2021 has been a far from typical year. As everyone tries to find what the new normal looks like, we all are trying get ourselves adjusted. As we approach August, we realize the next “new” hurdle will be getting everyone in the family on track with the new schedules and timing of all the kids going back to school.
Back to school in any other year takes some getting used too. In 2021, with most of the country sending their kids back to school on a full-time basis is going to take some extra work! These time and schedule adjustments, even for those without children, can become a real challenge. I for one do not have any children living with me that are going back to school. However, the entrance to my community is on the same street as a school. Everyone that lives here knows that you must work around the school activity both in the morning and the afternoon or run the risk of getting tied up in traffic as the kids are dropped off and picked up!
It may sound silly, but with the year away from doing this, it could be quite an adjustment. It can also become an issue for those who have children that are changing schools and adjusting to new schedules. It’s not always just as simple as getting them out the door, it also is being sure that their full schedule allows for a smooth transition from home to school and then back again.
With these issues also comes a series of opportunities. Time, location, transportation, and a combination of schedules may open the door to mortgage and real estate choices to help manage it all. Remember, even as the kids go back to school, some parents are still working from home. While it may be helpful, it isn’t without its challenges. Without a clear break, some parents find it difficult to shift from parent mode to work mode without going to the office.
Refinancing the current home and updating or renovating could be a solution! New bedrooms, bathrooms, home office, or complete makeover could do the trick. However, the situation may require a complete change, and now listing, selling, and buying the next home become a reality. So be sure to connect with your database and ASK them how things are going and see if you can help them get back to school without their home becoming part of the problem.
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Jennifer is Assessments 24x7’s VP of Certification, Coach/Mentor, professional Values Analyst, and instructional designer for client customization and resource development. She specializes in helping clients, coaches and facilitators understand unique assessment results, and assists individuals and groups in personal and professional development.
Through educating others in improving communication, understanding critical thinking, embracing learning styles, evaluating emotional intelligence, and aligning behavior and values, Jennifer seeks to infuse others with a passion for learning and growing, encourage self-awareness, and impart simple, practical and applicable knowledge to help grow relationships and increase personal and professional effectiveness. Her career path has included individual and organizational development, secondary and adult education, customer service, corporate finance, and investor relations.
She holds a Washington State Secondary Education Teaching Certificate, a Bachelor of Arts in English with an emphasis in Composition & Rhetoric, a Master of Arts in Adult Education and Training, a Master of Science in Psychology, and a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in Human Resource Management. She is also certified in a variety of training courses and development workshops with many well-known vendors.
She’s traveled all over the world sharing her passion and expertise, and training and certifying others to make a difference. Jennifer has delivered intimate and large-scale, public and private presentations since 2001 to corporate, educational, and professional development audiences on topics such as leadership development, self-awareness and personal growth, relationships between men and women, building effective communication, and quality training programs. Jen is also an avid painter, a professional singer, and a very busy wife and mom to a teenage hockey player.
I’ve been hearing from my clients and have read some comments by others that people are saying they are going to “wait” until home prices come back down and it’s more of a “buyers’ market” before buying their next home. That is an interesting thought, but it begs the questions:
• When will those prices come back down, and from what level and to what level will they go to?
• Will the come back down price be lower than it is today?
• What is the cost of your current housing doing?
• What will the cost to borrow be IF, and it’s a big if for a reason, if the cost to you to borrow LESS MONEY is higher than the cost of borrowing MORE MONEY is today
You see, I am not sure who it is that is guaranteeing that home prices will fall below where they are today, and by how much they are guaranteeing those prices will fall? I’m not saying it can’t or won’t happen, I am saying the facts are it might not ever happen that home prices ever are lower than they are today; and I am certain that if they do, mortgage rates will be higher, maybe significantly higher, than you see today.
Let’s look at some numbers, we have seen home appreciation above 13% across the country, with higher rates at the lowest price points. Prices are still climbing even though we are seeing fewer offers on each property, multiple offers exist on 65% of all sales according to the MBA. Don’t ignore the fact that new listings are up 4% year over year, so please stop blaming inventory!
We also need to look at mortgage rates. With inflation, as measured by PPI at 7%, how long will it be before we see rates go higher? Most experts expect the first move in tapering FED activity is to slow or stop MBS purchases. Where do you think rates go when that happens? 4%, 5%, higher? What does the payment look like at higher rates? Even at lower loan amounts in the future if there is a drop in home prices; higher rates may still make buying today a better long-term deal!
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Cathy Droz, Founder/CEO is an accomplished automotive journalist, author, speaker and radio host with a passion for the automobile industry. A native of New York, she was just 17 when she purchased the family sedan, which evolved into a 40-year career including opening a full-service automotive advertising agency, and, most recently, publishing her first book, “A Woman’s Guide to Buying a Car with Confidence and Street Smarts – Don’t Let These High Heels Fool You.”
Highly respected by industry influencers, Cathy has test driven more than 500 vehicles, giving her insight and knowledge on virtually every make and model on the market to effectively educate the car buying consumer and make the search for the perfect automobile a pleasant and rewarding experience.
Cathy is currently Founder and CEO of HER Certified® — which stands for Honesty, Excellence and Respect — the industry’s first comprehensive certified dealer program aimed to help dealerships better serve female car buyers. The full-service “trifecta” employee training is designed to ensure the dealership not only meets, but exceeds, a woman’s expectations when buying or servicing a car. To be a part of the program, qualified dealerships who meet the criteria pay a fee and then receive items and services such as sales training for up to 100 employees that focuses on how to handle sales with female customers. Additionally, employees take the sales training online and must pass with 85 percent or higher. The sales training includes downloads of a workbook and her book for each employee taking the course.
A champion of community service and leadership, Cathy is a member of the Phoenix Automotive Press Association, a past President and Executive Board Member for Silent Witness, a distinguished member of Worldwide Who’s Who of Entrepreneurs, a 2016 Phoenix Suns Amazing Women award winner, the 2018 Honoree for Outstanding Women in Business, a volunteer for the Retired NFL AZ Legends, St. Vincent DePaul, and Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock charity, and donates 4% of all sales to the Girls Scouts of America to help promote financial literacy in young girls.
Cathy resides in Phoenix, Arizona, with her husband Manny. She is the proud parent of three children and nine grandchildren.
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“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” Anonymous
We are experiencing an unusual real estate market convergence of robust home sales, the highest home values we have ever seen, and the lowest mortgage rates we have ever seen. These three factors, rarely ever seen operating together, are like walking into a master design studio full of problem-solving tools and innovative ideas hanging on every hook. As a result, you can redesign your home, your finances, and your lifestyle. Don’t wait too late to get started, though.
The market is always moving. This week we were surprised by mortgage rates dipping lower than we have seen since February. The Federal Reserve assured investors they would give plenty of notice before tapering off on the mortgage-backed security bond buying. The Fed’s aggressive bond-buying has been a critical reason mortgage rates have remained artificially low for over a year.
Inflation metrics have been running hot. We are seeing strong economic numbers and the lowest number of Covid-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Usually, these factors would send mortgage rates spiking higher.
Here are some common customer goals we see in the mortgage office:
1. First-time homebuyers are slamming the door on rising rents and opening the door to buying their first home.
2. Home sellers are taking their profits to leverage up to a larger house. The low interest rate still makes this a good deal even though the person selling their home will need to buy another home which has also gone up in price.
3. Homeowners are refinancing to pay off their mortgage sooner, eliminating years of payments.
4. Homeowners are refinancing with a cash-out to get rid of other high-interest rate debt, freeing up money each month to apply to paying down more debt quicker at a lower interest rate. Many times the client is remodeling the home or investing in a business or other endeavor.
Homeowners, home buyers, and home sellers are moving quickly in this market. They are looking for home repair pros, realtors, mortgage lenders, closing attorneys, and more as they redesign their finances, home, and lifestyle. As a real estate or mortgage professional, when you are already well-connected to these knowledgeable professionals, you become a more valuable resource. You are like a one-stop shop for your customer.
What if there was a way to schedule yourself an hour a week to help you generate $25K, $50K, $100K, or more? In our business it isn’t all that big a challenge if we make a choice to commit the effort toward that specific result. It really is that simple, you just have to do three things:
1. Identify the time, this case Wednesday for an hour
2. Identify the strategy – plenty to choose from
3. Commit to the work until you reach the result.
It’s not any harder than that! For most of my clients. It is just a matter of setting it up as a personal challenge and then holding them accountable to the plan and the work!
Right now, my favorite challenge is looking back over the clients we did loans for prior to December of last year, or those we spoke with about doing a loan that couldn’t or wouldn’t do a loan because it didn’t make sense at the time or wasn’t as financially viable as it needed to be. Let’s look at the possibilities:
• Those who did loans, especially with PMI, are likely to benefit from refinancing out of that loan into a conforming loan without that PMI or MI cost. With appreciation rates over 13% nationally, it isn’t hard to see how you can make it work, especially if you start with your FHA and USDA closings.
• Next, we deal with those where there wasn’t enough equity to cash out what the customer needed to accomplish their goals. Once again, appreciation now helps us out and maybe enough to get it all done.
• Last, debt consolidation remains a very viable savings for many homeowners.
• BONUS TIP: For those who thought about moving and didn’t; things may now be clearer in their lives to make it more advantageous to sell and buy what they really need!
So set your financial target, make your prospect list, schedule your time, and make the calls! The plan works if you work it!
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