Chuck Barberini Real Estate

  “Just Thinking" May 1 st , Happy May Day, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. May is also the Month of Mary, making May 1st a meaningful opening to a month centered on faith, humility, and devotion. We celebrated this in parochial school by placing a crown of flowers on a statue of Mary, while singing “Ave Maria”. Growing up in the 60s, there were countless influences that helped shape my character. Being raised in San Francisco, those influences were far more open‑minded than they might have been in other parts of the country. As a young kid with a head full of mush, I was living at ground zero for the Summer of Love in 1967, when tens of thousands of young people flocked to the city embracing peace, free love, psychedelics, and anti‑war protests. A favorite outing for the Barberini family was jumping into the County Squire for a trip to Haight and Ashbury to see the hippies, followed by a stop at Play Land for Its-It’s. Luckily for this young man, I was kept grounded by a stro...

  Check Out This Weeks Newsletter   NAR’s Dr. Lawrence Yun cuts his 2026 housing forecast, slashing projected existing-home sales growth from 14% to 4% as rising rates and inflation hit demand. The 2026 rebound story has officially hit a snag.  The early signals are already showing up in slower sales activity and a more cautious buyer pool, setting the tone for a year that for many feels tighter than expected. The National Association of REALTORS ® has now formalized that change in direction.  Dr. Lawrence Yun revised down his existing-home sales forecast by 10 percentage points, while also pulling new-home sales expectations back to flat. His update shows a market responding quickly to higher borrowing costs and softer demand conditions. NAR’s 2026 Forecast Downgrade NAR came into 2026 expecting a 14% jump in existing-home sales, but is now projecting 4%. Dr. Yun is pointing to affordability pressure and a slow start to the year as reasons to di...