MP Access Show by MortgagePoint

Riding the Market Waves with Norris Bishop

• MortgagePoint | David Wharton

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Host: David Wharton. 

Episode Title: Riding the Market Waves with Norris Bishop

Duration: Approximately 8 minutes and 24 seconds

Description:

In this episode of the MP Access Show, we sit down with Norris Bishop, broker at Norris Bishop Realty, live from the FORCE Velocity Conference. Norris shares a grounded, real-world perspective on navigating today’s housing market. With interest rates staying high and inventory levels stubbornly low, he breaks down what agents and investors need to know. From the dangers of waiting for the “perfect” market to the real opportunities in today’s correction, Norris brings candid advice for those working in or entering the real estate space. His take: act wisely, but don’t wait forever.

Key Topics:

  • The double challenge of high rates and low housing inventory
  • Why today’s housing slowdown isn’t a 2008 repeat
  • Advice for agents navigating buyer hesitation
  • The myth of the “perfect time” to invest
  • Conference takeaways on AI and real estate innovation

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Welcome to the Velocity Conference for force. We are on the floor talking to some of the luminaries and speakers who are joining us today. Right now, we're speaking to Norris Bishop, who is the broker for Norris Bishop Realty. Welcome, Norris. Thank you for talking to us today. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. So to start with, let's start broad.

It is obviously there's a lot going on right now in the news just in Washington. There's a lot of stuff to keep track of. For anybody who's in the industry, from your perspective, what are some of the kind of top trends or headwinds or factors that you really have on your radar right now that you're having to keep track of?

Well, I think interest rates are the big one right now. You know, higher rates rates are staying high for longer. And that has sort of I wouldn't say depress the real estate market, but it's definitely slowed it down a lot. And we have that issue. And then the thing that is really unusual now that's going on is normally when you have higher rates, you have a little slower market, you have an increase in inventory.

Inventory is still really low. You know, if you go back to 2019, inventory still not at 2019 levels, which we thought at that time it was kind of normal. So, I mean, there I'm sure there's markets. You can pick out certain markets where inventory is higher, but as a whole across the board, I would say inventory is still lower than normal.

So I would say just the, the prices or, or if I'm a home buyer standpoint, prices are high or interest rates are higher. So those are some of the challenges, less inventory. Those are the big things right now. Is there anything you're seeing as far as just some of the factors that are limiting that inventory? I know we hear people talk about, just not building enough homes as well as like lock in effects of people that just don't want to try to lose their really low Covid mortgage rates and everything.

Are there any other factors we're seeing at play there? Yeah, I think, the lower rates on mortgages, outstanding mortgages is a big factor because people don't want to sell and they've got to pay more for the new house and more for the rate. Right. So it's just locked a lot of people in unless they have some urgency to move.

And then that's I would say that's the biggie. And then homebuilding. Yes, homebuilding has definitely slowed down. A lot of the builders I think have sort of anticipated this slowdown in the market, and maybe they've overreacted to it a little bit. So those those would be the big things. I can't really think of a whole lot else right now.

I think those are the two big factors. So from your perspective, working in your industry, what what advice would you have for anybody who's who's doing that or thinking about doing that? You know, what are the with all the challenges you're having to face, like you talked about? What advice do you have for people? You mean, as an agent perspective?

Yeah. Well, I would say as an agent, you really have to, you know, you've got to show your, your, your value and and you've got to show, prospective, buyers, you know, the benefit. You know, we've had a market pullback. Market has pulled back. So you know they can always refinance later. You can take advantage of the lower prices and refinance later.

So there's some benefits there. And then I think from a seller standpoint, if you're a seller and you you're still able to sell at a good price. Now I think most likely if rates stay higher, we're going to see further pullback in values. So as a seller you probably want to go ahead and take advantage of the market while it's still good right.

So those would be those would be the big things. And and I don't see you know which I'm no economist or expert or anything by any means. But I don't really see a crash coming. You know, I know everybody is worried about another 2008. And of course, quite honestly, a lot of people in Oreo are probably hoping for one.

But like as everybody made a lot of money, but I don't see the inventory levels are just still too low. I know default rates have gone up a lot, but we're still just not not there for some big major collapse. But yeah, I think a pullback, a correction, I think we've probably been in a correction for the last 12 months anyway, right.

Well, I know today you were speaking on, one of our panels here about, becoming a real estate investor. Could you tell me a little bit about, your takeaways from that panel? What are the top, top bullet points you would want to share with people or experiences that you had there on the panel today? Well, the big thing I would say about getting into investing is there is never gonna be a perfect time.

Yet everybody I talked to, they want to wait for a big crash. They want to wait for another 2008 to start investing up it. That may or may not happen. So you just have to jump out there, you know, make wise decisions, don't overpay for properties. You know, make sensible investments. But real estate is one of those things that over time is going to correct itself.

Even if you make up, you know, naturally don't buy at the 2022 peak like a lot of people did. But, you know, even in a market like we're in now, we've seen a correction jump in there and make a deal, buy something, rent it out, you know, or find something to flip. And you know, you always have to have when you flip, you always have to have multiple exit strategies.

If the flip doesn't work, then you can turn it into a rental or do something else. But the big advice I would have for people is just stop waiting for that perfect opportunity. Because I know so many people that say, hey, I want to invest. And they've been since about 2018, they've been waiting on a crash. And you know, where, quite a few years beyond that now.

So you just have to jump out there and get started. Don't wait to get started. And, if you make a mistake, the market will correct it at some point. As long as you're not overleveraged and you know, you, you're in a good position, you can ride it out. Yeah, well, I know we're about halfway through the, the day here at the force conference.

Velocity conference. So I know you've been on a panel and you've just been interacting with people. Had there been any real highlights, anything that, would be kind of a top takeaway or top experience for this conference so far, though, I think it's all about the networking with the other agents. You know, you if you come to a conference like this, you may just pick up 1 or 2 little things like, I know last night people were having conversations about how they were using AI for descriptions and what they were doing with that.

And just a lot of conversation and like that, I mean, a lot of things that I hadn't even thought about. I'm not using AI for property MLS descriptions, but a lot of people talked about that and how they used it and various other things that they used it for. So, you know, just conversations like that that you or that I wouldn't ordinarily have, you just pick up a lot of good information and, and the panels have all been great.

I mean, there's it would be impossible for me to, to name everything good that I got out of the panels because there was so much of it that was so good. So it's, it's it's really a great conference. I think the smaller groups, you get a lot out of it. Absolutely. Well, that's great to hear. Well, thank you so much for giving us some of your time today.

Norris. We got Norris Bishop, Norris Bishop Realty. Do you want to throw out a website or call? Yeah. Norris Bishop realty, Norris Bishop, Realtor.com. My number is (229) 589-1044. And, look forward to hearing from me. If I can help you, let me know. Perfect. Thank you so much for.