Women's Wisdom Network (961)
Half the year is done, and opportunities remain strong. As many are complaining about the typical items like “lack of inventory” or “rising interest rates”; my clients across the country are checking in up more than 9% in total units over the same time last year. So somehow, people who are working are making it happen! It’s not hard to see why people are swayed by the media and those YouTube “experts” with their doom and gloom forecasts, it’s hard to see the reality looking through the distorted lens of much of the information. Yes, home sales in the month of April were down 4.4% year over year. This helped fuel the speculation of the end of the housing market. Then the May numbers come in UP 8% year over year and nobody seems to have much to say? It doesn’t stop there, mortgage applications are down 6.9% - 5%…
“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” Jimmy Dean Listening to the financial news during the day sometimes reminds me of being out in a sailboat when storms are approaching. You have to pay attention, with one hand on the tiller and the other ready to adjust the sail to ensure you don’t end up being blown into the drink. The Federal Reserve has been buying billions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities. This committed action by the Fed has been artificially keeping mortgage rates low. The Fed has hinted that they may taper off on this activity sooner rather than later, which would pressure mortgage rates higher. No one knows when the winds will turn, though. Currently, rates are still hanging around the 2’s and 3’s, generally speaking. No matter which way the wind is blowing,…
June is coming to an end and with it the first half of 2021. Now is the time to spend an hour or so to review your year-to-date numbers against your business plan and see where the data takes us. Things to look for: • Purchase/refinance numbers• Referral partner closed referrals• Sources of opportunities• Marketing/prospecting response• Reality (including those currently in your pipeline and preapproved) compared to projections Once we have this data, we can also see who was involved in our purchase transactions on the listing side of our deals and see who we enjoyed working with and check their numbers to see if it is worth investing time and energy to make an approach? Remember, we aren't looking to grow numbers, we are looking to grow quality! We also must check our systems to be sure everything is working as intended and make changes as needed. No system…
Whether we swipe our finger or ask Siri using our voice, smartphones have become a window to the world of information and knowledge sitting in our front pockets and purses. Nearly all of us and our customers have access to this miraculous device that allows for constant connection to and communication with the rest of the world, and in the rare case that we are not with these smartphones or other digital devices, we are probably asking the person next to us to use theirs to check something for you, as commonplace as we used to ask someone to check their wristwatch for the time. A Paradigm Shift As soon as businesspeople and consumers alike moved away from using devices like the BlackBerry and instead picked up a Samsung or iPhone, a behavioral paradigm shift occurred. We can now send a text or make a call with flawless precision, send high-resolution…
We have talked about inflation and the fact you can’t fight the FED. More and more information show prices climbing, and the FED keeps buying and buying keeping rates low. They called it “transitory.” It was a supply chain issue and once everyone goes back to work, prices will return to “normal”. But today the FED had to acknowledge that indeed, inflation is real, and much hotter than they would like despite all their efforts. So, as it would be today, they admitted inflation is real but still clung to the “transitory” argument, at least for now. Prior to the FED announcement, the 30yr MBS 2.5% coupon stood at 103.38 and up .02 on the day. Right after the word came out, that coupon was down 44bps at 102.92; and we closed down 59bps at 102.77. The 10yr was also on the move; before the announcement it was down .01…
More...
John Giaimo is CEO of Bring it Home Communities, Inc, Rewards Call Center, LLC and the real estate news organization Realty Times, Inc. In the early 1990s, as founder and CEO of publicly traded HomeSeekers.com Inc., John was the first to place an entire multiple listing service home listing database on the web as he pioneered and implemented the infrastructure still used in today's online real estate marketplace. This included MLS, broker, and agent website development. John pioneered the technology platform and interface to display listing walk- throughs of real property through the use of video. He produced the weekend cable and satellite TV shows The Real Estate Home Show, Search Homes on TV and Realty Times TV. Drawing on his 30 years of real estate and technology expertise, John’s unique understanding of how technology can meet the needs of consumers continues to drive change in the Real Estate Market;…
From buying and selling advice for consumers to money-making tips for Agents, our content, updated daily, has made Realty Times® a must-read, and see, for anyone involved in Real Estate.