finance: The Fed Raised Rates...again
- 07/26/23 04:26 PM
The Fed has once again hiked the Fed funds rate, this time with a .25 hike announced today. This brings the Fed rate to 5.5%, the highest level in 22 years, signaling tighter credit, more expensive borrowing, and more pressure on banking profitability as the Fed continues to wage war on inflation.
The Fed rate hike is a move to increase the Fed funds rate - that is, the rate at which banks borrow from the Fed and each other - and not the rate borrowers/consumers pay. When the Fed raises their rate, it's a move designed to curb inflation by restricting the movement … (21 comments)
finance: Cash? So What?
- 05/23/23 12:13 PM
In today's tight-inventory real estate market, there's often a preference, either real or perceived, toward cash buyers. "They're buying cash" is often used as a way to portray a buyer as some kind of powerhouse. Sellers are often told that cash offers are better, because "it's cash!". In reality, though, everyone buys with cash. USD is the currency used in the US to buy & sell real estate (calm down crypto bros, that's a discussion for another blog on another day). Whether that cash comes direct from a briefcase or direct from a bank, it's worth exactly the denomination of dollars being … (7 comments)
The question of inflation is a tricky one for several reasons, perhaps the biggest being that the Fed is in damage control mode. They're playing catch up in reckoning with their ignorance and incorrect actions based on their belief that the inflation we're knee-deep in would be "transitory" in 2021. We've seen that inflation is not only not transitory, but that it's spiraled to a point where it's tough to reign in. Last Friday, mortgage rates shot up nearly .5 percent based on updated inflation readings - the inflation reports weren't terrible when compared with the month before, but the fact that despite … (12 comments)
Real estate is on fire. It's no secret that home prices have gone up astronomically over the past 2+ years, and they continue to rise, in a phrase coined by crypto investors, "to the moon!". This meteoric rise in prices has caused the phrase "bubble" to be tossed around my media talking heads, "experts" on the news, and even some very smart people within the industry. They cite things like "rising rates pushing buyers out of the market", a slow down in pending home sales, and other metrics in determining that a "bubble" … (11 comments)
finance: The 'Local Lender' Myth
- 01/18/22 03:35 PM
The 'Local Lender' Myth Real estate is local! Out of area lenders are terrible! Online lenders are the worst! "______(insert lender/bank name here) stinks!". These statements are thrown around pretty often in the real estate arena, and sadly, the perception is in some cases translated to reality. Before I address these specific statements, a quick story:
Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away (specifically, the year 2007, in a small town called Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania) there was a lender who helped a home buyer purchase a new home. Just prior to closing, the final documents were generated, and to the … (14 comments)
finance: Mortgage Secrets 'They' Don't Want You To Know About - Part 1
- 12/13/21 01:47 PM
Mortgage Secrets 'They' Don't Want You To Know About - Part 1 When the Lowest Rate Makes the Most Sense The lowest rate never makes the most sense. Or, hardly ever. Sounds like something a lender with high rates would say, huh? Well, hear me out. First, the rates I offer are extremely competitive. Lowest in the industry? Nope, and for good reason (if you've seen the recent better.com layoff saga, you're witness to how the companies with the lowest rates are run). But our rates are always competitive, and I still don't think most people should opt for the lowest rate. I … (13 comments)
finance: Is Housing Unaffordable?
- 12/02/21 06:54 PM
Home prices are at all time highs! There's a dip coming! This is a bubble! Wait to buy until prices come down! These are some of the things headlines have been touting for....well, years now, as appreciation in the housing market has marched higher. And yes, home prices are higher - much higher in some markets, than they were a few years ago. If we look back even as far as 2015-2016 pundits in the media were sounding alarms on housing bubbles and touting the same fear based nonsense they tout today. Those who listen to those media pundits do so … (14 comments)
It's been a while since our team has expanded our territory. Until today, we covered 15 states with trusted colleagues covering the rest of the country, and today we added Oklahoma to the repertoire.
Mason-McDuffie has been expanding and in the past year has opened offices with teams in Dallas, Tulsa, and Bentonville in the Midwest, so our team has decided it's time to expand our presence as well.
Oklahoma will be a great opportunity because we offer extremely competitive products and rates for the diverse markets across the state (and across all states that we … (2 comments)
I'm just going to get the pitch out of the way. The data I have available (and perhaps even more importantly, the data I know how to translate and effectively communicate to clients) can help you close more real estate transactions. It can save you time, cut back on the amount of homes you show, and motivate your buyers like nothing else I've seen over the years (Ok...MAYBE the "you don't need any documentation and you can get however much money you want!" loans of the early 2000s were more … (5 comments)
Let me start off by saying this isn't a FUD post. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt being used by sales people is a slimy approach to get people to make decisions they otherwise wouldn't. This is a post based on economic indicators, historical data, and common sense.
In 2008, I watched many of the people nearset and dearest to me lose their homes, their savings, and go through layoffs, changes in ownership, bankruptcies, and foreclosures. I was just a naive little mortgage broker back then with little knowledge of history … (12 comments)
Great news! With that debt-consolidation loan you're saving $800/month by wrapping a bunch of high interest rate, non-deductible debt into a low fixed rate mortgage. You still have plenty of equity in your home, and now you have money to build your retirement investments. What a great move! This type of transaction can be a real life changing event for many people.
All too often though, the reality is that after what was a great financial move, that credit card debt gets racked right back up, and people … (31 comments)
The Fed has once again hiked the Fed funds rate, this time with a .25 hike announced today. This brings the Fed rate to 5.5%, the highest level in 22 years, signaling tighter credit, more expensive borrowing, and more pressure on banking profitability as the Fed continues to wage war on inflation.
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