Tariffs, Manufacturing Index, Jobs Report
Tariffs on Wednesday the President unveiled new tariffs on imports to the US starting with a baseline of 10%. The method for the reciprocal tariffs was determined not by matching the percentage other countries are charging us but by taking our trade deficit with the country and dividing it by how much we import from […]
Diamond Markets, Home Values, and Fed’s Favorite Inflation Index
Diamond Prices on lab-grown diamonds are way down, and they aren’t fakes. Recent technology has made it so you can easily ‘grow’ diamonds. You can now purchase a one carat diamond with perfect quality (real diamond) for a wholesale price of $100. If you go to Alibaba, you can purchase them for $120-$150. In fact, […]
Who’s the Global Trade Ref? Fed and Home Sales Update
Who Referee’s World Trade? There is a Global mediator of sorts, the World Trade Organization, but it is essentially a lame duck. The US has been blocking it, and this goes back to the Obama administration. The WTO was founded by global agreement back in 1995 with the goal of having countries follow the same […]
Interested in Starting a Bank? Job Reports and Cuts, Home Values
Curious about what it takes to start a bank? This story follows 2 women who started Fortuna (Roman Goddess of fortune) in Columbus Ohio. Of the 4,000 banks in this country 20 of them are woman owned. In 2024 only six banks were created a steep decline from pre-crash when 100 banks were opening every […]
What Down Payment Assistance Programs Does Oregon Offer?
Oregon housing and Community Services (OHCS) offers many programs for first-time home buyers, renters, homeowners, homeless, and developers. As a result of statewide funding and action between July 2019 and July 2024: – 1,668 permanent supportive housing units were created – 28,389 affordable rental homes are built or are in the pipeline – 3,368 households […]
Inflation Resistant Fruit, Inflation Update, Loan Performance
Ever wonder why bananas are inflation resistant, what a flat-rate income tax would look like or if we should move to 24-hour trading? This article discusses these topics. Spoiler – the flat rate income tax would be balanced by eliminating some of the major credits and deductions. Mortgage Rates improved again this week as the […]
OHCS Flex FirstHome Program, Home Sales and Equity
OHCS sunsets their Oregon Bond Program and is updating their flex program adding significant improvements! This program is great for low to moderate income earners. While being a first-time homebuyer is not required it does improve the program. Currently first-time homebuyers that make less than $125,000 annually can purchase a primary single-family home (condo, townhome, pud, and […]
CFPB, Retail Sales, Inflation, Mortgage Rates
The main U.S. agency that oversees financial products in services in the US is currently shutdown. Born of the 2008 financial crisis the CFPB has recouped nearly $20B for 195M American consumers and brought enforcement actions against 377 businesses operating illegally. Some of the largest wins have been capping and limiting overdraft fees, as well […]
Egg Heist, Home Values, Jobs Report for January
Eggs– the price of a dozen eggs hit $4.15 nationwide ($7.49 in OR) prompting the heist of 100,000 eggs from the back of a trailer in Pennsylvania which law enforcement has yet to solve. While Avian Flu has pushed prices up double since summer 2023, we still haven’t hit the record high of $4.82 per […]
What is the Minimum Down Payment Required to Purchase a Home?
There is a long-standing myth that a 20% down payment is required to purchase a home. Some polls indicate that anywhere from 34-50% of Americans believe they need to put 15-20% down when purchasing their first home. Other polls indicate that only 10% of Americans know they can buy a home with 5% down or […]