Did You Know?
- 07/20/23
The US banking system is about to get sped up like Barry Allen after the lightning struck, potentially eliminating those frustrating waiting days it can take for money to hit your account. The Fed is launching its FedNow instant payment service later this month. The new system will enable banks to send each other cash instantly, 24/7, as an alternative to the existing system that runs only during regular business hours and often takes days to move money. FedNow could put America’s banking system on track to catch up to countries like India and Nigeria, where high-speed payments are as common as high-speed rail in Japan. The US does already have an instant payments system, but it’s private rather than government-backed, and it hasn’t been widely adopted. It’s mostly only used by big banks, and only 1.4% of US transactions happen in real time, according to payment systems company ACI Worldwide.
Did you Know?
- 04/03/23
Elon Musk and other tech leaders signed an open letter calling on developers to “pause giant AI experiments.” The petition, which more than 1,000 AI experts have signed, warns that artificial intelligence poses “profound risks to society and humanity” and asks AI researchers to put their projects on ice for at least six months. OpenAI launched the latest version of its language model, GPT-4, this month; Google started rolling out its AI chatbot called Bard last week; and Microsoft added AI capabilities to its Bing search engine in February. Goldman Sachs even shared a report on Monday that said AI could boost worker productivity so much that annual world GDP would jump by 7%.
Los Angeles is days away from implementing a "mansion tax," which means sellers of luxury homes are scrambling to offload their properties. The measure was approved by voters in November, which adds a 4% tax on home sales between $5 million and $10 million, and adds a 5.5% tax on sales above $10 million, according to FOX 11. Funds collected from the tax will be used to build affordable housing for the homeless, according to city officials.
Buying a home in California is not an easy task, but a new state program launched Monday for first-time homebuyers aims to make the process a little easier. The California Dream For All program provides homebuyers with financial assistance equal to 20% of a home’s purchase price. Those funds can be used for a downpayment and closing costs when purchasing your first home. The program offers first-time homebuyers in California a shared appreciation loan of up to 20% of the cost of the home. If you’re buying a $500,000 home, you’d receive 20%, or $100,000, to help with a downpayment and closing costs. Once the homebuyer sells their home at a later date, they would be required to pay back the 20% assistance, plus 20% of the home’s appreciation. If your $500,000 home sells in five years for $700,000, you’d owe 20% of $200,000 appreciation — or $40,000 — in addition to the original loan. If you sell your home and it hasn’t grown in value, you’d only pay back the original 20% loan, according to the California Housing Finance Authority.
Did You Know?
- 01/02/23
Some real estate economists are projecting that mortgage rates will start to fall sometime in 2023, perhaps by the second half of the year. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors thinks mortgage rates already peaked in November and will hover around 6 percent, or edge lower, in 2023. “That could open the gates for buyers who are priced out to re-enter the market,” he said. (WSJ)
Southwest Airlines is attempting to resume its normal flying schedule today, planning to more than double its number of flights from Thursday’s level, after canceling nearly 16,000 flights over the previous week! (CNN)
Officials from the OC Health Care Agency are saying that people should stay out of the ocean in the OC & LA areas because of the high bacteria levels off local beaches. This is after a rainstorm that rolled on Tuesday. The advisory may be extended depending on further rainfall. (OC Register)
Did you know?
- 12/20/22
Nationally, rents fell 0.4% from October to November, the largest one-month decline in the seven-year history of the Zillow Observed Rent Index. This comes on top of a 0.1% decline in October, and decisively closes the door on a period of nearly two years of above-average monthly rent increases that began in November 2020. (Zillow)
A few notable mortgage rates moved downward today. The average interest rates for both 15-year fixed and 30-year fixed mortgages decreased. The average rate of the most common type of variable-rate mortgage, the 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage, also sank. For a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage, the average rate you'll pay is 6.60%, which is a decline of 3 basis points from one week ago. The average rate for a 15-year, fixed mortgage is 5.99%, which is a decrease of 2 basis points from seven days ago. A 5/1 ARM has an average rate of 5.46%, a slide of 2 basis points from the same time last week (CNET)
