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Here’s Where To Start if You’re Selling and Buying at the Same Time

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 If you're a homeowner getting ready to move, one question usually comes first: should you buy your next home before you sell, or sell your current house before you start looking? There's no single right answer. The best call depends on your finances, your local market, and your timeline. And a trusted agent can help you weigh all of it. But in a lot of cases these days, selling first puts you in the stronger spot. The Advantages of Selling First Selling is usually the trickier half of a move today, so getting it done first clears your biggest hurdle. And that’s especially true right now, because there are more homes for sale than there are buyers, which means houses are taking longer to sell than they did a year or two ago. So how does leading with your sale pay off? Let’s start with the money. 1. You Won’t Get Stuck Paying Two Mortgages Buy before you sell, and you could end up carrying two mortgages at once. And especially since houses are staying on the market longer these...
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Grumpy Old Man

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  “Just Thinking" I know that over the past few weeks I have been sounding like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, with his blunt observations about how neighborhoods and generations change over time. “Get the hell off my lawn.” If it’s any consolation, my inner dialog is much more intense than what I write down in “Just Thinking”. Baseball and the Giants are taking the brunt of my ire, but I have also taken shots at “The City” and some societal norms that have changed too fast. So, number 2 son, Chris, sent me an epic rant by John Gruden the other day from an interview with Jake Marsh that was reminiscent of Kevin Costner's rant in Bull Durham when he is asked what he believes in and it really hit home. Here’s the coach. Jake Marsh asks Gruden. what's something you liked 10 or 20 years ago that you wish would be brought back now? Then Chuckie goes off: I like the continuity on these rosters. I think having a different offensive coordinator or a different defensive coordinator...
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Location: Martinez, CA 94553, USA
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Here's Why New-Home Shoppers Keep Showing Up

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  Check Out This Weeks Newsletter Demand remains steadier than forecast as buyers, builders adapt. For the past few years, many observers assumed that a sustained period of higher mortgage rates would cause homebuying demand to stall. Activity has certainly slowed compared to the pandemic boom, but it's far from a stall. Buyers haven't disappeared. They've adapted. New-home sales increased in June, according to the Census Bureau/U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s New Residential Sales report, while inventory edged slightly lower. Home prices for new-builds also moved down. Taken together, those numbers paint a picture of a market that remains surprisingly resilient. The pace of sales is hardly booming, but buyers are still entering the market at a rate that many people would have considered unlikely given today’s financing costs. Why builders continue to find buyers One reason new-home sales have held up better than many expected is that builders have tools ...
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Location: Martinez, CA 94553, USA
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Selling a Luxury House? Here’s Why Now Is a Good Time

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  If you own a luxury house, you're in a stronger spot than most sellers right now. While much of the market has cooled, the high-end tier hasn't. Sale prices and buyer demand are both up. So if you're considering selling, now could be a great time to make your move. Luxury Is Leading on Price Let’s start with prices. But before we get into it – what actually counts as a luxury home? Generally, these are homes in the top 5% price range for the area, so it varies depending on where you live. But what’s interesting is that according to the latest data from Redfin, sale prices for luxury houses have risen about three times faster than for non-luxury. Right now, the typical home’s sale price is up about 1.5% year-over-year. But high-end homes? Their sale prices have gone up nearly 5% since last year ( see graph below ): That’s a bigger deal than it sounds like. Despite all the talk about slowing price growth lately, sale prices in this segment of the market may be rising faste...
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Location: Martinez, CA 94553, USA
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Housing Costs Are the Top Issue for Young Voters Heading Into the 2026 Midterms

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  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 ...
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Sanitaries and Stirrups

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  “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...
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Location: Martinez, CA 94553, USA
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The House That Started It All Could Kickstart What's Next

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  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...
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Location: Martinez, CA 94553, USA
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