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Hey, your money briefing listeners. This

0:18

is Julia Carpenter. Here at YMB,

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we're all about bringing you important personal

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finance and career news. We're working

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on making some changes to our

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content and we want to hear

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from you. Our question today

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is, what would be the

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to eight minutes, eight to

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10 minutes, 10 to 15

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Now onto the show. Here's

1:01

your money briefing

1:03

for Wednesday, April

1:05

16th. I'm Julia

1:08

Carpenter for the Wall

1:10

Street Journal. Had you

1:13

dreamed of buying a

1:15

home this spring? Or maybe

1:17

you're still hopeful about refinancing? Last

1:19

week's turbulent market might have upended

1:22

expectations for buyers, sellers, and homeowners.

1:24

So if you're putting everything you

1:27

have into your home and we

1:29

know that the home prices are

1:31

up, we also know things like

1:34

home insurance, property taxes, homeowners, association

1:36

fees, all those things are so

1:38

much higher now than they were

1:41

in the past. And so to

1:43

take on this big responsibility during

1:45

a time where things may feel

1:48

unstable for you, it may not be

1:50

the right decision. We'll hear more from

1:52

Wall Street Journal reporter Veronica Dagger on

1:55

how a volatile stock market can affect

1:57

your home ownership plans. That's after the

1:59

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viking.com. The

2:38

recent market volatility means some

2:41

house hunters are reconsidering their

2:43

timelines, and homeowners may be

2:46

thinking twice about refinancing.

2:48

But how should you strategize

2:50

going forward? WSJ reporter Veronica

2:52

Dagger joins me. Veronica, homeownership

2:54

is still such a core

2:56

part of building wealth in

2:58

this country. Can you talk

3:00

a bit about how instability

3:02

in the market affects house

3:04

hunters? It's so tough to be a

3:06

house hunter today. It's actually been tough

3:09

for quite a while just because there's

3:11

such a shortage of inventory, not a

3:13

lot of homes for sale, and lately

3:15

mortgage rates are going in the wrong

3:17

direction. They're going up earlier this week

3:20

I looked and they were at 7.07%

3:22

and that's for mortgage news daily. And

3:24

that's really discouraging to a lot of

3:26

buyers who are already facing high home

3:29

prices. There's so much house hunters

3:31

can't. control and you interviewed some financial

3:33

professionals who suggested instead focusing on what

3:35

they can control. What did they have

3:38

to say? Exactly. Focus on things like

3:40

your budget, how much home you can

3:42

afford, not taking on too much debt.

3:44

Also, think about your job. Are you

3:46

feeling stable in your job right now?

3:49

Think about your overall cash flow. Again,

3:51

you don't want to be saddled in

3:53

debt if you're already facing high student

3:55

loans and credit card bills. And also

3:58

understand, like, you don't have to be... a homeowner

4:00

anymore. That's less of a societal norm. It

4:02

still is very popular. A lot of people

4:04

still want to do it, but some people

4:07

want to rent for the rest of their

4:09

life, and that's okay too. You don't have

4:11

to fit into a certain mold. You have

4:13

to do what's best for you and your

4:15

budget and just feel secure and be able

4:18

to sleep at night with whatever decision you

4:20

make. A lot of people put everything they

4:22

have saved into buying a home and moving

4:24

in, but you wrote in your story that

4:27

being house poor now could be more dangerous

4:29

than ever. Yes, because Akani is feeling

4:31

pretty unstable for a lot of people,

4:33

more CEOs are expecting recession in the

4:35

near future, that could mean more layoffs.

4:38

Also, if you're putting everything you have

4:40

into your home and we know that

4:42

the home prices are up, we also

4:44

know things like home insurance, property taxes,

4:47

homeowners, association fees, all those things are

4:49

so much higher now than they were

4:51

in the past. And so you've got

4:53

this budget for just the basic upkeep

4:56

of your home, also repairs, cost more,

4:58

all these things are so much more

5:00

expensive now. And so to take on this

5:02

big responsibility during a time where things may

5:04

feel unstable for you, it may not be

5:06

the right decision. You have to do what's

5:08

best for you, maybe you don't feel any

5:11

of these cross currents, maybe you are feeling

5:13

stable and that is fine, then go for

5:15

it. But you just don't want to be

5:17

in a situation where essentially you need a

5:19

new roof for your home, but you're worrying

5:21

how you're going to pay for it, or

5:23

you're going to have to rack up all

5:25

this credit card debt in order to pay

5:27

for it. As someone who doesn't own

5:29

a home but who really wants to,

5:32

you're definitely making me feel a little

5:34

better and comforted, but for those who've

5:36

already become homeowners, what does this turbulent

5:38

market mean for them? It's one of

5:41

those things that if you plan on

5:43

staying in your home for quite a

5:45

while you probably don't have to worry

5:47

a whole lot. Again, if you can

5:50

make your mortgage payments, you probably don't

5:52

have to think too much about it.

5:54

It's only the folks who are really

5:56

looking to sell right now and need

5:58

to unload that house. are finding some difficult times,

6:01

depending on where they live in the country.

6:03

For example, if you're in the South, places

6:05

like Texas or Florida, you're probably going to

6:07

have to lower the price of your home

6:09

in order to sell it. You're probably not

6:12

going to see bidding wars depending on where

6:14

you are, and your home is going to

6:16

sit on the market longer. However, if you're

6:18

a seller in a place like New Jersey

6:20

or New York, you're still going to see

6:22

those bidding wars in general. You're still going

6:24

to get multiple offers, top dollar for your

6:27

home. Your story, which is linked

6:29

in our show notes, mentioned

6:31

an intriguing possibility for some

6:33

homeowners that they could ask

6:35

their lender to modify their

6:37

mortgage rate for a set

6:39

fee. How does that work?

6:41

And what are the advantages?

6:43

Any disadvantages? Not every lender wants

6:46

to do this, they only want to

6:48

do it for people with certain credit

6:50

scores, they only want to do it

6:52

for people who are of certain income

6:54

level, so there's a lot of if

6:56

to this, and also not every lender

6:58

does it. However, if you're able to

7:00

reset the mortgage rate, you essentially call

7:02

up your lender, ask for them to

7:05

reset it to current rates in the

7:07

market, there's usually a fee, maybe about

7:09

$2,000 or so, depends on the lender,

7:11

they don't have to approve you for

7:13

you for it. It's sort of an

7:15

alternative to a full refinancing, a

7:17

whole refinancing. It's a lot more

7:19

paperwork, a lot more expense, and

7:21

a bigger headache for folks. But

7:23

this rate reset, it's easier to

7:26

do, and folks like it. And

7:28

when you say that it's only

7:30

available for people with a certain

7:32

income or a certain credit

7:34

score, I'm assuming that means high

7:36

income, high credit score. Generally, yes.

7:39

Well, you mentioned that rates are

7:41

going higher. So much in home ownership

7:43

depends on that mortgage rate. Can

7:45

House hunters and homeowners alike expect

7:48

to see lower rates any time

7:50

soon or even later this year?

7:52

We have been hoping for that

7:54

kind of lowering of rate significantly

7:56

for at least the past year

7:58

and it hasn't happened. and what

8:00

keeps happening is the rate keeps bouncing

8:02

around, range bound and the sixes, and

8:05

now we're going up again. It's very

8:07

difficult to bet on rate changes, decreases.

8:09

There's a lot of people out here

8:12

right now who were hoping that this

8:14

was the year that they were going

8:16

to be able to refinance. And they

8:18

can't. And some folks are having trouble

8:21

making their mortgages because of that. We're

8:23

seeing this just like a little bit

8:25

on the margins, a little bit more,

8:27

especially people who are lower income homeowners.

8:30

We're seeing a little bit more delinquencies. Not

8:32

in a big way yet. But it's something

8:34

to think about. If you are banking on

8:37

refinancing and that day doesn't come when you

8:39

need it to come, you could be in

8:41

a tight situation budget wise. That's WSJ

8:43

reporter Veronica Decker. And that's

8:45

it for your money briefing briefing.

8:47

If you want to hear more

8:49

about what the housing market has

8:52

in store, catch up on our

8:54

recent series, Buying a Home in

8:56

2025, Navigating the Crunch, we'll link

8:58

to it in our show notes.

9:01

This episode was produced by Ariana

9:03

Asperu with supervising producer Melanie Roy.

9:05

I'm Julia Carpenter for the Wall

9:08

Street Journal. Thanks for listening!