Chuck Barberini Real Estate

Check Out This Weeks Newsletter Realtor.com says the median down payment fell to $27,100 in Q2, the lowest second-quarter level since 2021, and monthly payments are up 74% in five years. Buyers put down a median of $27,100 in the second quarter of 2026. According to Realtor.com’s latest Down Payment Report, it’s the lowest second-quarter figure since 2021. The median fell 9.2% from the second quarter of 2025. As a share of the purchase price, the average down payment dropped 0.6 percentage points. For buyers, the bigger question is what happens to the monthly payment. Mortgage rates have more say over that number than the down payment does. The report breaks down where down payments stand and how they’re affecting monthly costs in different parts of the country. Down Payments Increased This Spring But Stayed Below 2025 Down payments tend to climb from winter into spring, and this year’s jump was bigger than normal. Realtor.com’s figures show how this spring compares with the winter and...

 Higher mortgage rates don't just affect buyers. They can change what it takes to sell your house, too. That's because today's buyers are paying close attention to affordability. And when rates rise, even a relatively small change can make a noticeable difference in their monthly payment. So, they're looking for ways to make the numbers work. And in some markets, new construction is giving them exactly that. If you're planning to sell, that doesn't mean you can't compete. But it does mean you need to understand what builders are doing to win over buyers – and what options you have, too. Builders Are Competing on the Monthly Payment New construction has something interesting going for it right now. While existing-home sales  (homes that have previously been lived in) continue to struggle under the weight of higher mortgage rates, new-home sales are holding up a bit better. In a recent interview, Logan Mohtashami, Chief Economist at HousingWire explains new-ho...

  “Just Thinking" Last week, I had coffee with my friend Tony. He's one of the loyal readers of my Just Thinking articles and often sends me a note whenever I post something he finds relatable. As I tell most people who comment on my writing, the hardest part of putting together these weekly pieces isn't the writing itself, it's coming up with a fresh topic every week. While we were talking, Tony mentioned his baseball hat collection and said, there's your next newsletter topic, the things that people collect. Tony then told me about a friend who collects Christmas Stockings from thrift stores. Now that's a pretty unique hobby, maybe not quite as unique as collecting fingernail clippings or empty toothpaste tubes, but unique no doubt. It seems that we all have a collection of some sort or another, for some, its baseball cards, stamps, coins, match books, hotel keys, dolls or vinyl records. Others collect coffee mugs from places they've visited, refrigerator...