Why you should keep an eye on mortgage rates

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LendingTree also found that denial rates vary by race, ethnicity and even geographical location. According to the report, African American borrowers now have the highest denial rate, at 17.4 percent, while non-Hispanic whites have the lowest, at 7.9 percent.

The government can go after lenders who don’t follow fair lending laws. Still, you can up the odds you’ll be approved by making sure your credit file is in order: Dot every “i” and cross every “t” in your application, and line up all the documents required to verify your earnings, bank accounts, tax returns and assets.

Here’s another reason to price your home correctly in the first place — rather than pricing it high, hoping someone will bite, and lowering it when that doesn’t happen.

According to a Redfin study, newly listed houses get 3.4 times the attention online as those that drop their price.

The analysis found that a listing that’s viewed by 100 people on the first day is looked at just 17 times after it’s been on the market for 30 days. A price cut bumps that up to 29 views on the day the drop is posted, but the next day, daily views drop back to just 18.

Overall, Redfin found that online views drop off severely after the first day. On day two, views are half what they were on day one — and after a week, just a quarter.

Rises in median wages in the various construction trades outpaced those for all workers in 2018 by 3.2 percent to 2.5 percent, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics tally. But the median wage rose even faster for roofers’ helpers (6.7 percent) and laborers (3.2 percent). Wages of plasterers, stucco masons, floor layers and tapers increased about 7 percent, while stonemasons saw their wages rise by more than 6 percent.

Good news for workers, but not homebuyers. And since subcontractor bids historically increase faster than construction wages, adding more inflationary fuel to housing prices, builders have little choice but to boost their prices to absorb the higher costs.

Finally, one more thing to ponder: For what you pay for the median-price house in San Francisco — $1.196 million — you could buy five median-price houses in the other 49 largest cities in the country, according to a LendingTree analysis. In Detroit, you could buy the equivalent of 23 houses!