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Later in this email, find out why 2024 should be a better year for potential home buyers. |
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💵 Today’s Top Stories |
| | Get next year’s Christmas stuff for dimes on the dollar. If that’s too boring, it’s a great month to buy warehouse club memberships, organization and storage supplies, TVs, appliances and more. Read more. |
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| | Going on an international trip and trying to figure out your phone situation? Here’s Clark’s advice depending on which carrier you do business with. Read more. |
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| | Popular budgeting app Mint is shutting down for good in March. Here are some free and paid alternatives that Team Clark recommends instead. Read more. |
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| | Freezing your credit is the best thing you can do to protect yourself against identity theft. Here’s how to do it at Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Read more. |
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🏠️ Expect the Housing Market To Improve for Potential Buyers in 2024 |
A spike in housing prices followed by the fastest interest-rate increases in decades made the last three years some of the toughest for potential home buyers in a generation. |
However, as inflation gets closer to the Fed’s stated 2% target virtually every month, there’s hope that 2024 will get better for buyers. |
The market is anticipating several small interest rate cuts in ’24. That has helped mortgage rates fall for nine consecutive weeks. |
A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 6.61% at the end of last week. Not long ago, that number sat above 7%. |
That rate is based on borrowers who put 20% down and have excellent credit. It would not be a surprise to see those with excellent credit able to get 30-year mortgage loans under 6% particularly in the second half of this year. |
Clark has predicted that the housing market will go sideways for a few years after the huge run-up in value caused in part by COVID-19 supply issues and what were historically low interest rates. |
The vehicle market has slowly moderated and is becoming fairly normal. It may take a year or two for the housing market to do the same – and we probably won’t see anything close to the 2% mortgage rates some were getting – but for now, expect steady improvement. |
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📊 Stat of the Day |
💸 $100 million+: Revenue Costco made by selling gold bars during its most recent fiscal quarter. The 24-karat bars weigh one ounce. Customers pay a fraction more than the gold spot price and are limited to two per person. |
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💰️ Deal Alert: Today’s Top Deals |
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🎙️ Podcast |
 | Should I Use Autopay? |
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Do you use autopay for credit card bills? If so, Clark has a warning for you. |
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☎️ Need Money Help? |
The Team Clark Consumer Action Center is a free helpline that can help you navigate your money questions. Call 636-492-5275. Visit clark.com/cac for more information. |
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