But what can be maybe some of the problems with trying to wait like that, Bill, and trying to time when to get that home?

You know, I think that the broader economic factors that are at play continue to shape the market regardless of Congress shifting from Democrat to Republican or vice versa or, you know, the president going from one party to another.

The economy has been set in a specific direction due to the policies that proceeded it.

And for a new party to change things, they're going to have to A, put the policies in place, and then B, see what the effect is.

So there's a lot of time between election and when that actually happens.

if you're waiting, hoping for new policies to take shape and change things, man, that can be a really dangerous game or very hard to pin down because we really don't know how those things are gonna affect the housing market and interest rates in the future we do know for instance that fed policy which should not change based on democrat or republican or political affiliation or uh you know monetary policy inflation um you know gdp these things are largely driving interest rates and housing and you know new policies can but they're a long way off from an election

What someone like you and other mortgage lenders can do to help make that affordability a little bit more in reach?

Yeah.

where we're going hopefully we'll be pulling back some but nice to see there was a little bit of relief there um but what's driving it what maybe is behind the pullback a little bit i know we talked about a lot of the forces that have pushed it up but what's helping us right now

so um i think what's helping us right now is you know there is some concern of the economy slowing a little bit now right now the economy is running strong which has us in this higher rate environment but there have been a few cracks that might indicate that if things slow down a little bit inflation will also slow down a bit again i think our biggest issue right now is the oil issue and oil really affects it's just tied to so many things it touches almost everything and it's not only oil in iran it's oil in russia because the ukrainians are being really successful at um you know knocking a lot of the refineries offline so that's also you know exacerbating it's like the middle east is gasoline and in russia it's diesel Diesel touches almost everything.

So the main driver of this inflation is absolutely still, at the moment, this oil issue.

But we've seen a little bit of relief, which maybe the economy is slowing a little bit, and maybe the market overcorrected on the higher side of rates and it's coming back into range as to where it should be.

You know, just kind of reading online, I've seen some people talking about, hey, is this a good time to be getting a mortgage? Should I wait? so how do you approach this kind of time of the year with elections going on does it affect mortgages at all should people be concerned about you know what happens with with the voting elections and maybe who wins uh control or does it does it not merely matter at all

well what what i would say is it it plays a part um probably less of a part than than you might think it does but let me let me give you an example so in recent years Last two years with the Republicans controlling the House and the Senate, obviously the executive branch, we have seen inflation tick back up due to some of their policy changes.

So that has actually caused interest rates to increase.

And again, I always go back to the interest rates that matter, 30-year fixed rate mortgages.

What would you suggest? Where's my digital app?

So what I would say is, we have an extra $30,000.

It's going to depend largely on your specific situation.

And let me give you an example.

So you just bought a house.

You realize you got an extra $30,000, but you, you really reached for this home.

You bought a little bit more house than what you thought you actually stretched a bit in the payment and the purchase price.

I mean, we talked about this a little bit more detail in our last episode, but where does this typically rank on a list of priorities for people?

Okay, it's going to go up this much every year or hey, here's the cap on it.

So when we talk about an arm with our customer, it's a very direct conversation that says, you've got to be willing to accept the fact that, and first of all, five years is the shortest term that we would offer on an arm and preferably seven years.

So the average life of a mortgage is six years.

If we give you seven years, typically that's going to be enough to, you're either going to move or refinance.

Hopefully the market and interest rates, you know, play into your favor at that point.

But the biggest thing that we find with it is if you're direct and upfront and you tell them all of the worst consequences that they'd have to be able to accept, let's say interest rates, we lock you into an arm at six and a half and the rate goes to 11 and a half.

And let's say the best rate in the world right now is 15 or when your rate's adjusting, the best rate in the world's 15%.

Is this something that people are doing a decent amount right now?

and i think that's what's important right you knowing that you can expect more in this situation bill what is something that could cause the payment to be higher and you know this kind of last minute need for more money

Yeah, so unfortunately, Ben, one of the main reasons that you might need more money at the settlement table is that the lender that you're working with, they either don't understand fully the customary closing costs for the city and state that you're buying in because they can be different from town to town, or they've... work in a system where they don't show all the funds because they want to make their number look artificially lower.

I hate to say that there's people out there that they that is part of their business model is that they're gonna make it look artificially cheaper than what it is.

So you definitely wanna work with somebody who can help you to understand exactly, or I call it like a super close estimate as to what you're gonna need for settlement, which is absolutely attainable.

And I'll tell you one other thing that's been helpful in these scenarios too is, You know, first and foremost, if you can get a good referral from somebody who had a great experience, I think that's still the best way to do it.

The other thing you can do too, though, if you get an estimate that somebody's telling you doesn't look right, you can upload it to AI and certain AI engines, can certainly break that estimate down and see, hey, did we miss transfer tax? Are we not putting enough real estate taxes in? What are the items that are not being included that need to be included? And it can be helpful to give you a third party objective look at the scenario.

They, they, they, they've worked with a lot of people in this area and should know what to expect.

So let's say you're buying in an area where you don't know anyone and you don't have a good referral source or a good recommendation.

But what's behind it? I mean, is it just the combination of all these factors that we've been kind of been talking about throughout the year?

Yeah, it's definitely all the factors that we've been talking about and really none of them having a solution in sight.

I almost feel, and this is not just my, you know, I subscribe to a lot of advisory services and I listen to a lot of financial news.

And so one of the things that we think has happened recently is that with the tone of our administration saying, you know, we're not just gonna take any old deal.

You know, we need the deal that makes sense with Iran specifically.

I think the bonds kind of re-rated themselves for a longer term conflict or war, however you describe it.

And so with that being, that outlook going out, say a year or two years, now we've built more margin for inflationary issues into the bond prices.

Traditionally, how does the end of the year, is there anything about the last quarter that is worth noting? And kind of how do you think the next couple of months go?

So let's start there.

Yeah, so...

One of the important changes is that there used to be a limited review for certain projects that Fannie or Freddie felt comfortable with.

That limited review is gone.

So now they're going to require a full review.

Also, they're going to look a little bit more deeply at a review of an HOA.

More so than they used to, which is different than a condo association.

So what exactly is a full review going to be doing and how much different is that from the limited review before?

But this is an interesting product, kind of set up how you get to a conversation with somebody you're working with on this product.

Yeah, so the Wealth Builder Mortgage, and I'll start by saying it's really not for everyone.

So if you're in a situation where your finances are really tight, your debt ratios are really high, and you just need a vanilla 30-year fixed rate mortgage, which by the way, I feel like 90% of homeowners, they need that product.

That's the right product.

This product is for the other 10% that they've got some resources, some significant liquid funds.

They're investing in the stock market.

They're investing in their 401k, but they also want to balance their investment portfolio, meaning their real estate side of the house, and make sure that they're paying the loan down sooner and eliminating some mortgage interest.

So I'm looking forward to kind of picking your brain on this a little bit, but kind of explain how it works and kind of how it's structured.