Here's a quick roundup of the latest market news:
The Fed meets next week, and is expected to PAUSE rate increases! If you can believe it, they have raised rates 10 times in the last year! Mortgage rates were 5.27% at this time last year; now, they are hovering at about 7%.
I learned an interesting fact this week from my trusty lender French Greg: The big banks have cornered the market on jumbo loans. He said if you check around, most mortgage lenders or brokers can’t come anywhere near the rates/costs that big banks (Chase, Wells, BofA) are offering right now. Interesting pivot, I would say.
Feet on the street: My experience in the past couple of weeks has been that some listings were getting 4 to 6 offers on average over the last 60 days. Now, we’re seeing more like 2 to 3 on average. This is not an official stat, this is info gathered from producing/busy agents that are in our local market. The consensus is that summer vacations might be diverting buyers from the market for a bit.
Speaking of summer, where is it? I’m just sayin’. The weather patterns this year continue to baffle me. Although it doesn’t seem to affect people's plans for vacations, it is just weird to wake up and wonder if I need to bring a jacket, sweatshirt or sweater as we approach the middle of June!
Over the years, I’ve heard from a lot of folks that they were or are considering getting into real estate as a career opportunity. I’ve always encouraged them to check it out, as the means to get licensed are not that high (IMHO). The success rate for new agents is the challenge.
It could take months of working, generating leads, holding open houses on weekends, driving homebuyers around for months, only for them to change their mind or worse (well, we just walked into this house and the agent said they could write up an offer for us!) Ahh!
I feel strongly that this is a good career path for those who have the grit to listen, learn, take calculated risks, provide the absolute best service (even if you’re not getting paid) and build a circle of clients and new friends that can last a lifetime. And, yeah, you can make a living at it too!
If you’ve considered getting into this business, look at the picture of Lucy, decide if you can handle these emotions. Every. Single. Day. Then, call me. I’m happy to have a cup of coffee with you and provide some insight into this wonderful, weird, wild and wacky business that I call a career. I have been blessed by so many mentors, partners, friends and colleagues over the last 20 years that it would be my pleasure to pay it forward to others.
