Chuck Barberini Real Estate

I follow a highly successful agent and coach out of Alabama named Ricky Carruth, who sends out weekly real estate market updates by email. His breakdown of the market this week was so clear, concise, and on point that I felt it was worth sharing. Last week I told you January existing home sales would be down. They were. Down 8.3%. Everyone's freaking out. But let me show you what's ACTUALLY happening. December pending sales were down 9.5%. Pending sales turn into existing home sales 30-60 days later. Math, not magic. WHY were December pendings down? Inventory DROPPED 18% in one month. Buyers had nothing to choose from. So they waited. Then rates dropped under 6%. Market went bonkers for a week. Multiple offers. Above asking. Then it cooled when rates ticked back up. Exactly what I said would happen. Here's what's coming next week: January PENDING home sales report drops. It's going to be massive. Which means February and March closings SURGE. About the spring rush: ...

“Just Thinking" With the start of baseball season, I found myself thinking back to an article I wrote last July. On July 25th, I reflected on Justin Verlander finally earning his first win as a Giant, he had gone winless through his first 16 starts, posting a 0–8 record during that stretch. On July 23 rd he beat the Braves, he pitched 5 scoreless innings for a 9–3 victory putting an end to the longest winless streak of his career. None of this, of course, diminishes Verlander’s Hall of Fame résumé: 266 career wins, nine All-Star selections, two World Series championships, the 2011 AL MVP, the 2017 ALCS MVP, three AL Cy Young Awards, and three career no-hitters. Revisiting that moment got me thinking about all the great players who have come to the Giants after establishing their names and their legacies elsewhere. I know that the Dodgers have the deep pockets and have used them to secure top‑tier talent. Mookie Betts, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman are all...

  “Just Thinking" I was driving home from San Francisco on a Friday night a couple of weeks ago, just easing onto the Bay Bridge, when I noticed the digital clock on the dashboard flip to 5:00. Growing up in The City, 5:00 on a Friday wasn’t just a time, it was a signal. The workweek ended, the weekend began. Like clockwork, you’d tune the radio to 104.5 FM, KFOG, because every Friday at 5:00 PM meant The Weekend Salute. The opening notes of “Smoke Two Joints” by The Toyes would roll out over the airwaves, officially kicking off the weekend. It was a ritual Fogheads across the Bay Area instantly recognized, an unofficial alarm bell telling you it was time to relax, to exhale and get into weekend mode, here comes that Friday feeling again. This was before satellite radio, before playlists and algorithms, before Apple Music and Spotify decided what we might like next. As car radios evolved from strictly AM to AM/FM, so did we. We moved on from the station of our youth—KFRC 610 AM, w...

Check Out This Weeks Newsletter Monthly mortgage payments are easing across the U.S., with MBA’s December data showing a $102 year-over-year drop and the seventh straight improvement in affordability. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s December 2025 Purchase Applications Payment Index (PAPI), the national median mortgage payment for homebuyers fell to $2,025, down from $2,034 in November. As mortgage rates move lower and incomes keep rising, pressure on buyers is finally starting to ease after years of climbing housing costs. For much of the past two years, higher rates pushed monthly payments sharply higher. The latest MBA data shows that trend steadily reversing. Affordability improved again, and the numbers back it up MBA’s PAPI tracks how new mortgage payments change compared with household income. When the index drops, affordability improves. That’s exactly what happened again in December. Here’s what shifted in the latest report: The national ...

Buying a home is one of the biggest purchases you’ll ever make. And homeowner’s insurance is what protects that investment. Think of it as your safety net. NerdWallet explains it: Covers Repairs and Rebuilding Costs : If your home is damaged by fire, storms, or other covered events, it helps pay for repairs and possibly even a full rebuild, if that’s deemed necessary. Protects Your Belongings : It can also cover personal items like furniture, electronics, jewelry, and clothing if they’re stolen or damaged. Provides Liability Coverage : And, if someone gets injured on your property, your policy can help cover medical bills or legal expenses. But that peace of mind does come with a cost, and lately those costs have been rising. Why Home Insurance Premiums Are Going Up There are a number of factors causing insurance premiums to rise today. But, in the simplest sense, here’s what’s driving prices up according to the Insurance Research Council (IRC). Severe weather events and natural dis...

Check Out This Weeks Newsletter More than 40,000 home-purchase agreements fell apart in December, the highest cancellation rate Redfin has ever recorded for that month. That’s not a typo. According to a new Redfin analysis of MLS pending-sales data, 16.3% of all homes that went under contract in December ended up canceled. That’s up from 14.9% a year earlier and marks the highest December share since Redfin began tracking the data in 2017. This lines up with what’s happening across the market as buyers gain more options and become increasingly selective. A Record Share of Pending Sales Are Falling Through Redfin’s historical data shows December cancellations have been climbing for years, and 2025 pushed them to a new high. Here’s how the trend looks in context: December 2025 posted a 16.3% cancellation rate, the highest December level on record December 2024 came in at 14.9%, meaning cancellations jumped 1.4 percentage points year over year Prior Decembers generally ...