Stop Waiting On Mortgage Rates

Waiting feels safe until you realize life does not pause for mortgage rates. We look at what is actually happening in the Hendersonville and Henderson County real estate market and why the “I’ll buy when rates hit 5%” plan can quietly turn into a year on the sidelines. Prices are still strong, inventory remains low, and homes are still selling, so the real question becomes less about predicting the future and more about making a clear decision with the facts you have right now.

We unpack what drives mortgage rates beyond the Federal Reserve, including the bond market, the 10-year Treasury, and inflation expectations. Then we get practical: how to think about the tradeoff between rate and purchase price, why lower rates can bring more competition and push prices higher, and how a higher-rate environment can give prepared buyers more room to negotiate. We also share a simple framework we use with clients: if rates do not change for two years, would this home still make sense for your budget, goals, and timeline?

The conversation takes a deeper turn into the psychology of real estate and the emotions behind a move. A quote sticks with us: “I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was grief.” After 20-plus years in real estate, we have seen how buying and selling is often about transitions, not just houses, and how recognizing the real emotion can bring clarity and peace to the next step.

If you found this helpful, subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, share the episode with someone weighing a move in Western North Carolina, and leave a review so more neighbors can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And Local Perspective

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hello friends. Thank you so much for being here. This is the George Real Estate Group Podcast, which is a production of our live weekly radio shows hosted on multiple radio stations here in Hendersonville, North Carolina. The George Real Estate Group serves Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina, and it is a privilege to share positive news about our local real estate market and community. Thanks so much for subscribing. And of course, if you have any real estate questions or if we can help you in any way, be sure to reach out. Visit us at George Real Estate Group Radio.com for more information. Good morning and welcome to the George Real Estate Group Live Radio broadcast here in the queue every Monday morning, sharing with you positive news about the real estate market and life, and just gonna have a conversation about what's going on on this Monday morning. Can you believe I gotta say uh the conversation that I'm having with a lot of friends and family, school's starting this week, which is a big deal. Uh kids are looking forward, my kids are looking forward to getting getting back to school. And I think the parents, if we're honest, are looking forward to getting back into the routine of things, uh, which is just, you know, it's just part of the cycle, right? Here we go. And uh I hope everyone had a I mean, summer, I mean, technically summer's not over, you know, with the seasons, but summer's over in regards to kids going back to school, and I know my kids are excited about that. Uh whether they really admit it or not. They I know they're looking forward to to getting back into the routine and to the seeing their friends. And it's again, what a great time. And wow, time is flying, and we are just a lot to be grateful for and thankful for, and and thankful to be here this Monday morning live on the queue, sharing

Henderson County Market Snapshot

SPEAKER_02 1:47

with you. We're gonna talk about a lot of things today. We're gonna talk about the market, we're gonna talk about you know, things that our clients are navigating, uh, you know, as to, you know, the market is you know, just making sense of this market. There's certainly a lot of news and noise out there about you know the the economy and the housing market and and maybe bringing some perspective and and clarity on on what's actually going on uh and and and what's happening. And so there's some milestones that we've seen in regards to the interest rates. Uh that's certainly one of the things that is certainly a conversation we see all the time. I mean, maybe you're waiting for the mortgage rates to come down to make a change. We'll talk about that. Uh, but before we do that, if you're tuning in for the first time ever, welcome to George Real Estate Group. We're located in Flat Rock. We have an incredible group of agents and and staff, and more importantly, it's our clients that make it all possible. We have incredible, incredible clients that we've uh a lot of them have become dear friends uh over the years. Uh, this is my 21st year with my North Carolina broker's license, helping and navigating and and advising and consulting and facilitating our clients as they navigate through life and how real estate is part of that. Life happens, therefore real estate happens. I I got my real estate broker's license in 2005 and then experienced the 2010, 2011 real estate uh market, which was very unique and challenging. And then even, I mean, every market has its own set of challenges, and here we are now. I mean, it's it's remarkable. Here we are in 2026 with the market where it's at. Prices, frankly, are still hovering at all-time highs. I mean, there's a little bit of variation, which we'll we'll dive into, but the prices are strong, inventory levels are still low. The thing that I want to I mean remind everyone again, the market is still moving. In fact, here locally, uh there's we've had over a hundred more homes sold in the last 12 months in Henderson County than the previous 12 months. I mean, the demand continues. The inventory levels are low. I mean, as of this morning, uh 668 uh single-family homes active on the market. That's not including the ones pending, that's just the the ones that are purely active. And and then the the number of homes that have sold, single-family homes that have sold over the last 12 months. I mean, we're averaging 138, which, like I said, is up. It's up some hundred uh homes, uh rolling 12 months, 100 more homes have sold in the last 12 months than the previous 12 months. So the the market keeps moving, and it is just the the market's the market, and this is where our job as real estate brokers is to provide clarity and knowledge and and and and information that you can decide and make a decision for what's right for you. But the you know, so if we can help you, you can call us directly, 828-393-0134. You can stop by our office there in FlatRock. We podcast all of our radio shows. We'd love to connect and and whether it's social media, Facebook, or Instagram, you can see all of our open houses. We had three open houses this weekend. There's a lot going on. It's this activity is happening, and we're staying busy, and it's grateful. You know, it's it's a lot to be grateful for. And so if we can help you in your unique situation, your unique home, whether it's your residential home, your investment property, your commercial property, your land, I mean, we have uh, you know, specialists in each of these different categories, and we can help you. And maybe you've we've mentioned that we helped our clients, helping our clients do 1031 exchanges and and and considering tax implications and tax strategies and and setting up estates and trusts and and you name it. If it involves real estate, we're working with some of the best in the industry. Uh, our attorneys we're working with, our tax strategists, our financial advisors, our uh our appraisers, our contractors. I mean, we have an incredible group, and we'd love to connect and and help you navigate whatever you might be navigating. And and again, you can call us directly 828-3930134. Find us online at realestatebygreg.com. You can also go to George Realestate Group Radio.com. We we podcast all of our radio shows. You can find it on your favorite podcast platform. And again, love to connect with you. So stop in our office, call us directly. We'd love to have the conversation. And if you've thought about a career in real estate, we're growing. We'd love to have that conversation.

The Real Cost Of Waiting

SPEAKER_02 6:36

So there's a lot of uh you know, conversations and we hear constantly right now. Should the question is, should I wait until mortgage rates come down before I buy? I mean, another question is should I people are like, should I wait for the prices to come down? I I don't know if either of those things are gonna be happening. And these are great questions and reasonable questions, but the the other question buyers really should be asking is what am I waiting for? Because if you're waiting for mortgage rates to come down to four or five percent, there's not much evidence that that's gonna happen. If you're if you're waiting for prices to come down, there's not again prices come down when when the inventory levels increase and demand goes down, but currently, right now, inventory levels are low and demand is actually increased. Mortgage rates today are sitting in roughly the upper six percent range, and a lot of economists and forecasts aren't calling for some dramatic decline anytime soon. And so the you know, there is some danger if someone's saying, I'm gonna wait. I'm gonna wait six months. Sometimes that six months turns into a year, and then in the meantime, life keeps moving forward, and and maybe you're still renting, maybe you've outgrown the house you're in, maybe you've you're relocating, maybe uh your family's growing, um, and you're you have another child on the way. Maybe you're retiring, and the cost, the real there, there is a real cost to waiting. And so I you know, th something to think, I mean, it is that we there's this there's this you know, you can have this conversation, and we do have these conversations all the

What Actually Drives Mortgage Rates

SPEAKER_02 8:26

time. There's some things that I think that are misunderstood. Mortgage rates don't simply move because the Federal Reserve cuts or raises interest rates. More mortgage rates are heavily influenced by the bond market, and particularly the 10-year treasury, and and by expectations about inflation, the overall economy. And so when someone says the Fed's eventually gonna lower rates, I'm gonna wait. It doesn't mean mortgage rates will suddenly fall by one or two percent. So inflation continues to matter. And if investors believe inflation is gonna remain elevated, long-term interest rates can remain elevated too. And that's really part of what we're seeing today. So you got to be careful about trying to time the mortgage market, just like if you're trying to time the stock market, and you this is the and you can't and trying to time the home prices. You know, you don't this is something we've you know reflected on and have experienced. You never know when you're at the top till things start going down. You never know when you're at the bottom until things start going up. It's it's you can't timing, you can't time it. And so and and so you know how how much really does does the a lower rate save you? I mean, if you're the there there could be uh a couple hundred dollar difference between a 6.7% interest rate and a six percent interest rate. I mean that you know, and I'm not saying 200 $200 doesn't matter, but what if the house you could buy today for $500 costs $525 later? Because when interest rates go down, there's gonna be more buyers, more competition. And so suddenly that benefit of oh I could save a couple hundred dollars a month could be in exchange for an a more expensive home price. I mean, prices are not gonna go down if interest rates go down. It's can it's the it's the opposite because that's the thing that a lot of people miss is they they're people sometimes just look at the the interest rate versus the the what you're paying for the home price. And so you want to evaluate both, of course, what you're paying per month, what you're paying for the price. And this is where you know when when if these mortgage rates all of a sudden fall, people that have been waiting on the sidelines are gonna start getting into the the market, and it's and you're not the only one that's gonna say, Oh, I I'm gonna buy. This could bring a whole group of buyers back into the market, and all of a sudden you have more competition, more showings, you got multiple offers, and and potentially could could send prices up. Even though you got a better everybody wants that that that great mortgage rate, but you could lose out on on home prices

When Lower Rates Raise Prices

SPEAKER_02 11:39

going up. And so this is where uh the the high rate interest rate environment actually can create some opportunities for buyers who are financially prepared and you got more time to investigate the property, you have more time to negotiate, you have more time you could potentially get sellers to pay closing costs. You might be able to get the seller to buy down the interest rate. These this environment creates an opportunity for you know, again, everybody's situation is unique and different. And this is where, again, the national headlines don't certainly don't tell our local story. You know, Western North Carolina has its own market, Henderson County, Hendersonville isn't Austin, Texas, it's not Miami, Florida, it's not Phoenix. And so what's happening nationally isn't necessarily what's happening here in your neighborhood. And yes, uh nationally they're they're showing considerably more inventory. You're seeing some markets where prices are coming down significantly, and of course, you know, here locally are things softening? Yes. But guess what? The demand's actually can increasing. We're I would say we're moving more towards a balanced market. And for some, I mean, for for a lot of people, this can be a a really good thing. You might be paying a higher mortgage rate, but you might be negotiating a better price or better terms. And guess what? You can always refinance, but you can't re you can't change the purchase price. And so you know, all these things and by the way, let me let me clarify.

Buy For Life Not Fear

SPEAKER_02 13:31

I'm not saying none of this, what I'm saying is is none of none of this means you should go out and buy a house because rates might go up or because prices might go up. That's not what I'm saying. You you never should purchase a property because because of fear, whether it's fear of prices going up or down, fear of interest rates going up and down. Again, the question is uh is a financial decision. Can you afford the property today? Can you comfortably afford it? Are you working with a we have wonderful lenders we're working with? Can you is this a long-term play? I uh we don't recommend. If you're thinking about staying in a home one or two years, we don't recommend buying. I mean, does it does owning the property long enough make sense? Does the f house fit your your family and your goals? Do you have the appropriate savings to maintain the house? If the numbers don't work today, waiting might and may absolutely be the right decision. So the the there's this difference between I'm waiting because I can't comfortably afford this, or I'm waiting because I think mortgage rates are gonna come down you know in six months. The first is financial planning, the second is just speculation. And so, you know, instead of asking when are mortgage rates coming down, maybe the question is if mortgage rates don't come down for another two years, does buying this house still make sense for me? And so no one can guarantee what's going to happen with the market or the rates six months from now, but you can look at your current situation, your income, your budget, your life, your your down payment, the the property, the neighborhood, and you can negotiate appropriately for the current market we're in for where you're at in life right now, and determine if the if it makes sense for you today. And so I think part of this is don't put your life on hold for a mortgage rate, or don't put your life on hold because you're waiting for home prices to come down. They we don't know. And so it's about if you're financially ready today, if it makes sense for your family today, if it's the right decision based on all the information you have today. And so you're buying a house or selling a house based on today, not tomorrow's prediction. If rates come down later, great, you can you can refinance. If if if prices change, again, you can adjust. It's it's it's it's making decisions based on what the information we have today. And so it's just fascinating. Again, again, the emotional side, the psychological side, the uh the you know, again, life life, the life um decisions we're making in regard and how real estate plays into that. And actually, I'm gonna I'm gonna tie into that in the second half of the show here. Again, the we the emotions we walked through and and uh you know the feelings that that that are tied into there's a psychological piece to to anything we're doing, right? Whether it's a house, whether it's deciding where your kids go to school, whether it's where you're deciding to retire, or if to retire. You know, it the relationships, you're I mean, there's so many pieces of this, right? It's looking at at this, and I and so I think it's an important conversation it's that we're having with our clients. Again, life, it's about life and and how this maybe real estate might play into that. So we love having these conversations. And we're I'm just having a real life conversation this morning here on the queue. We're here every Monday morning, right after the 9 o'clock news, and love sharing with you about what's going on in the market, what's going on in the economy, and just some conversations. So uh we have a short break uh coming up right now, but this is the George Real Estate Group live radio broadcast here in the queue. So stay tuned in. We'll be right back.

Quick Reset And How To Reach Us

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Good morning, good morning, and welcome back to the George Real Estate Group live radio broadcast here in the queue. Every Monday morning, love to share with you positive news and what's going on and conversations and uh you know, the market. Again, and again, if you're tuning in for the first time ever, welcome, welcome back. Uh, if you're listening to us on our podcast, thank you for listening to us on our podcast. We podcast all of our radio shows. You can find that on your favorite podcast platform Apple, Amazon, Spotify, Alexa. You know, follow the George Real State Group Radio broadcast on a podcast platform. Love to connect with you there. You can find us online, realestatebygreg.com. All of our we post about our open houses and our new listings and our homes that have closed. You can find all that in our amazing agents. You can find it on our social media, follow George Realsake Group on Facebook. We'd love to connect with you there or Instagram. And again, or you can just call us. You know, call us anytime, 828-393-0134. 828-393-0134. Incredible uh agents and staff, and I'm so grateful. We're so grateful for this community, and ultimately it's our clients that make it all

Anger That Turns Out To Be Grief

SPEAKER_02 18:44

possible. And and here's the thing that you know, I was mentioning in the first segment, again, how like you know, life happens and and the emotions maybe behind real estate. And of course, it's a financial decision, which we were talking about. And and but there's so many components that go into this. But I I you know, there's a lot of psychology and there and there's a lot of uh you know conversations that we're having every single day with our clients and and how you know and it plays into the decisions our clients are making. You know, it's it's real estate is is absolutely driven. It could be maybe it's a um you know, life, a positive reason. It could be a really beautiful celebratory reason why you're buying or selling. And it could be a really hard or challenging moment in life that life has happened. And so I came across a quote recently that I I've just not I it really struck a chord, and I was like, oh, I'm gonna, I want to dive into this conversation and it and it applies uh you know to life and also just I mean, again, we all uh all of us uh you know navigate emotions, but you know, I saw this quote uh that said uh I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was Grief. I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was Grief. A lot of people attribute that quote to C.S. Lewis, uh I though I can't find that original source, but whoever wrote it understood something about human beings. And because anger, sometimes anger isn't really the thing underneath. You know, sometimes you you might be angry someone left. Maybe you're angry because something ended, maybe you're angry because life didn't turn out the way we thought it would. Maybe sometimes we're angry because we're hurt by someone we trusted. And and then sometimes we're angry because there's uh there was absolutely nothing we could do uh to stop something we desperately wanted to stop. And and here's what I've been thinking about, and what this quote was was reminding us is you know, anger, of course, is is is uh is part of our emotions, and anger feels it can can feel very powerful, and and grief doesn't. Anger gives us something to do. You know, you can blame someone, we can argue, we can fight, we can replay the conversation in our head, we can convince ourselves if someone or somebody had done something differently, everything would be okay. You know, anger says someone, somebody needs to pay for this. Grief says, I miss what I had. You know, anger says I shouldn't, this shouldn't have happened. Grief says, but it did. And maybe that's why we sometimes hold on to anger. Anger lets us fight with reality. Grief eventually asks us to acknowledge that reality has changed. You know, and I and I also heard someone describe anger as the daughter of grief, and and I like that because maybe anger isn't always something we need. To immediately get rid of, and you know, anger can be you know it's a an emotion to walk through and to move through, and sometimes we need to sit with it long enough to ask some questions, right? You know, what am I angry about, but what am I actually grieving? Because underneath I'm angry might be um I I wish this hadn't happened, or I'm I'm angry at this person, but I actually miss this person, and underneath I'm angry this happened, which I wish is someone it might be I wish I could have changed

Real Estate As A Life Transition

SPEAKER_02 22:33

it. So, you know, this is where you know why okay, you might be saying, Well, what does any of this have to do with real estate? And I would argue it has almost everything to do with real estate because after doing this for more than 20 years, I've learned is we really don't deal with in houses, we we deal with transitions in life, and and and a lot of transitions I mentioned earlier can be really positive, but a lot of transitions involve loss, and sometimes loss, you know, even good ones sometimes, right? So think about it like why people call a real estate agent. Sure, it it's it could be exciting, someone's getting married, someone got a new job, there's a new baby, there's another need for another bedroom, somebody's worked and saved for years, and they're finally buying their dream home or their retirement home or their first home, and those are great phone calls. But sometimes people call us because their spouse died. Sometimes people call real city just because they're getting a divorce or they're they lost their job. You know, sometimes people can't afford their home anymore. They they or maybe sometimes their parents died and and the three siblings are trying to figure out what to do with the family home. And so another example, sometimes the kids and the grandkids have moved a and you want to get closer to the grandkids, and so oh, here's another common one. Sometimes your health has changed and and you can't manage the house or the stairs anymore. And so so this is where and we're sitting at the kitchen table and we're hearing the client say, I I never thought I'd be selling this house. And so that's when, again, it's not about the house. It's just and and it's not about selling the house, it's someone's life is changing, and so that's where sometimes that grief comes out looking like anger. You know, a seller could be very frustrated about an inspection or a buyer makes an offer they considered insulting, and so somebody gets angry because the house isn't worth what they thought it was. You know, heirs, you know, siblings fight over thousand a few thousand dollars while settling mom and dad's estate. And so if you've been around this business long enough, we're not actually arguing about the five thousand dollars. You know, we're arguing we're talking about dad's house, we're talking about mom's kitchen, we're talking about you know, the marks on the doorway where they measured the kids' uh the grandkids' heights. You know, it's the Christmas morning memories, it's the backyard where the kids played. And so these are the conversations, and so this is where I mean it could be the last place that they talk to their dad, you know, on uh you know, on the sofa. I mean, so you know, and maybe that you know dad's past. And so these are these this this is where anger makes a lot more sense. And so, you know, and you know, it's this is where it's this this is where this in the market and the real estate that we deal with, you know, the life that we're navigating, everybody's trying to navigate what to do and then how this plays in. And and and so, you know, we don't not we all none of us get to decide uh uh what happens to us or or but we get to decide how we feel about it. We get to decide how we respond to things, and and then ultimately we get to decide what things mean. So again, selling your parents' house doesn't mean you're selling your memories. Downsizing doesn't mean your best years are behind you. Losing the house you dreamed about doesn't mean you'll never find another one. You know, divorce doesn't mean your story's over, and so you know, and then selling the house where you raised the kids or the grandkids doesn't erase those memories. And so this is the this is the this is so maybe this isn't really about real estate again. It's it's this maybe this this human experience that we're going through, all of us are figuring things out. And so again, next time you're maybe you're feeling angry, maybe sit with it. What uh and maybe you the question is what am I actually grieving? And so because here's the thing, and you know, you might be angry, you might have to sell the house, might mean really, I'm sad that this chapter of my life is ending. And they're very different statements, and these are these these conversations that we're ha having, and it and it and there can be growth and healing, and you can navigate through. And we're here to support our clients navigating through. Yes, we we happen to be navigating, helping them sell the house, but it's really about this bigger transition. And so, you know, some sometimes healing begins when you finally call the emotion by the real name. And so again, honoring the chapters that you you've navigated and and and you know, looking ahead. And so really what we get to see in this business is you know, people, yes, they're hiring us to help them sell a house, but a lot of times, you know, what we end up in really what we're navigating is helping our clients close one chapter and then find the place where the next one begins. And again, I this this quote that got me on this tangent that I I it really I I love this quote because it I think it just it's it sat well with me. But um the quote is I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was grief. And so, you know, this is where you know it's it's this emotional intelligence to be able to, you know, again, it doesn't have to be about houses, it could be uh what other things are you navigating in your life? Um again, maybe your kids are starting school for the first time. Maybe kids are going from elementary school to middle school or from middle school to high school, or maybe you have kids that graduated high school, they're now going today, this week is their first day of college. That's a big change and transition. Again, life, life, life is beautiful, and navigating all these things, uh, it's it's just that having that perspective and and opportunity to to navigate all these things. And and it's truly a privilege. It it's for us, we do sit at the at the kitchen table with our clients and and understand what they're navigating and where they're going and what their dreams and goals and and disappointments, right? Losses and celebrations. It's both. And and we get the privilege to help our clients navigate you know through real estate and life.

Encouragement And Closing Message

SPEAKER_02 29:32

And so if we can help you in any way, give us a call, 828-393-0134, part therapist, part psychologists, you know, and full-time real estate agents. We have incredible uh agents and staff, and again, more importantly, it's our clients that are amazing. But we're here, I'm gonna wrap this up. We're here every Monday morning on the queue sharing with you positive news and hopefully encouragement this morning. Again, be kind to yourself, be kind to your neighbors and uh check in on your neighbors. But have a great day, have a great week, and we'll see you next Monday.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

The George Real Estate Group has the experience of selling over 1,200 properties and serving over 1,200 families with their real estate needs in Henderson County and throughout Western North Carolina. The George Real Estate Group is located in Flat Rock, North Carolina and near Hendersonville in Henderson County. You can find them online at realestatebygreg.com. The George Real Estate Group can be reached at 828-393-0134 or stop by their office at 2720 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, North Carolina. Tune in live each week on Monday mornings at 905 on WTZQ FM 95.3 and 1600 AM, or stream online at WTCQ.com.

SPEAKER_02 31:00

Maybe the house feels a little too big these days. The stairs a little steeper. The pace of life a little too fast. But what if your next move wasn't about letting go? It was about making space for peace, for freedom, for what matters most. At the George Real Estate Group, we understand that real estate isn't just about the house. It's about transitions, timing, and trust. We've helped thousands of families in Western North Carolina make smart, thoughtful moves. Closer to nature, closer to family, closer to home. So when you're ready to right-size, simplify, or start fresh, we'll be here. The George Real Estate Group. Local, trusted, proven. Call us today, 828-393-0134. Find us online at realestatebygreg.com because your next chapter deserves to feel just right.