
Mortgage rates have increased significantly since the beginning of the year. Each Thursday, Freddie Mac releases its Primary Mortgage Market Survey. According to the latest survey, the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has risen from 3.22% at the start of the year to 3.55% as of last week. This is important to note because any increase in mortgage rates changes what a purchaser can afford. To give you an idea of how rising mortgage rates impact your purchasing power, see the table below:

While it's always difficult to know exactly where mortgage rates will go, a great indicator of where they may head is by looking at the 50-year history of the 10-year treasury yield, and then following its path. Understanding th...

Over the past two years, we've lived through one of the most stressful periods in recent history. Because of the health crisis, many of us have spent more time at home and that's led us to re-evaluate both what we need in a house and how much we appreciate having a safe space. If you've found your current home isn't filling all your needs, you may be wondering if it's time to find a new one.
There's reason to believe a change of scenery could boost your happiness. Catherine Hartley, an Assistant Professor at New York University's Department of Psychology and co-author of a study on how new experiences impact happiness, says:
"Our results suggest that people feel happier when they have more variety in their daily routines—when they go to novel places and have a wider array of experiences."
A move could be exactly the new experience you've been loo...