First-time homebuyers
may feel overwhelmed by pretty high home prices and the highly competitive real
estate market. Still, that is enough reason to give up immediately on your
search for a decent house.

 

There are several
things that you can do differently to acquire your new home. With patience,
determination, and wit, you may be able to bring yourself to the closing table.

To further help you
out, here are four pieces of advice that can aid you in your pursuit of buying
a new house. 

 

Make the Smart Choice

 

Timing is vital in the
housing market, and finding the right real estate agent can help you avoid
missing out on possible home options when they appear.

 

In looking for the
right agent, you would need someone, who is well-informed about the area, has
been in the business for quite some time, and is an expert negotiator. They
should also be taking note of your search to help you find more potential
homes.

 

Working with a real
estate agent who is already familiar with the area can be helpful as they could
have connections with other agents, which may allow you to know about a house
before it even comes up on the multiple listing service (MLS). As mentioned
above, timing is vital in the housing market.

 

Don’t Settle for
Something You Don’t Want

 

While changing your
main home requirements that can be achieved within your budget is tempting, you
need to be patient.

 

Your search may show
the same homes you already looked at, but that is not enough reason to start
thinking about whether you’re okay with having that extra bathroom or pool.

 

When you settle for
features that you don’t need or want for your house, your stay in that new
place could be short-lived, and you may end up selling the property again.

 

Stick to the Path

 

After making your
latest offer, the fear of missing out (FOMO) can quickly get you. However,
overbidding so that you can acquire the house you want could cost you
significantly in the long run.

 

If you paid more than
what you can afford, you may find yourself unable to enjoy some downtime in
your new home as much as you would like due to a lack of sufficient money.

Therefore, it’s
important to stick with your price. That way, you can fully savor the good
things that could happen in your new home. It would also help to check houses
under your actual budget, so you have the opportunity to pay above the asking
price without risking too much of your finances.

 

Make an Offer with an
Impact

 

This is not all about
your offer price. For example, the seller may need to close the deal
immediately or had other offers fail. Perhaps including conventional financing
or a no contingencies clause that could help close the deal quickly would give
the seller some encouragement.

 

Establishing a genuine
connection with your seller may also help. For instance, you can provide them
with a personal note with your family picture attached to it.

 

That would let them
know that you’re not buying the house just to demolish it, or you’re just
someone who is looking to move
closer to their parents or relatives.

This article was written by ForexLive at www.forexlive.com.

You can find
short-video content for just about anything on TikTok. In fact, this app has
become a popular place for individuals to learn
about personal finance and investing.

However, not all financial
or money management advice on TikTok can be considered helpful or good.

 

The issue is that more
nuanced information starts to become risky. And for beginners, it can be
difficult to separate topics appropriate to them from the ones they are not ready
to tackle just yet.

 

So when looking for
relevant, good financial advice on TikTok, here are three things you need to
remember:          

 

Context is Important

 

Context matters, and
the same can be said for helping people understand the differences between
financial products. 

 

Many personal finance
content on TikTok can be self-centered advice that lacks the context that many
financial experts use to help their clients grasp strategies and products and
how those can aid their situation and affect them in the long run.

So before you take
someone’s 60-second TikTok video on the best investment or retirement plan,
check their background first. See whether that person has another website that
would provide more information about them or the proper credentials to support
their story.

 

If they posted the
advice because it worked for them, instead of treating it as something that
would also work for you and everyone else, treat it as a basis for your own
research on the topic.

 

The Creator’s
Experience Matters

 

It can be challenging
to identify which creators on TikTok are real financial professionals and which
ones are amateurs. Furthermore, it turns out that several of the popular
personal finance influencers on the short-video platform lack the proper
credentials.

While there is no
condition to be officially authorized to provide personal financial advice,
individuals are typically required by financial regulators and governing bodies
to complete certification courses and have them renewed regularly.

 

The certificate would
prove that their financial expertise is reliable and up to standards.

Getting financial
advice from people who don’t have any real credentials is risky. Still, it does
suggest that you should consider it carefully and check whether the information
is accurate before making any decisions.

 

Watch Out for Day
Traders

 

There are many day
traders on TikTok, and you should try to avoid them as much as possible.

 

Day traders who provide
stock picks out on the short-video platform don’t always know whether their
advice would benefit the viewers absorbing the information. Note that giving
someone an idea and urging him to take action is entirely different from just
talking about an idea.

 

A well-thought-out investing strategy should
suit an investor’s risk tolerance. However, a content creator on TikTok would
not really know the risk tolerance of every single one of his viewers.

 

With one billion
monthly active users worldwide, the odds of personalizing investing content for
each TikTok user are pretty low.

 

Moreover, users of the
app should consider the type of stocks being endorsed. For example, if it’s a
penny stock that doesn’t have a lot of trading volume, that may be a red flag
for a pump and dump scheme.

This article was written by ForexLive at www.forexlive.com.

Headlines:

• ICYMI: The market now expects the Fed to hike by 75 bps tomorrow
• The post-ECB fallout in European bond spreads continues
• SNB to keep policy unchanged this week, to only hike rates in September – Reuters poll
• ECB’s Knot: A real possibility that rate hikes will continue in October and December
• RBA’s Lowe: Australians need to be prepared for higher interest rates
• UK May claimant count change -19.7k vs -49.4k expected
• Germany May wholesale price index +1.0% vs +2.1% m/m prior
• Germany May final CPI +7.9% vs +7.9% y/y prelim 
• Germany June ZEW survey current conditions -27.6 vs -31.0 expected

Markets:

• CHF leads, AUD lags on the day
• European equities lower; S&P 500 futures up 0.2%
• US 10-year yields down 5.3 bps to 3.316%
• Gold up 0.2% to $1,822.32
• WTI crude up 0.7% to $121.83
• Bitcoin down 5.9% to $21,845

The rout in markets took a bit of a breather in European morning trade today but there are still some nervous undertones persisting, as equities turned lower and the dollar regaining its footing after a softer start.

The bloodbath yesterday looked to calm down at first with US futures pushing gains of over 1% and European indices also opening higher across the board. But fast forward a few hours later and the mood has flipped around as European stocks are sitting in the red while US futures have nearly pared all of its advance from earlier.

The only relief is seen in long-end Treasuries, as yields settle lower for the time being. That said, there is still a bit of a push and pull and it is tough to draw much conclusions before US traders come in later in the day.

The dollar was initially softer to start the session but gradually reestablished its authority for the most part as risk appetite gets sapped.

EUR/USD moved up to 1.0485 before falling back to settle around 1.0430-40 levels, with USD/CHF having earlier dipped by 1% to 0.9875 as the franc gained with traders trying to figure out the SNB’s intentions later this week. The latter pair has recovered some ground back to 0.9935 currently.

Meanwhile, there wasn’t much reprieve for cable as it slumped to 1.2065 from 1.2200 at the start of European morning trade. Sellers continue to eye the 1.2000 level and it looks to be a matter of time before we get there.

Elsewhere, AUD/USD also tumbled from 0.6970 to 0.6885 as the dollar steadied and risk sentiment waned during the session.

As things stand, the market now expects the Fed to hike by 75 bps tomorrow. That is something that policymakers haven’t really given a clear message on but they are likely to still deliver on that regardless (considering the Fed’s recent history with being bullied). The kicking and screaming may not be over and done with if market players are vindicated for their moves this week.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

As risk appetite gets sapped on the day, that has seen dollar bids come back into the picture today as mentioned here.

In turn, it has pushed AUD/USD to fresh lows in four weeks as the pair now dips just below the 0.6900 handle. From a technical perspective, there isn’t much relief on the way down for the pair amid the latest retreat through to the May low at 0.6828 and then the trendline support level (white line) just below 0.6800.

Those will be key levels to watch as sellers stay in the hunt for the next downside leg. A lot will depend on how the risk mood evolves though and after some heavy selling in recent days, there might be scope for some reprieve. However, there is the Fed to contend with tomorrow and that is the bigger factor at the moment.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

There isn’t much that hasn’t already been said since last week. The ECB isn’t showing much signs of urgency to address fragmentation risks and they aren’t perturbed (yet) by the jump in periphery bond yields since Thursday last week.

For some context, 10-year Italian bond yields have jumped up by a staggering 67 bps since last Wednesday’s closing level. It’s all about this issue at the moment when it comes to European bond markets:

• ECB welcomes back an old friend

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

The early gains have vanished in the equities space and there’s a general uneasiness on how things are going to play out when Wall Street comes into play later today. The mood right now feels like this:

A look at European indices is showing that the Eurostoxx is down 1.0%, the DAX down 0.8%, CAC 40 down 1.3%, UK FTSE down 0.6%, IBEX down 0.6%, and FTSE MIB down 1.3% on the day.

Meanwhile, S&P 500 futures have steadily dropped during the session as it erases its earlier 55 points gains to just 6 points now:

The only bright spot I can pinpoint is that the long-end of Treasuries are not selling off today, as the market sees a bit of a relief. 10-year yields are down 7 bps to 3.29%. That comes despite European bond yields continuing to track higher, with 10-year BTP yields up another 4 bps to 4.14% on the day.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

European indices have turned lower and US futures are now barely staying afloat as risk appetite is sapped in European morning trade. That is seeing dollar bids return and after some slight losses earlier, the dollar is now trading higher against the pound, loonie, aussie and kiwi.

Cable has seen a dip towards 1.2100 for the first time since May 2020:

As mentioned earlier here, the dollar’s earlier drop doesn’t hold much technical significance and owes more to the market seeking a bit of a breather. But as risk starts to show some nervousness again, it’s easy pickings for the greenback.

GBP/USD continues to look poised for a run towards 1.2000, all things considered.

Elsewhere, EUR/USD has also fallen from 1.0485 to 1.0435 at the moment while the yen is a notable beneficiary with bond yields (at the longer end of the curve at least) retreating on the session so far. USD/JPY is down 0.2% to 134.15 as the push and pull continues just below the 135.00 handle.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

Headlines:

• Stocks continue to come under pressure on the session
• The crypto collapse continues to rumble
• 10-year Treasury yields at their highest since 2018 as bond selloff deepens
• 10-year JGB yields holding above BOJ’s implied cap in late Tokyo session
• Italian 10-year yields hit 4% for the first time since 2014
• ECB’s Simkus says not worried by surge in Italian bond yields
• Dollar in firm control as market jitters reverberate
• AUD/USD poised for a run at the May lows as risk jitters escalate
• Cable poised to revisit the year’s lows as UK leads the recession race
• UK April monthly GDP -0.3% vs +0.1% m/m expected
• USD/JPY: Up, up, and away
• BOJ’s Kuroda: Recent sharp fall in the yen is undesirable

Markets:

• USD leads, AUD lags on the day
• European equities lower; S&P 500 futures down 2.3%
• US 10-year yields up 9.6 bps to 3.25%
• Gold down 0.8% to $1,855.53
• WTI crude down 1.5% to $118.82
• Bitcoin down 13% to $23,608

The market is carrying over the selloff from last week through to this week, as the rout spread across all asset classes with the dollar being the major beneficiary.

Equities held lower before the selling intensified in European morning trade and alongside another rout in Italian bonds, it is making for rather dour sentiment on the session. The implosion in cryptocurrencies since the weekend also didn’t really help the mood.

USD/JPY initially ran higher to 135.00 but has since fallen back a bit despite the surge in yields, owing to some counter-flows on risk aversion. The pair now keeps around 134.30-40 levels on the day.

Elsewhere, it has been one-way traffic for the dollar as it covers back the retracement in mid-May. That applies to the euro, which is now down 0.6% to 1.0455 on the day and the pound as well which has fallen past 1.2200 and is down over 1%.

Amid the sour risk mood, the aussie and kiwi are leading losses with the former falling past 0.7000 for the first time in four weeks and the latter slipping past 0.6300 – also the first time in four weeks.

It’s a bloodbath out there as everything is getting crushed, including commodities.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

The bond selloff deepens in Europe and that won’t lend much help to overall market sentiment to start the new week. This is all the ECB’s doing as mentioned last week here.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

As mentioned earlier, a retest of the year’s lows is on the cards for cable and we could get it as soon as today with the way things are going. The technicals are siding overwhelmingly with the dollar right now as the retracement bounce in cable fades. The same can be said for most other major currencies against the greenback as well.

GBP/USD is now down 120 pips today to 1.2190 but it isn’t the only dollar pair down over 1% on the day. The aussie and the kiwi are facing similar losses with AUD/USD down to 0.6965 and NZD/USD down to 0.6295 on the day.

It’s a bloodbath out there.

• USD/JPY: Up, up, and away
• Cable poised to revisit the year’s lows as UK leads the recession race
• Dollar in firm control as market jitters reverberate
• AUD/USD poised for a run at the May lows as risk jitters escalate

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.