Chuck Barberini Real Estate

  Check Out This Weeks Newsletter   Housing costs rank as the top political issue for voters ages 18 to 34 heading into the 2026 midterms, according to CNBC's Q2 2026 survey. Housing costs just beat out food prices and protecting democracy on one of the closest-watched political surveys of the year.  CNBC’s Q2 2026 All-America Economic Survey polled 1,000 registered voters between July 8 and 12, and found that among voters ages 18 to 34, housing costs ranked as the single most important issue facing the country. And while both parties contributed to the passing of the ROAD to Housing Act, which became law earlier this month, the survey shows voters are more likely to trust Democrats to make housing more affordable.  Here’s a closer look at what the survey found, and what it means heading into the 2026 midterms. Why Housing Is Topping the List for Young Voters Housing ranked as the top issue overall for voters 18 to 34. It also ranked first for men ages 18 to 49, and ...

  “Just Thinking" I was watching the Giants play the Mariners the other night, yeah, I know, I'm a glutton for punishment. When the Mariners' first baseman came up to bat, I had to do a double take. His look was so unique that I immediately grabbed my phone to find out who he was. It turned out to be Josh Naylor, once I looked him up, I remembered seeing him during last year's playoffs, but on this night, it was his appearance that really caught my attention. Naylor is a big, heavy-set guy with a scruffy beard, and he looked like he had assembled his uniform randomly from different eras of baseball fashion. He was wearing a multi-colored headband under his helmet, a baggy jersey, and his baggy pants were pulled up above his knees. He wore solid-colored socks, probably compression tights extending all the way up, like Heliot Ramos. To top it off, he had on black cleats with thick white soles that extended up the sides, that looked like a pair of slip-on Skechers. The wh...

  Remember how exciting it was to buy your first place? It felt like crossing a long-awaited finish line. It gave you a place to build your life. Maybe it’s where you lived when you got married. Or where you welcomed a child or a pet into the family. But that was just the beginning. For most people, your first house was never meant to be your forever home. It’s a stepping stone for what comes next. And if your life looks different today than it did when you got the keys, you’re not stuck. Moving may be more realistic than you think. Starter Home Inventory Is Still Relatively Low If you've been wondering whether now is the right time to move up, here's something worth knowing. Starter homes remain one of the hardest types of homes to find. And that's good news if you're thinking about selling your first place. Historically, we haven’t been building enough homes for first-time buyers. And even though homebuilders have shifted more attention toward smaller, entry-level hom...

Today's home prices have a lot of buyers – especially first-time buyers – wondering if there’s even anything out there that’s in their budget. But owning a home may be more within reach than you think. Sometimes, it just means considering a different type of home. Condos and townhomes can be a great way to buy without stretching every last dollar. And right now, two things make them worth a serious look. There Are More Condos and Townhomes To Choose From Maybe you feel like there’s just nothing out there for you, and you’ve exhausted all your options. But have you considered condos or townhomes? A lot of buyers start by looking for a single-family, detached home without even realizing what that search omits from their pool of choices. According to HousingWire Data , there were 233,030 condos and townhomes for sale this June. That's more than any June in at least the past decade, and more than double the number available back in 2022 ( see graph below ): That means there are mo...

If you’ve thought about buying a home in the past few years, you may have run into two frustrations: asking prices that kept climbing and too few homes to choose from. In many places, both sticking points are letting up this summer, with lower asking prices and more homes for sale. Let’s look at the trends, and what they mean for your search. Sellers Are Pricing To Attract Buyers According to Realtor.com , the national median asking price was $430,000 in June, nearly $11,000 under what it was the year before (see graph below) That’s the eighth month in a row that the typical asking price has dipped below where they were the previous year, according to the same Realtor.com report. And while falling prices can sound worrying, this isn’t a sign of an impending crash. We’re talking about asking prices, not sold prices. This is a sign that today’s sellers are meeting the market where it is and pricing to draw buyers. And that’s actually something normal we’d expect from the market. As Dani...

  “Just Thinking" I was thinking the other day about some of the television shows many of us grew up watching in the 1960s. In some ways, they might help explain why our generation occasionally seemed a bit confused. These were prime-time, family-friendly programs that were entertaining, yet blurred the line between reality and fantasy. We were invited into worlds where monsters lived next door, horses carried on conversations, witches married advertising executives, and genies could grant wishes with a blink of an eye. We knew that none of these things existed in our day-to-day lives, but these shows captured our imaginations and left us wondering, what if? The shows that I'm referring to are; The Munsters, The Addams Family, Mr. Ed, Bewitched, and I Dream of Jeannie. The Munsters was about a family of friendly monsters living in an ordinary American suburb, the family believed that they were completely normal, while everyone around them was shocked by their appearance and be...