Happy Friday, friends! This past weekend we dipped our toes in the snow up at Mammoth Mountain and it was so much fun. The weather was clear and cool, there was snow everywhere and we shared a cozy cabin with a good group of people—and we discovered Wordle too!
We took Maven up the gondola all the way to the summit, and he could not have been happier up there. For someone seeing this type of awe-inspiring snow-capped mountain scenery for the first time, I can only imagine what she thought of it. She especially loved the cold pancake we gave her at the top.
We feel so fortunate to live in a place where these adventures are basically at our fingertips. I <3 California. Nearly every day, Compass’s Leonard Steinberg puts together a handful of real estate news bits that are always so interesting I have to share some of my favorites of the week. To receive these every day from Leonard, please click here and include your full name and email address to get on his mailing list. * The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage had risen close to a full percentage point from the start of this year up until last Friday, when it hit 4.18%. It is headed below 4% Tuesday. (CNBC) * The number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals - those with $30 million or more in net assets - increased 9.3% annually, to total 610,568 last year. The 5 countries that had the largest increase in the ultra-wealthy populations were the U.S. (13%), U.K. (11%), France (10%), Japan (8%), and Chinese mainland (6%). Scott Dancer of COMPASS is listing the most expensive property in the area....asking $110 million! Aaron Kirman of COMPASS Los Angeles is listing the most expensive home in the USA....$300 million! COMPASS sells luxury! www.LUXURYatCOMPASS.com. (Barrons) * Opendoor - the i-buying entity - told investors on Tuesday that it has $5.7 billion in unsold real estate inventory. (Housingwire) * The G-7 major economies have imposed unprecedented punitive sanctions against the Central Bank of Russia with widespread measures by the West against Russia’s oligarchs and officials, including Vladimir Putin. A smart client of mine recently told me how a Russian bank stock he sold in December for around $17 is now trading at 2 cents..... * Do you like wearing a mask? I don't! Some people refuse to do so. Yet now proponents of the METAVERSE expect everyone to wear big goggles 24/7......hmmmmm...... “History shows that a 100% increase in oil prices over a year usually triggers a recession (1990, 2000, 2008). We’re not quite there yet, but we are getting closer by the day,” - Nicholas Colas, co-founder, DataTrek Research * To anyone planning to buy NFT's, BEWARE. This arena is rife with scammers. A COMPASS agent was scammed and robbed of a $50K NFT from his Metamask wallet. Most NFT sites have an ending other than .com or .co so it's hard to tell if the site is legitimate. Phishing sites somehow work their way up on Google to be ahead of the original site. When he googled the site, the fake site with the same site name - but different ending - came up first. It then asks you to connect your NFT/ Crypto wallet to the site, which is normal. But you're in fact connecting your wallet to a fake site. Once connected they stole his NFT worth $50K... * i-Buyers purchased 70,402 homes in 2021, more than double the previous annual high of 32,726 homes in 2019. They completed 44,933 home sales last year, exceeding the previous high of 28,265 homes sold in 2019. The TOP 5 i-buyer percentage of sales markets were Raleigh with 11%, Tucson 9.5%, Atlanta 8.9%, Jacksonville: 8.9%, Phoenix: 8.8%. Hold times for iBuyers rose to 98 days in the 4th quarter, up from 63 days in the middle of the year. Now we have to wonder what this may have done to artificially inflate valuations - further driving inflation - in their bid to gain market share.....(INMAN) * The $11 million sale of a Washington, D.C., 5,500sf duplex penthouse with Potomac views is now the most expensive condo ever sold in the nation’s capital. (PENTA) * Rivian may be an indicator of things to come: the EV car maker announced it would raise prices by 20% - far more than the inflation rate - to bolster its profitability. The consumer revolted with mass cancellations of car orders. Consumers will pay more and more.....until they don't, especially when they see they are being price-gouged under the ruse of high inflation. Rivian reversed course immediately. Their CEO apologized profoundly for his poor judgement (a miracle in today's day and age where no-one seems capable of admitting fault!). Maybe - just maybe - Wall Street's lust for huge profits is partially to blame for some of the excess inflation we are experiencing? Some say there is 'great opportunity' during times of crisis.... Recently while searching for a tile, I identified availability with pricing ranging from $17/sf all the way up to $60/sf....for the EXACT SAME TILE. When I asked the $60/sf tile supplier why their pricing was so high, I heard the familiar tune: "inflation, supply-chain, labor...." 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶 Thugs! * Mortgage rates fell for a second consecutive week after Russia’s invasions of Ukraine triggered a flight to safer assets that sent Treasury yields lower. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 3.76% for the week ending Thursday. Last week, the rate fell 0.3 percentage point to 3.89%, down from its 2022 peak of 3.92%. (BARRONS) * Initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled 215,000, below the 225,000 estimate, the lowest level since Jan. 1 and comes a day ahead of the closely watched non-farm payrolls report for February. A separate report showed Q4 productivity up 6.6%, slightly less than expected, but with a rise in unit labor costs that was well ahead of estimates. (CNBC) * TEAM BLAIR TAHOE shares the following insights about their market, comparing 2019 to 2021. The real estate market in Lake Tahoe hit record highs, following trends nationwide: - Dollar volume around Lake Tahoe increased 83% over 2019 to nearly $4.7B. - Selling in a Seller's market pays: The average sale price per residence in 2021 was $1.5M, a 62% increase from 2019. The median price across all property sales was $1,056,000, a 57% increase. - The average number of days on market for new listings dropped by 33% to only 72 days. - New listings are in short supply. By year end, active listings in the region were down 26% in the region. Lake Tahoe has long been a "hot" real estate market, and the past two years' explosive growth highlighted the appeal of the unique mountain lifestyle, such as access to year-round outdoor activities. Approaching the first quarter end of 2022, we anticipate another strong year for the Lake Tahoe region as clients continue to reach out from across the country to seek their dream home by the 'Jewel of the Sierra'. * Today 27 years ago, Kodak released the DC40 camera, the second digital camera for the consumer market. While introduced over a year after Apple’s QuickTake 100 camera, Kodak’s marketing was largely responsible for popularizing digital photography. 1.4 TRILLION photos are taken each year these days.....