Consumer Education

What will housing look like in a recession? A recession will be good for housing. Recessions usually bring lower interest rates which will bring on strong demand. Strong demand on top of birth rates 30-33 years ago and high liquidity brought on by the Fed. Lower interest rates when supply is challenged by "interest rate lock", aging in place, investor buyers, and builder backlog.
Headlines want you to be worried. I want you to jump in. From my seat, the sooner you get in before a recession comes, the more opportunity for equity growth, when demand spikes and home prices rise.
Want to know what you can do? Let's talk!

Homebuyers should hear this... NOW IS THE TIME! You do not want to be on the other side of a recession because when interest rates fall, demand will spike again! We simply do not have enough inventory to satisfy that demand once it comes. So while your rate may be lower, the competition will ramp up, the probability of bidding over ask will be higher and there won't be as many homes to choose from. Listen to this episode of The Double Comma Club, "Interest Rates are Increasing, is a Recession Looming?".

It's one thing for an expert to tell you what you should do when investing in a home, refinancing, and selling. But when you have an opportunity to hear a real start to finish story from a home buyer to held out for the full must-have list and then successfully purchased a home in the Denver market, you will be riveted. Kara Palffy is Nicole's guest. She's the Business Development Manager at The Rueth Team. Buying her second home, selling the first, and all of the hours required make for the best kind of story. Nicole asks Kara about what she had to do to prep her home, how much they actually got over asking, why they decided to NOT add to their real estate empire and sell their first house instead, and how their goal of staying in this home for many years affected several decisions.

So how old do I have to be, to take advantage of a reverse mortgage? Generally speaking, we say 62 years old because the FHA product, which is the most commonly used program today requires one of the homeowners to be 62. However, we also have non-FHA programs that will allow clients as young as 55 years old to get into a reverse mortgage. Nicole asked Gabe Bodner, Retirement Mortgage Specialist on The Rueth Team, "What's the biggest benefit to a homeowner to want to look into this further? And, what is the advantage to me and why should I look into this right now? If I'm 55 to 65 years old?"
I think that we're finally starting to see the transition and the mentality shift between our realtor partners and our financial advisor partners, where they're starting to see that, WOW!, this is such a powerful tool that it shouldn't be utilized and viewed as if I'm running out of money. Then I should look at doing a reverse mortgage. It is now being viewed as a smart financial strategy where we're seeing clients with millions of dollars of assets under management, look at doing a reverse mortgage because of the tax benefits. It is no longer the loan of last resort. This is a smart cash flow tool for anybody looking at tapping into their home equity to preserve their assets under management.
Tune in to this 9-minute episode to learn more.

And do you know which is better for you? I don't believe that one of these loan programs is 'better' than the other. However, I do believe that one may work better for YOU. FHA and Conventional Loans each bring something different to the table, thus working better for one type of buyer over the other. You don't need to know the hyper-specifics of each program, that's what we're here for. But it can be helpful to have a basic knowledge and ask your mortgage lender the right questions. Listen to this 7-minute episode of The Double Comma Club, "What is the difference between FHA and conventional loans?" 

It's no secret that the real estate market, ESPECIALLY in Denver, has seen a dramatic increase in home prices. According to CoreLogic, the national median home price grew at an all-time high 18.8% year-over-year in December 2021. Homebuyers are feeling the rise in costs of EVERYTHING, and the increased home prices are not going away anytime soon. The cost of waiting is extreme! It's time to get off the fence and into a home. Be sure you give my team a call and let's come up with a strategy that begins building long-term wealth through real estate. 
Nicole goes into details in this 14-minute episode about each of the reasons:
1) Artificially low mortgage rates during the pandemic
2) Low housing supply
3) Millennial household growth
4) Inflationary actions by the FED
5) Building costs & inflation
6) FOMO

You just spent a lot of time, effort, and money getting into your new home... but what's next? There are some important things to take note of in the months following closing day such as:
Your first mortgage payment
HOA Payments
Utilities
Home renovations

Buy NOW to have options later. Real estate is still the number one hedge against inflation and the potential to build long-term wealth is still there!
Although the real estate market is tough right now, you have to get in in order to build long-term wealth, earn appreciation, use the equity you've built for a renovation or a move up and you can always refinance once things calm down. 
Your long-term goals can be achieved through owning a home and we want to help you get there. As always, don't hesitate to reach out if you're ready to start or complete your homebuying journey.

Interest rates just hopped up again! The market today remains an extremely volatile place and is in a constant tug of war with the FED, unemployment rates, inflation, the war and all other factors! So, is it still a good time to buy a home? My answer remains the same as the Denver market continues to build equity, financial security, and supports our highly qualified buyers. Here are a few things you should know heading into this weekend.
Here's some history on mortagae rates:

We've again been flooded with headlines on the impending doom of a housing market crash. As homebuyers right now, it can be hard not to fall into the trap of waiting. I get it. There's a flood of information being thrown at you, but this video will help cut through the noise.
First, there is NO bubble. We simply have too much demand, insane equity built up in our homes and a HIGHLY QUALIFIED pool of buyers entering the market.
Second, a recession is OK. A recession is defined as 2 consecutive months of GDP Decline... that's it. As prices of everything continue to rise, consumers will start to make decisions; spending less, saving more, pushing GDP down. This will allow the supply we all desperately crave to CATCH UP to demand, giving buyers more options!
Third, a Refinance is your best friend. We don't know exactly what the market will do tomorrow, or one week from now, or a few months from now! Lock in the here and the now, and start building long-term wealth through real estate.