5 thoughts on “Despite being out of reach for many Americans, single-family housing is relatively cheap”
Bloomberg – Chinese and US trade negotiators have lined up an array of agreements for Xi Jinping and Donald Trump to formally unveil this week, but none address the core issues of America’s economic conflict with China. While markets have rallied on news that the latest trade spat between the two nations is easing, analysts caution that the deals now set for them to sign in South Korea ignore foundational problems.
While little fish are being scooped up, some of the big fish are getting away, including national security and Trump’s desire to somehow rebuild America’s industrial base. The Republican president has envisioned a “rebalancing” between the two largest economies—a world in which the US revives its manufacturing sector and China stokes domestic consumption to engineer a dramatic reduction in both US trade deficits and Chinese surpluses.
In reality, President Xi may have other ideas. While US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushes China to light a fire under consumer spending and the White House touts Trump’s Asia trip as a ringing success, China’s latest five-year plan appears to show Trump’s rebalancing dream to be—as far as Beijing is concerned
Will the stocks of rare Earth miners tank on Monday?
Bessent says China to delay rare earths rules by a year, buy U.S. soybeans
By Reuters
October 26, 20259:40 AM EDTUpdated 8 hours ago
WASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that he anticipates that China will revive substantial purchases of U.S. soybeans for several years and will delay its expanded licensing regime for rare earths by a year and re-examine it after two days of trade talks in Malaysia.
Bessent told the CBS program “Face the Nation” that the soybean purchases would be substantial. Bessent said on ABC’s “This Week” program that when President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping announce a trade deal next Thursday U.S. soybean farmers “will feel very good about what’s going on both for this season and the coming seasons for several years.”
Bessent also said on “Face the Nation” that the details for a deal to transfer ownership of Chinese short video app TikTok to U.S. control were ironed out and that Trump and Xi would be able to “consummate” the transaction next week.
U.S. Homeowner Population Stops Growing for First Time in Nearly a Decade
•The number of homeowner households fell 0.1% year over year in the second quarter—a small decline, but the first since 2016.
•Meanwhile, the number of renter households rose 2.6%—one of the biggest increases in recent years.
The number of homeowner households in America fell 0.1% year over year to an estimated 86.2 million in the second quarter. While that’s a marginal decline, it’s the first since 2016.
I am finishing up working on a new loan that is a straight refinancing.
The new loan is a 30-year fixed with a 5-year prepay at 6.25%. The loan comes out to be about 55% LTV. I’m not taking out any cash. It replaces a 7.825% loan on the same property. I took the original loan out just under 25 months ago and I’m paying a 3% prepay penalty.
Even though I’m paying a 3% prepay, the refinancing more than makes up for any penalty. The interest rate on the new loan is 157 basis points less than the current loan.
That is a huge difference and anything more than 100 to 125 basis points makes the refinancing worthwhile, as long as I intend to own the property for at least five more years; which I do. This property will be an indefinite hold and I have no plans on selling it. It is quickly becoming a nice cash cow for me.
Since I took out the original loan two years ago, I’ve paid down about 10% of the loans principal balance, while I was able to increase the rent this year by $550.
Thus, my rental income will increase by almost $850 a month since last year. This same time last year, my rental income was zero. Through fixing up the property and doing some financing, my rental income will increase $10,000 a year on that one house.
Bloomberg – Chinese and US trade negotiators have lined up an array of agreements for Xi Jinping and Donald Trump to formally unveil this week, but none address the core issues of America’s economic conflict with China. While markets have rallied on news that the latest trade spat between the two nations is easing, analysts caution that the deals now set for them to sign in South Korea ignore foundational problems.
While little fish are being scooped up, some of the big fish are getting away, including national security and Trump’s desire to somehow rebuild America’s industrial base. The Republican president has envisioned a “rebalancing” between the two largest economies—a world in which the US revives its manufacturing sector and China stokes domestic consumption to engineer a dramatic reduction in both US trade deficits and Chinese surpluses.
In reality, President Xi may have other ideas. While US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushes China to light a fire under consumer spending and the White House touts Trump’s Asia trip as a ringing success, China’s latest five-year plan appears to show Trump’s rebalancing dream to be—as far as Beijing is concerned
Will the stocks of rare Earth miners tank on Monday?
Bessent says China to delay rare earths rules by a year, buy U.S. soybeans
By Reuters
October 26, 20259:40 AM EDTUpdated 8 hours ago
WASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that he anticipates that China will revive substantial purchases of U.S. soybeans for several years and will delay its expanded licensing regime for rare earths by a year and re-examine it after two days of trade talks in Malaysia.
Bessent told the CBS program “Face the Nation” that the soybean purchases would be substantial. Bessent said on ABC’s “This Week” program that when President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping announce a trade deal next Thursday U.S. soybean farmers “will feel very good about what’s going on both for this season and the coming seasons for several years.”
Bessent also said on “Face the Nation” that the details for a deal to transfer ownership of Chinese short video app TikTok to U.S. control were ironed out and that Trump and Xi would be able to “consummate” the transaction next week.
Redfin news release
U.S. Homeowner Population Stops Growing for First Time in Nearly a Decade
•The number of homeowner households fell 0.1% year over year in the second quarter—a small decline, but the first since 2016.
•Meanwhile, the number of renter households rose 2.6%—one of the biggest increases in recent years.
The number of homeowner households in America fell 0.1% year over year to an estimated 86.2 million in the second quarter. While that’s a marginal decline, it’s the first since 2016.
https://www.redfin.com/news/homeownership-rentership-rate-q2-2025/
Just an FYI for my fellow SFR investors…
I am finishing up working on a new loan that is a straight refinancing.
The new loan is a 30-year fixed with a 5-year prepay at 6.25%. The loan comes out to be about 55% LTV. I’m not taking out any cash. It replaces a 7.825% loan on the same property. I took the original loan out just under 25 months ago and I’m paying a 3% prepay penalty.
Even though I’m paying a 3% prepay, the refinancing more than makes up for any penalty. The interest rate on the new loan is 157 basis points less than the current loan.
That is a huge difference and anything more than 100 to 125 basis points makes the refinancing worthwhile, as long as I intend to own the property for at least five more years; which I do. This property will be an indefinite hold and I have no plans on selling it. It is quickly becoming a nice cash cow for me.
Since I took out the original loan two years ago, I’ve paid down about 10% of the loans principal balance, while I was able to increase the rent this year by $550.
Thus, my rental income will increase by almost $850 a month since last year. This same time last year, my rental income was zero. Through fixing up the property and doing some financing, my rental income will increase $10,000 a year on that one house.
That’s a great deal, congrats. 10k a year increase on one house is insane, no way that happens in my area.