8% year-over-year.

Inflation update: In May, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 2.4% year-over-year, slightly up from April's four-year low of 2.3%. The Core CPI remained unchanged at 2.8% year-over-year.

04/10/2025

Is Homeowners Insurance an Issue for Buyers?
The latest MBS Highway Housing Index survey reveals that the price and availability of homeowners insurance are concerns for buyers nationwide. In the West, 93% of respondents cited this as a major or minor issue, likely due to the recent catastrophic wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Even in the least worried Mid-Atlantic region, 69% of respondents reported homeowners insurance as an affordability factor or deterrent.

The latest MBS Highway Housing Index survey reveals that the price and availability of homeowners insurance is a concern for buyers nationwide. In the West, 93% of respondents cited this as a major or minor issue, likely due to the recent catastrophic wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Even in the l...

09/01/2022

ADP Employment Report -
ADP is back with their employment data after taking several months off from releasing reports to adjust their methodology to be more accurate. Instead of using modeling, they are now using actual payroll data from over 25 million employees. The report showed that there were 132,000 job creations in August, down from 270,000 in July and 380,000 in June. Clearly, the trend is a slowing jobs market. This report is independent of the BLS data, which uses a lot of modeling and could be more accurate…but it may not be a good gauge to forecast the BLS Jobs Report data this Friday, which is expecting 300,000 job creations. They also reported that annual pay for job stayers was up 7.6% year over year, while Job changers saw an average increase of 16.1%. When you remove the bottom quadrant it’s much higher. BLS data showed all incomes went up 6.7% to 9% when removing the bottom quadrant, so a 33% increase.

ADP is back with their employment data after taking several months off from releasing reports to adjust their methodology to be more accurate. Instead of using modeling, they are now using actual payroll data from over 25 million employees. The report showed that there were 132,000 job creations in....

09/01/2022

Case-Shiller Home Price Index -
The National Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which is considered the “gold standard” for appreciation, showed home prices rose 0.6% in June and 18% year over year, which is a decline from the previous reading of 19.9% in May, but still strong. Appreciation is clearly slowing, but as of June, still increasing at a robust rate. Craig Lazzara from Case Shiller said, “Prices are clearly increasing at a slower rate. It’s important to bear in mind that deceleration and decline are two entirely different things, and that prices are still rising at a robust clip. June’s growth rates for all three composites are at or above the 95th percentile of historical experience. For the first six months of 2022, in fact, the National Composite is up 10.6%. In the last 35 years, only four complete years have witnessed increases that large.”

The National Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which is considered the “gold standard” for appreciation, showed home prices rose 0.6% in June and 18% year over year, which is a decline from the previous reading of 19.9% in May, but still strong. Appreciation is clearly slowing, but as of June, stil...

08/25/2022

Pending Home Sales -
Pending Home Sales, which measures signed contracts on existing homes, fell 1% in July, which is better than the 3% drop expected. Year over year, sales are now down 20% year over year. As expected, activity continues to slow, but the Chief Economist from the NAR, Lawrence Yun, believes that we are at or close to the bottom in contract signings. He went on to say that home prices are still rising by double digits year over year, but annual gains should moderate to 5% by year end and into 2023. He also said that home sales should start to rise by early next year.

Pending Home Sales, which measures signed contracts on existing homes, fell 1% in July, which is better than the 3% drop expected. Year over year, sales are now down 20% year over year. As expected, activity continues to slow, but the Chief Economist from the NAR, Lawrence Yun, believes that we are....

08/23/2022

New Home Sales -
New Home Sales, which measures signed contracts on new homes, were down 12.6% in July at a 511k unit annualized pace, which was much worse than expected. Sales are now down almost 30% year over year. There were 464,000 homes for sale at the end of July, but only 45,000 or under 10% are actually completed…24% have not even been started and 66% are still under construction. At the current pace of sales, there is a 10.9 months supply. But when factoring in the number of completed homes, the month’s supply is about 1 month. The median home price rose 5.9% last month to $439,400, which is up a little over 8% yearly. While we are clearly seeing an activity recession in housing, pricing is still quite strong.

New Home Sales, which measures signed contracts on new homes, were down 12.6% in July at a 511k unit annualized pace, which was much worse than expected. Sales are now down almost 30% year over year. There were 464,000 homes for sale at the end of July, but only 45,000 or under 10% are actually comp...

08/23/2022

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