Ep.41 "The New Fed Chair Is Coming... But Will Anything Actually Change?"

Will a New Fed Chair Crash Rates… or Crash Expectations?

Everyone is talking about interest rates, but almost nobody is talking about the person who may have the biggest influence on where they're headed next: the next Federal Reserve Chair.

In Episode 41 of Real Estate UnRaked, Eric Rakers, Dane Coussens, Bridget Hodges, and Jaycee Crawford break down what a potential change at the Federal Reserve could mean for mortgage rates, home affordability, inflation, buyers sitting on the sidelines, and sellers waiting for the "perfect" market.

Will a new Fed Chair push for lower rates? Could political pressure influence monetary policy? How quickly would mortgage rates actually react? And what does all of this mean for Northeast Florida homeowners, buyers, investors, and anyone thinking about making a move in today's market?

This episode cuts through the media headlines and delivers the real-world impact that rate policy could have on your wallet, your home value, and your next real estate decision.

In This Episode:

✅ What the Federal Reserve Chair actually does
 ✅ Why mortgage rates don't directly follow Fed rate cuts
 ✅ How inflation continues to influence housing affordability
 ✅ What could happen if a new Fed Chair takes a more aggressive approach to lowering rates
 ✅ Why waiting for "perfect rates" could cost buyers more money
 ✅ How sellers should position themselves in an uncertain market
 ✅ The potential impact on home prices in Northeast Florida
 ✅ What buyers, sellers, and investors should be watching over the next 12-18 months

Whether you're buying your first home, selling your current property, investing in real estate, or simply trying to understand where the market is headed, this episode gives you the facts behind the headlines.

Northeast Florida Real Estate Experts

The Real Estate UnRaked team brings local insight, real-world experience, and honest conversations about today's housing market. No hype. No clickbait. Just practical advice that helps you make smarter real estate decisions.

📍 Serving Fleming Island, Green Cove Springs, Orange Park, Middleburg, St. Johns County, Jacksonville, and all of Northeast Florida.

🎧 Subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone trying to figure out what's next for mortgage rates and the housing market.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Today we're talking about something that has the entire housing market acting like it drank six energy drinks and read half of a financial article online. The Fed Reserve has gotten a new chair. And now everybody suddenly thinks mortgage rates are either crashing tomorrow, shooting to 10%, or the housing market is about to explode again. The problem. Most people don't actually understand what the Fed does, how rates work, and how this affects buyers and sellers in this real world. So today we're breaking down what the fed chair, what the Fed share actually controls, what mortgage rates move before the Fed does sometimes, and what this could mean for buyers in 2026, why sellers need to stop living in 2021, that pricing fantasy land, and why the media is making everybody lose their damn minds. So grab your coffee or something stronger and let's unranke it.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

All right. Thank you, Dane. Let's do it. Well, everybody, welcome to Real Estate Unranked number 41.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Good morning.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

And today we have a special guest, Mr. Corey Hudson from Ray Mortgage.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

Corey, Houston.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Hey, buddy. Corey. How's it going, guys? All right. Welcome, welcome. Corey in the house.

SPEAKER_04 1:21

That was a show. Sorry. Corey in the house. I don't know if you know that. Yours with a Disney Channel show. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

I was just going to say, is that one of those hand Montana things? Yeah, it was Ben Off.

SPEAKER_04 1:30

That's O'Raven. And it was Corey in the House. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

I think my uh siblings, my younger siblings watched that show.

SPEAKER_04 1:36

It was such a great show. Okay. And Corey's in the house. Corey's literally in the house. Well, I am Well, this is Corey's house.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

I'm old as dirt, so I don't know any of that stuff.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

We'll show you.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Oh no, no, no. Not until you watch Jurassic Park.

SPEAKER_04 1:48

We're gonna show no, I'm not going to do that. I get a confusing Jumanji every time.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Oh my. How can you do that?

SPEAKER_01 1:55

I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

I'm not sure. All right. Well, we're worried we're in a rare form today, so dad joke time. Girls, I'd like for you to go first because we are missing Dane today.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Oh, all right. JC. Okay, okay. How do you stop a bull from charging? Cancel its credit card.

SPEAKER_07 2:18

Good time.

SPEAKER_04 2:19

People spending all money.

SPEAKER_07 2:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 2:22

Alright, I like that one.

SPEAKER_07 2:23

Bridget.

SPEAKER_04 2:24

What do you call a plane full of balding men? Receding airlines.

SPEAKER_07 2:30

Oh man.

SPEAKER_04 2:32

Sorry, I had to. I'm sorry. I fucked that. I warned you guys. I'm sorry. Sorry to the guys.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

So in tribute to Dane, with usually he has wife jokes. Since he's not here, I'm gonna do one for him. So my wife and I always compromise. I admit that I'm wrong, and she agrees I'm right.

SPEAKER_03 2:52

That you're wrong. That's what marriage is about, basically. That's what it is. That's a good marriage.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

All right. Well, before we tackle what the the Fed actually does, let's let's let's talk to uh big old Corey here for a little bit, see how he's doing, a little bit about who he is, what he does, and what he can do for the customers.

SPEAKER_07 3:10

So Mr.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Corey, what do you got going on, buddy?

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Appreciate you guys having me today, guys and ladies. Excuse me. Didn't want to, you know.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

You know, yeah, we're the bros. All the bros.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Corey Houston, rate mortgage, team profit, then been in the mortgage business for a little while now, since like 2012. Work for the big banks, uh did the broker world, and then now a little bit of a merger to both worlds as a correspondent lender with rate. So Clay County is where I reside. I've been there for a long time. Yeah. So as far as you know, what what we're doing and as a team is is just really looking to help our customer basis as much as possible and provide them the options that will be successful in the home lending space and making that American dream come true. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

That's awesome. So let me ask you something. What are buyers overreacting to interest rates right now? How are they? Are they? For one.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Sure. I mean, we a rate is is something that is always changing. It's a moving target. Right now, I think we're in that in that environment to where people are getting off the fence and they're excited to buy. It's that it's that season, right? School just let out, so the avid renter is is back in the market wanting to buy that first home or the the growing family, right? The growing family that's looking to scale and and get the bigger home. So I think it's a matter of having the conversation of what are the rates doing. I think over the past week we've seen some improvement, which is nice. Finally, yeah. So, you know, but it's the it's the gas pump example, right? I mean, people go to the gas pump, they see, you know, what what that price per gallon is and the media and everything else, and then you have to have that conversation that takes them in a different direction and focuses on, you know, what is what is the goal? What is your budget? You know, what are you what are you really trying to accomplish here? So we can talk about the rate all day, but we try to talk about more things and and get them get them rolling. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:05

Yeah, because I was I was gonna say, like, to your point about the gas prices and everything too, like people are kind of freaking out. And I know I hear a lot of buyers saying, like, hey, I'm just gonna wait till the rates drop. Like, what what is more dangerous for a buyer right now? Is it them buying too early or waiting too long?

SPEAKER_01 5:22

So I think it's just a matter of again, what is their goal? I mean, it we are in a buyer's market right now. So there's I mean, I think you guys can say that sellers are attributing more as far as making those repairs or offering the, you know, to cover some closing costs and you know, whatever incentives that might lie. So it really becomes a a need. And if there's a need to buy, I think now's a great time to buy.

SPEAKER_07 5:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Um, I would not be waiting on rates to go down. Um we had the same conversation with you know clients that were there last year, right? Last summer. They they waited and here we are. We're in a very similar environment. So and then also in I mean, I think in our Florida market, what we uh uh appreciation in in home value is four percent around year after year. Yeah, it varies between three and three and six percent a year. So, I mean, that's another thing. So prices are still going up, the market's hot in Florida, and you know, and if you're if you're looking to secure something of value, uh home's the way to do it.

SPEAKER_06 6:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Oh, awesome. Well, one more question for you and we'll jump in the material. What is probably the most dangerous thing right now? Buyers waiting or waiting too long or buying too early.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

I think waiting too long, honestly. You know, if you if you're if you're waiting, you're you're not you're not ga you're not gaining any equity, you're not achieving what you want to achieve. It's it's a matter of having a conversation, it's a matter of positioning yourself correctly and having you know good realtors by your side and you know, really making it happen.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Well, thank you, sir, for coming and being a part of this today. And this is gonna be interesting. I've been trying to get good topics to to talk about, relevant topics, and yeah, we've had a lot of movement with a lot of this stuff in the last couple weeks.

SPEAKER_04 7:09

Yeah, and it's relevant now. I mean, I'm gonna learn something. Yeah, we're all learning.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

So let's start with the biggest misconception in America right now. The Fed does not directly control mortgage rates. And honestly, that shocks most people. The federal, so federal fund rates equal like overnight lending between banks. The mortgage rates are tied more closely to 10-year treasury yields, mortgage-backed securities, inflation expectations, the investor confidence, and the global economic stability. So when people say the Fed rate cut rates, why didn't mortgage rates drop? Well, it's because they're not exactly the same thing. Mortgage rates are basically the market trying to predict the future before the Fed officially reacts.

SPEAKER_04 7:54

And this is where buyers get frustrated. They hear one thing on the news, then they call a lender and hear something completely different. Like I've I've literally had buyers saying I feel like a lot of people have too, like, but the Fred lowered the rate yesterday. Why is my rate still high? And it's because the market already priced expectations beforehand and social media is making this way worse. Like we talked about this, like hands down, right? Like I can't imagine how many people are on there. Like one I mean, I get it. It's like a marketing thing, but another part of me it's like I don't I don't know. I just see a lot of stuff. Do you see stuff on that? Yeah, CryptoKi. Like, do you see a lot of that stuff, Corey?

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Like we have to feel like I have that conversation daily.

SPEAKER_04 8:34

Yeah, like please listen to me. Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

I see it with the rates all the time. Would you imagine us realtors dealing with all that?

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Uh no. Corey, what does your TikTok for you page look like? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

I I said it the expectation that we we will have a target rate conversation up front, but uh it it is a moving target. So we have that live conversation once we go on a contract, but you know, we can have a conversation about rates today and it'll be completely different this afternoon, let alone next week.

SPEAKER_04 9:05

It's always gonna you're right. That's a good way to say it, like a moving target. I like that. I'm gonna use that with people and my buyers and stuff. But anyway, too, I think buyers are also emotionally exhausted right now and they don't really know who to trust because of it. Because you'll hear something on the news like house crash incoming, and then another one says like buy now because it's gonna explode again. And for first-time buyers, especially, they feel probably paralyzed because of that and they're scared to make the wrong decision because everybody online sounds so confident. But real estate's not black and white, like we said before, it's all strategy.

SPEAKER_06 9:38

Strategy. Strategy is the word.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

I think one of the biggest issues is buyers waiting for some magical perfect moment. They think one's right to drop, then I'll buy, but they don't realize everybody else is waiting to. And what happens when demand surges? Prices go up, competition goes up, negotiating power disappears. So sometimes buyers accidentally wait themselves into a worse situation.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

So I guess this is another thing that people really just don't understand or don't get. The Fed doesn't want the the economy to crash at all. But they also don't want inflation to explode again. I mean, granted, we all like that whole idea like rates need to be back in the twos, and gas just needs to be $1.99 and milk needs to be $3.96 a gallon instead of uh the five dollars a gallon, eggs 99 cents. You know, all the great things that that I had when I was growing up. But they they really need to focus on the fact is that they try to keep a consistent balance between employment, inflation, consumer spending, economic growth, and market competence. Right now, the housing's caught right in the middle of all this stuff. And the affordability factor, that's that's always something that we talk about on the on the show. I know you see it all the time. I mean, people's DTI has probably changed so much versus what it used to be.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Yeah, we we uh we try to find a happy medium because we uh we we get on the edge of uh max DTI often. I use the nine dollar uh jar of mayonnaise as you just went to the grocery store example. But if there's a need and there's a will and there's a budget, that's where we have the conversation.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

So we we all know that the the inventory right now for housing is kind of like low.

SPEAKER_07 11:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Even though it's there it's still there. But Corey, if rates get down into like the mid-fives, what do you what do you think the inventory is gonna be like for us?

SPEAKER_01 11:31

I think the mid-fives would be fantastic. I think that's a happy medium. I think that is something that would be you know, the quote unquote the new norm that people will be comfortable with. I think housing would definitely on the inventory side would pick up because the the people that we talked about earlier have been waiting to to do something, whether that's you know buying the first home or selling their current home to to move into a different neighborhood or to expand or whatever the case may be. I think the activity will certainly increase and inventory will increase as well.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Yeah, I agree. And I mean we talk a lot about this as well, is the acquisition cost. You know, and you know, most of the other people in our industry hide this with, you know, we can help you get a better deal in a house, we can give you closing costs, we can do all this stuff. But it's it truly is the you really want to talk about the bare bones of it to have a good true understanding for your buyers is acquisition cost. Right. There's a cost to buying anything. And we like we do right now, we fill at the grocery stores, we fill it at the gas station, we fill, we we find it everywhere.

SPEAKER_06 12:34

Right.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

And what we do, especially in a market right now, that is a really great opportunity for buyers, is if you can lower that acquisition cost, and Corey, I'm sure you see that, if you got somebody that can negotiate a deal and get no closing cost, that helps your monthly payment, doesn't it? Yes, it does. Yeah. So if you could find that, if you can negotiate that in there, because I I'm seeing that all the time almost all my deals that I've been doing this month and last month, is I'm getting sellers to agree to concessions and even some money for Ray Buy Down. So those are all really, really, really important things to focus on. That's what we're focusing on right now. So when you listen to general messages that the interest rates are too high, prices of homes aren't going down, they doubt that everything needs to come down. Well, you know, we can wish in one hand and do what we can do in another and see what fills up faster. But the end of the day is well, let's take the current situation and make make a solution for it.

SPEAKER_06 13:26

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

And I'm finding out that there's a solution for it. We're just gonna believe that. So let's talk about this Fed chair and and why it actually matters, okay? Because people are reacting emotionally because they don't really fully understand what's actually what it actually means. So the Fed chair is a new leadership that that changes market sediment. Investors analyze every comment that gets made on this stuff. Markets react emotionally to tone and the future expectations of what's gonna happen. And the Fed's moving slowly and cautiously right now, and one chair really doesn't instantly reverse policy. So, really, guys, this isn't like changing a football coach where suddenly everything changes overnight. The Fed is like steering a cruise ship with a spoon that moves very, very slowly.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

That's such a funny visual. That's a good one. And the second announcement happened, people online immediately started screaming rate cuts are coming. But inflation is still sticky, insurance is high, food is high, energy costs are unstable. So the Fed can't just panic and slash rates immediately. And honestly, the Fed's biggest fear is probably lowering too fast and reigniting inflation all over again. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

Right. And and consumers forget the Fed watches consumer behavior too. So if people start spending aggressively, again, inflation can heat back up. So if inflation spikes again, that could actually delay rate cuts longer, and then buyers get discouraged again because expectations got too high too fast.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

I think buyers are desperate for certainty. They just want someone to tell them this is the right time, but nobody can guarantee that. And honestly, buyers that focus too much on timing usually create more stress for themselves.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Do you know that magic crystal ball from Timu?

SPEAKER_02 15:09

It's not gonna help us here.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

No. If we all had it, we all what about houses 10 years ago?

SPEAKER_01 15:14

100% and Sada. I use the crystal ball example all the time. It's it's not a matter of if I if I knew what rates were gonna do, if I knew what the market was gonna do, yeah, probably wouldn't be sitting here, would be somewhere somewhere in the blue seas, living our place.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Well, we were actually gonna take a quick break from this comment and the content that we're talking about today and jump into our favorite part of the podcast.

SPEAKER_07 15:41

Game time.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

So again, guys, the internet has officially lost its mind. And you know me, every week I come up with something crazy. This game is called rate cutter scam.

SPEAKER_04 15:58

Uh uh. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Are you ready?

SPEAKER_04 16:02

Everything's a scam.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

So you guys gotta tell me if this is a rate cutter scam.

SPEAKER_04 16:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Waiting until rates hit four percent before buying.

SPEAKER_04 16:11

Scam.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Why? Why do you think that?

SPEAKER_04 16:14

Don't wait. We have to literally we have Corey right here telling us do not wait.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 16:20

Am I right? It's a scam.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

I mean, yeah. We can't. We can't guarantee where rates are gonna go. All we can say is, you know, where we're at right today, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:31

All right.

SPEAKER_04 16:32

Big scam.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Taking mortgage advice from somebody who says date the rate, marry the house.

SPEAKER_04 16:38

Wait, wait, wait. Date the rate, marry the house. Um, we say that all the time. That is refinancing. What's the what's the other option? Not scamble is the other one.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Uh rate cut or scam.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

I know.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

No.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

This is a catch 22.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

Listen, if it happens, it happens. Refinance. Refinance. Yeah, do it.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

If you're uh I'll be honest with you, if you hear that from somebody like Crypto Kyle or somebody on the internet, well, yeah, that's one thing. But if you're you're actually talking to somebody, the whole idea behind that date the rate, marry the house crap, is find the house that you want. Right. The house is not gonna change, it's gonna stay consistent. That's that's just just constant in this equation. The rates can change every six months uh if you're there, and you can actually refinance, right, every six months if you want to. Or there's no general rule.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

I always it depends on the loan program, but I mean it's there's a refinance takes place when there's a financial need and it makes sense. Yeah, right, agreed. Um, you know, the VA specifically wants you to hold for at least 210 days before refinance, but there's some different things. But I think to add to that, if you're if you're dating rate and you're marrying the house, just make sure that you're working with somebody that's gonna have a conversation in detail about what rate you're taking advantage of and breaking it breaking it down.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

I like that. That's right. Very good. So when you hear that phrase from us, it's important. When you hear it from somebody else, red flag.

SPEAKER_04 18:10

Sure. Yeah. Anybody from Raker's home group or Corey. Okay. You hear from us, we got it. All right.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

All right, do it. Buying a house with zero savings left afterwards because uh what I don't know. Just buying a house with zero savings. No, I wouldn't do that.

SPEAKER_04 18:30

That's my buzzer. No. Sounds like a terrible buzzer. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Here's one. Trusting TikTok economist. I I you know what? I just gonna say say that five times fast, and David's gonna tell me I'm gonna say it once. But trusting a TikTok economist that does a film for that and Lamborghinis that they rented for 45 minutes.

SPEAKER_04 18:50

Oh no, get out of here.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

That's a scam, right?

SPEAKER_04 18:52

That's a total scam you're renting a car for 45 minutes. Crazy.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Although I probably would rent a Lamborghini for 45 minutes. Drive it.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Not to film, but to drive away.

SPEAKER_04 19:06

Look at me.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

I'm gonna have like Nelly do one of my listing photos with me.

SPEAKER_04 19:12

Lambo in the bed. Oh I dare you to try that on your next listing. This listing you're gonna get coming up.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Yeah, I like to lie. All right, so here, listen to this. Seller says, I know rates are high, so I'm gonna add $5,000 to the prize.

SPEAKER_04 19:29

What? What is no, don't do that. Don't what is seller? Who's telling him this?

SPEAKER_00 19:36

That's emotional terrorism.

SPEAKER_04 19:37

Emotional terrorism. I'm gonna use that term.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

That's good.

SPEAKER_04 19:41

I'm gonna use that term emotional terrorism. Anytime I'm in an argument like that, probably emotional terrorism right now.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

I feel like that's what I experience every meeting. Emotional terrorism every day.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Like what's coming now.

SPEAKER_05 19:56

So funny.

unknown 19:56

Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

All right, we hear this a lot. Refusing to buy now because they're waiting for the market to crash while your rent keeps increasing every year.

SPEAKER_04 20:06

Goodbye. Paying someone else's mortgage. That's it. It's my favorite thing.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Ooh, right now, buying the most house, the most expensive house available.

SPEAKER_04 20:18

I mean, go off if that's a good idea. I mean, can we afford it? Sure. Good for you.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

All right. YOLO. Yeah, YOLO.

SPEAKER_04 20:25

Yeah, YOLO.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Guys, technically I can eat 37 tacos, but really, should I?

SPEAKER_04 20:31

No.

unknown 20:32

No. All right.

SPEAKER_04 20:33

37 is kind of impressive. I love tacos.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

You buy that luxury house, next thing you know, you're eating ramen in the kitchen.

SPEAKER_04 20:40

Pretty much.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

Um, let's see here. You ready? The housing people are posting the housing market is doomed while homes in their area are still selling in eight days.

SPEAKER_04 20:53

Don't listen. Let the number stop.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Oh, yeah. I'm clicking follow on those people that are posting it. I want to see if they want to talk about more because it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_04 20:59

No, I'd comment and be like, are you what are you talking about?

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Not in this market. It's the fear factor.

SPEAKER_04 21:04

Eight days. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

The fear factor. Okay, last one. Trusting your cousin. It's like Uncle Joe or Uncle Bob. I know. All right. Trusting your cousin who bought one Airbnb in 2021 and now acts like Warren Buffett with a fire pit. Scam.

SPEAKER_04 21:22

Scam. Scam. Your cousin's wrong. Don't listen to your cousin.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Alright. That was a crappy game. I'm sorry, guys. Oh, what a mess.

SPEAKER_04 21:31

I like the Lamborghini one. That one was wild.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Yeah. Oh, what was the other one? Emotional terrorism.

SPEAKER_04 21:36

Emotional terrorism. That's a new um term. Adding it to the vocabulary.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

I I need to go back to these podcasts and just listen to find out some really good one-liners for us and just like laminate it and have it available for you as on call it all times.

SPEAKER_04 21:49

Breakers home group.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Like you can like put that on a t-shirt and have all the covers. Words of wisdom.

SPEAKER_04 21:55

By the RHGT.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

All right. Well, the whole reason why you guys are listening right now oh my gosh. Is we want them we we want to see what it means for you as a buyer. So all the stuff that we've been talking about. So right now, buyers really need to hear this. Trying to perfectly time the market is dangerous. Remember the crystal ball from Timu?

SPEAKER_07 22:21

No way.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

All right. Buyers still have leverage in many situations. So you can negotiate those acquisition costs that we talked about, closing costs, rate buy downs, repairs, incentives. You know, but think about this way. If rates drop aggressively right now, that leverage disappears fast. And then what's going to happen is it's going to cost you more to get into the home. That acquisition cost is going to go up.

SPEAKER_07 22:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

So and so will prices of the home. Right now, there it's, you know, it's a buyer's market. I I feel it's it's just like a balanced market right now. There's give and take on both sides. Buyers are sacrificing a little bit on the rate. Uh sellers are sacrificed a little bit on price to make it affordable. So it's it's a it evens it out. And at the same time, I think buyers are winning more. So that's why we're considering it more of a buyer's market. All right. But I don't know if everybody remembers this or not about how insane 2021 and 2022 got. But buyers were waiving inspections, paying for appraisal gaps. I'm sure you saw a lot of that. I know we were doing offers on houses before we even seen them $40,000 to $50,000 above listing at asking price.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Yeah, the the I mean the open house example, right? Oh, and there was there were 12 cars waiting on the street before you even opened the door. And then I in my world, yeah, the appraisal gaps. I mean, we had overvaluation left and right. Appraisers were starting to get scared. There was, you know, the conservative approach to the value. People didn't care. They wanted the home.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Yeah, I I didn't need to do open houses then. I didn't need to do anything. Just literally put it on the market and push paper. And ask somebody, would you like fries with that? That's right.

SPEAKER_03 24:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

So, but yeah, that the appraisal gaps offering ridiculous amount over asking. Honestly, a lot of buyers were miserable during that market because you see them now or even two years ago when they tried to resell, they weren't getting the money for that. So, yes, rates were lower, but the buying experience was chaotic. Absolutely chaotic.

SPEAKER_04 24:24

I can't imagine. Like, I wasn't a real order at that time, but the fact that you're saying people were lining up at a house that's yelled at by other buying agents. Just not like not being on time.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

If you had a 15-minute window, you had to be out of there 14 minutes and 59 seconds. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:40

I can't imagine that.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Buyers would get discouraged too.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

They would almost give up.

SPEAKER_04 24:44

If you see that line, you're like, I feel like that's just yeah, like super discovery. It's already sold.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:51

Kind of wish I had that experience. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Um No, you really didn't.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

I think I like chaos a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Well, I love it. Well I love chaos, but not like that. It was nice for production, a bank account, but it was emotionally and mentally stressful.

SPEAKER_04 25:07

I think buyers need to stop obsessing over rate headlines and start focusing on affordability and long-term goals. Because if the payment works for your life and the home fits your needs, that matters more than perfectly timing a percent.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:21

Because nobody knows exactly where the rates are going. So take that.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

Do you know where the rates are going, Corey? I do not. I was that we brought a professional on the show. I do not know where rates are going. Yeah. The point I was making on that one side, we do not know. All we know is we're just enjoying this this wave. Whether it's big or small, we're still going in the direction.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

That's right. We joke as a team. We say they're all they're always going down. We just we have no idea. No, we don't.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

Nobody knows exactly where rates are going and refinancing exists. I think some buyers forget that rates can potentially be adjusted later. But you can't go back in time and buy the house you lost because you waited too long. And if rates do drop, you may suddenly be competing with a flora buyers.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

Well, that goes back to the Marry the date the rate, Mary the House. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

It does.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

They know that you know what you just said, JC, regarding about the house that you lost because you waited too long. That's that's what it's intended for. You know, not every house is exactly the same. There's always a subtle shift in it, even though you buy a spec home or a builder home, and some of them are like identical, just flip-flop the neck in the mirror. But it's that specific home, that specific location. It there's no other place like it. So focus on that. Corey and all of us will figure out how to make it affordable for you.

SPEAKER_06 26:43

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

He's got a plethora of programs that he talks to us about all the time to help with that acquisition cost and that affordability class about living there. So a lot of great things, a lot of like great things. But everybody wants to enter the concert after ticket prices drop, but nobody realizes how long the line gets.

SPEAKER_07 27:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

It's like a caravan, especially when I did those in the early 2000s. No, thank you. But real estate is supply and demand. When affordability improves, buyer activity explodes. So right now, everybody that's on the fence that's complaining about it, the fear factor, that happens a lot. Heck, that happens about everything right now. You're talking about property taxes going away for Florida residents. They they got into detail about that, and we'll talk about that on our next episode. But right now, he's saying no taxes for $250,000 or less. And eventually, after he's done being a governor, he wants it to go up to what, half a million? I think that was what they talked about recently. But everybody's worried about the infrastructure and stuff like that. Trust me, I'll tell you that that's still gonna be there in some aspect, but that whole fear, that fear mongrel, and everybody else is coming like, oh my God, you know, for Florida's gonna go broke.

SPEAKER_04 27:54

And politicians being politicians, they scare their constituents.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

No, we won't.

SPEAKER_04 27:59

But it won't happen. Florida is not going broke.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

The reality of it is, out of the entire population in the state of Florida right now, do you know that it's less than 60%? So almost less than half of people that live in this state are primary, primary residents. Right. And already 20% of that less than half is VA, veterans. So we talked about the buyers. We talked about what that meant for everybody. So let's talk about what it's gonna mean for the sellers, real quick. Okay. So sellers definitely need to understand this right now. The market is no longer forgiving at bad pricing. And we've been talking about that how to list homes right now and what you gotta be on and what you got to focus on. So buyers are definitely payment sensitive, and inventory is rising in many markets. And one of the reasons why is because overpriced homes are sitting longer and are still there. And the realtor doesn't want to give up, neither does the seller. Contigen conditions matter more, and the last couple episodes we talked about that. Marketing matters more than ever. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 29:01

We're seeing a lot of fun marketing trends on real estate, Instagram, socials, you know.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

The works broker opens are becoming more important.

SPEAKER_04 29:12

Very popular around Northeast Florida.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

The days of the blurry iPhone photos that aren't centered poet seat up, other things lay on the counter that shouldn't be, the dog sitting in the hallway. Though those aren't cute. That that isn't real life. I mean, we're not doing that. So, you know, throw it on the market and hope that if you get 18 offers, that's gone.

unknown 29:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

That's been on for a very long time. For a while.

SPEAKER_04 29:37

And buyers are way more cautious now, like we talked about this in our last episode. They're just way more cautious. They're analyzing everything when it comes to insurance costs, HOAs, taxes, monthly payments. We even talked about, you know, if your house is a fixer-upper, right? What that's gonna look like. So if your home is overpriced, buyers will move on very quickly. And sellers also need to understand that that presentation matters a lot more now. Phone, photos matter, like we talked about, conditions, the marketing. You can't expect top dollar with lazy preparation anymore.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Lazy preparation. And sellers need to stop comparing today's market to peak COVID insanity. That market was not normal. Today's buyers are more educated, more cautious, financially stretched, and the timeline's really extended.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Mm-hmm. And smart buyers that have the right realtor professional that's sitting right next to them, guiding them. Pricing strategy is correct. They do that right, preparing the home properly, offering incentives when needed, understanding the buyer psychology. I know that we do that in our buyer consultation. So I get pretty in-depth about it.

SPEAKER_07 30:43

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

And I it's not even bringing up past experience and stuff like that. That's one thing. I I do not go to a buyer consultation or a listing appointment and go, hey, look at me, guys. I've sold 166 homes in the last six years. Right. I'm the best. Right. I talk to them, hey, I'm talking about you, your home, your wants, your needs. What's going to help you in this situation? Because I'm going to tell you, you're you're going to give it a rat's ass about what happened and how I took care of customers in the back. You don't care. Yeah. Care about what I'm going to do for you. Right. And that's what it's all about for best.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Yeah, I think the hot topic here is the overvaluation side of things. Yeah. You know, JC just mentioned that the market's not what it was last year, let alone three years ago, right? And so it's a constant pivot. And it's, and it's you have to, you have to pivot with the market and you have to position yourself accordingly, right? Whether you're a seller or a buyer. So I think it's also important, you know, on the sell side, having that relationship between a realtor and a lender, because you know, there's things that you can do to work together to make it more attractive, right? So how many times do we see now where you know a lender like myself is stepping in to cover a portion of the closing cost? Yeah. Right. Yeah. Or saying, hey, if you work with this person, maybe consider a free appraisal. Right. So there's things that we can do and we can partner on that would be not only you know beneficial to the listing and the seller, but also to incentivize buyers to get there.

SPEAKER_04 32:03

Yeah. No, that's that's so true. It's like we're your dream team. You got a good realtor and a lender.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

Yeah. Right? You always gotta have we work for it. We again we talked about this before. You know, probably the two most important people to have in any real estate transaction is one is a good realtor and a lender.

SPEAKER_03 32:20

A lender.

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Because uh you can pick up the phone and call us and and ask those questions and have that knowledge. Because I'm gonna tell you more than anything, and people don't realize this, and I think they get this misconceived false hope from social media. But the truth is, knowledge is power. 100%. And the more you know, the more you know, these people everybody gets educated, the better they're gonna be. And I'd rather take real world advice from somebody who lives in it every day rather than listen to crypto kyle.

SPEAKER_06 32:51

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 32:51

In a hooded shirt, sitting in and running to Lamborghini talking about, you know, what the mortgage rates are gonna do tomorrow because yeah, that guy's got the inside track on that. Probably not. Right. So here's the big picture. This is this is where I think the housing market's gonna go and what what it's really dealing with the rest of this year. So it's volatility. The flat out, it's it's a volatile situation right now, okay? And in Northeast specifically, people are still moving here, which is really, really good.

SPEAKER_07 33:19

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

Okay. So that volatility isn't gonna affect us as much. There's I think there's five states right now that are really, really, really hot, and everything is pretty balanced on the other ones.

SPEAKER_04 33:29

Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Arizona, Arizona, yeah. What's what's Carolina's? Oh, yeah. North more north, I would say, less not that not as much south, I think.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

I think it's a growing market in both. It's a growing market in both.

SPEAKER_04 33:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:45

South Carolina.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

It's terrible.

SPEAKER_04 33:49

We love you, South Carolina, but I'm just saying, that fixing road a little bit. I you did, and you know what? I think we need to talk about them again next episode.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Oh, I'm gonna bring him up. Because I just actually talked to a customer from California, and I was biting my tongue the entire time I was on the phone with him. And I said, just so you know, I actually have a podcast. He's like, Yeah, I know. I listened to it. I'm like, really, that's why I called you, Eric. She goes, because you make fun of us all the time. She goes, but she wanna know something. I'm like, what? She goes, You're right. Yeah. And she goes, and I want out.

SPEAKER_07 34:24

Shout out to you, girl. Let's go. Shout out.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

Why Northeast Florida is still moving here for us? And this is what I love about it, because we're we're actually seeing a lot of out of state people come in like we always do, but we're seeing that shift from southern Florida up to North Florida. Why? It's more affordable.

SPEAKER_06 34:40

That too, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

And it's because of jobs, weather, taxes, and lifestyle, just flat out. So even with higher rates, there's still demand. I I tell you what, I think the market is becoming more balanced. And honestly, that's healthier.

SPEAKER_06 34:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

All right. It's less emotional insanity and more actual strategy. Right. Guess what? People got to do their work.

SPEAKER_04 34:59

Oh, yeah. And consumers need to stop treating headlines like guarantees. One Fed announcement doesn't magically fix or affordability overnight. All right, we know that.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

Real estate is still local. And buyers and sellers both need guidance more than now more than ever because there's so much misinformation online right now. And honestly, people just want clarity. They need clarity, they deserve clarity. So talk to professionals. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Before we wrap this thing up, Corey, I gotta put you on the spot for a minute. I want to ask you, what is the craziest thing you've ever seen on a buyer's bank statement?

SPEAKER_07 35:34

That's a good one.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

Well, there's these initials that start with O and F.

SPEAKER_07 35:44

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 35:46

Oh, you can say it on here. That's fine. Yeah, the OnlyFans thing? Yeah, OnlyFans.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

Purchases, or is that actual income generated? No, I mean, if it was income, we might have been able to use it in today's market.

SPEAKER_02 35:58

You know?

SPEAKER_01 35:59

No, it was it was purchases, but it was it was funny because it was the same guy that was complaining about a quarter percent of the rate. So you know the different the difference in that payment was like forty to forty dollars, I believe. Oh my gosh. I said, you know, maybe we just have some lifestyle changes and uh cancel Netflix or be less worried about the mortgage payment, right?

SPEAKER_00 36:23

Yeah, it's so funny because I I talk about you know, one of my good friends that that him and I coached travel softball for a while, and of course I had to kind of step away from it because well, work is getting busier, but you know, we talk about how expensive it is and like we're gonna have to resolve into feed picks and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 36:40

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

That was a lot of money.

SPEAKER_04 36:43

Why is there a market for people?

SPEAKER_00 36:45

Let's not go down that road, just like we're not gonna go down gambling advice. Um but you know, you brought up the OnlyFans thing, and I I brought this up that last year, or yeah, last year, one of the team members on us that a buyer worked for OnlyFans.

SPEAKER_07 36:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

And it was interesting how to get the loan through that going how to provide proof of income. It was very interesting, but we got it done. Thanks to my loan. Yep. That's exactly what it was. That's crazy. I know, right?

SPEAKER_04 37:12

Because are they technically $1099? They're contract like they're self-employed.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

We had to have OnlyFans provide us proof of that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:20

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 37:21

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

So you if you go that you go normal route, you go self-employed tax returns. Right. Or, you know, if you if that's not showing the amount of income you need, then it's 12 months bake statements and you go, whoa, off yeah, off off sheet.

SPEAKER_07 37:33

That's clean.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

Well, if you if that is your profession and that is your your main source of income, and you always tell yourself or somebody tells you that you can't buy a house, they need they need homes too. Yeah, they need homes too, and guess what? We can help you do it.

SPEAKER_04 37:46

We can help.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

There's a way to do it.

SPEAKER_02 37:47

Doesn't matter what your job is. Corey just needs your tax returns and that's it. That's all he needs. He'll do it. He's got it.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

But here, final takeaway of everything that we've been talking about in this episode. So the truth is the fed chair does matter, but it's not an instant reset button for the housing market, okay? People who win in real estate right now are usually aren't the people who worry about that perfectly timed rate. They're the people who make smart decisions, bought within their means, held long term, and stayed focused on strategy instead of panic, which is what everybody's trying to do, and everybody's failing right now. So, but I'll tell you right now, if you're buying or selling in Northeast Florida, reach out to the Rakers home group here, okay? We give it to your real, trust me. I mean, if we're talking about OnlyFans right now.

SPEAKER_07 38:35

I mean, yeah, we do the real story.

SPEAKER_00 38:37

We give you the real story, and we're not fear-driven like the internet version is. It's realistic, it's transparent, and we'll guide you through it. So follow us on all our social media stuff. We're everywhere. And better yet, call us. Get to know us. We'll help you answer any questions. It doesn't cost anything to talk to us. Uh, we'll help you through. Give give Corey a call, put his information below the podcast so you can get a hold of him if you have any interest rate questions or anything mortgage-related in the programs that they offer. He'll be able to help guide you through that. But I hope you guys enjoy this episode and hope give you some little bit more clarity and take away some of that fear that's going on right now because that's what people are focusing on. Let's keep them scared, let's keep them in control.

SPEAKER_04 39:18

And that's not what we do.

SPEAKER_00 39:19

No, we're gonna strategize. That's the word power back into the people for sure. I'm not gonna hit a little bit of happening today. That was very patriotic. It's awesome to have you.

SPEAKER_06 39:27

Thank you, Corey. That was great.

SPEAKER_00 39:28

Uh, we missed the Dane, the cousins. So hopefully we get back. But like he always says, get to know us. So um other than that, we appreciate you guys listening, and we'll see you next week.

SPEAKER_04 39:43

Bye.