Surely, for most Americans, the idea of lying on any official form, let alone something as significant as a mortgage application, would be nearly unthinkable. It probably wouldn’t even cross your mind. But, as this article from South Florida indicates, it happens more frequently than one might think. If the thought does ever cross your mind, discard it immediately. You may not realize it, but providing false information on a mortgage application can be considered fraud, and the criminal penalties can be stiff.

While almost all data have pointed to a good 2016 in terms of the housing market, few sources are indicating that anything outrageous is going to happen. However, Brian O’Connell has written a rather extensive piece for The Street. He makes some predictions with which we at least marginally disagree, primarily around long-term mortgage interest rates; however, he makes a compelling argument that the pent-up building permits are going to bust open with entry-level housing starts, and we’re in for another (a continued?) housing boom.

As Winter finally begins to settle in, and as the holidays wind down, it’s easy to settle into the daily routine — get the kids ready, go to work, go to the gym, buy groceries, make dinner, sleep, repeat. Not much different here on January 6th than it was on December 6th. Don’t let that happen! Houzz has put together a list of 15 things do do around the home in January. Some of them are a little prosaic, but many of them will be sure to lift your spirits this January, from simple things like buying flowers and lighting candles, to longer term projects like starting to plan your spring garden.

Over the past year, it’s become quite clear that the housing market has recovered. However, does it really feel like the economy as a whole has? For most of us, probably not, and that’s largely because it hasn’t. Unemployment is down, but that’s because of the funny way the U.S. measures unemployment — there are plenty of people who are “no longer looking for work” that don’t count in that statistic. And as the housing market recovers, costs of rents don’t naturally decrease. ATTN has an interesting article that compares costs of housing to the minimum wage. Granted, they have an axe to grind, and it might not be your axe, but it’s still interesting, at least statistically.

If you’re still paying PMI on your mortgage, now may be a great time to look at refinancing and fixing that. According to Moody’s Analytics, single-family home prices are now above their previous-decade peak in more than 40% of markets. Nationally, prices are still down about 12% overall, but averages aren’t really useful — you need to look at your specific home and market. If you’re in a neighborhood that has rebounded, you may have enough equity in your home to refinance and kill that extra insurance payment.

JP Smith, who accurately forecast the 1998 Russian stock market crash, says China is in for a bust as bad as the ’08 U.S. mortgage bust, next year. TheStreet.com provides detailed coverage, on the reasoning, state of the Yuan (the Chinese currency), and other market factors. The reason that this is interesting to us is that, if Smith is correct, the Chinese money outflows are likely to accelerate in 2016, and as we’ve reported before, that can have a big impact on the U.S. housing market.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I generally scoff at predictions. Few people are as accurate as Cassandra. Still, with the proper use of data, some predictions can be better than others. Mitch Lipka recently interviewed Svenja Gudell, the new Chief Economist at Zillow. There are no deep, earth-shattering predictions, but the Q&A format of the interview is nice, and it’s always good to hear what a Zillow economist is thinking — it’s definitely a different style than the typical CNBC talking head.

We reported yesterday on a blog post that the Federal Reserve put out, arguing their case that the rate hike shouldn’t have any impact on long-term, fixed rate mortgages. It turns out, they’re not the only ones who think that. CNBC wrote a similar piece last week. The main difference is, their article is a little less technical; a little easier to read. So, if you didn’t read the Fed blog post, check out this article  But the conclusion is the same — long term treasuries are what matter for long-term mortgage rates.