Rates Just Got Better!

Anthony: Little bit of a pleasant surprise on Thursday, rates dropped to 6.6%. They went down half a point in one morning because the CPI index, the Consumer Price Index, went below 8% for the first time in a few months. This is terrific news for homebuyers, terrific news for realtors, but you’ve got to make sure to get that message out. Are you telling all of your buyers, all of the buyers that rates have done this? The markets were closed yesterday, bond markets were closed for ventures today. When they last closed on Thursday, they were 6.6%.

Anthony Lamacchia here with Crush It In Real Estate, and I want to talk about this because you all need to get in action. This is a pleasant little surprise here. Now, the tricky thing is it’s added timing here that buyer motivation tends to be not as high unless it’s a relocating buyer or someone with some important reason to move. Most buyers are less motivated, so you have to get in touch with them and let them know that they went to 6.6. There is no guarantee that they are going to stay here.

Now, I know some experts that say, “Oh, they’re definitely not going to go back up to 7. They’re not going to do that.” I personally believe they’re going to get worse before they get better. I’ve been saying this for a while. If you look at my interest rate predictions, they’ve been generally accurate since the spring when this whole thing started. I think that this is a blessing that we got down to 6.6. You’ve got to make sure that your buyers are aware of that.

They need to get in touch with their mortgage brokers, get updated pre-approvals, watch how much more they can afford when it’s 6.6 as opposed to 7 to 7.25, et cetera. You’ve got to get in touch with them and make sure they know that. Then we’ll see what this week brings. When markets open Monday, bond markets open, we’ll see what rates do, but all indications point that they’re going to stay here for at least a little bit. How long? I don’t know.

I personally believe that you are going to see them probably stay down for a few weeks, and we get somewhere into December, January, I feel that they’re going to probably go back up again before next summer coming down more. Remember to tell your homebuyers that when they come down more later, they can refinance. That’s the part that people seem to miss. We got buyers saying, “Oh, I’ll just wait. I’ll just wait.” Okay, wait for what? Till the winter when inventory is lower, when inventory is at its lowest point? Now inventory is going down. Also, another reminder for realtors, make sure to look at inventory that is stale.

We got way too addicted, too many realtors got way too addicted at only looking at new listings coming on in the last three to four years. You can’t do that. There’s been a significant amount of listings that have had price adjustments, that have sat still, et cetera. You need to get those properties to your buyers. You need to point them out to your buyers. You need to get your buyers into those properties. You also should pay attention to stuff that comes off the market in the next few weeks. There are people, especially in the northern states, but even down south, that will voluntarily come off the market because they’re like, “Hey, I don’t want to deal with this. The holidays are coming, et cetera.”

You need to reach out to those listing agents if you get a buyer that sees a property that they like. My point is, make sure your buyers are seeing all the inventory, not just the new inventory, and make sure they are aware of what’s changing with the interest rates. If the mortgage broker that you work with is doing their job, they’ve already gotten this message out to buyers, they’re already getting updated pre-approvals out.

Let’s get in action, folks. Sorry to be turning awkwardly and showing you all that background. I don’t show off my yard. I keep corners in my videos and that’s about it. That’s not me. Anyway, have a great day, everybody. Happy home selling. I got to go do P90X. Thank you.