The Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show 2-16-25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The following program. The ENT , mortgage and
Realty Show is paid for in fullby ENT mortgage, LLC and equal
housing lender consumeraccess.org number 2 5 5 3 6 8.
The advice and opinionsexpressed during the Academic
Mortgage and Realty Show aresolely that at the hosts and
guests of ENT mortgage, LLC,and not WTMJ or Good Karma
Brands.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome to the Accu Net Mortgage and Realty Show,
getting you inside informationon buying, selling, and
financing your home with expertadvice from Accu Mortgage and
Realty. And now, here's BrianWicker and Tim Holdman .

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Welcome to the ANet Mortgage and Realty Show. I'm
Brian Wicker, licensed realestate broker with ANet Realty
Advisors, and also the majorityowner of ANet Mortgage, where
my individual NMLS ID number is2 5 9 6 1 0. I'm here today
along with my son-in-law , uh,Tim Holdman, whose individual
NMLS ID number is 1 5 9 3 1 46. Tim is one of our rockstar

(00:59):
senior loan consultants. Oh ,thanks Brian. Yeah , you bet .
You can also grab a podcast attoday's show and any of our
past shows wherever younormally get your podcasts. So
, Tim, it was an eventful weekin mortgage lending because we
got some key economic reports,most importantly on inflation.
We got the consumer price indexinflation report for January on
Wednesday, and unfortunatelythat made rates go up. Yeah .

(01:21):
About one eighth of 1%. Mm-hmm . Which hold onto
your hat, that's about a $21payment difference on a
$250,000.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
Oh my goodness.
Okay. Yeah .

Speaker 1 (01:29):
But still it went the wrong way. Stocks also
didn't like it. And that'sbecause as measured, that's
inflation at the consumer levelcame in hotter than expected.
Uh , if you strip out food andenergy, the annual inflation
number was 3.3% and the marketwas expecting 3.1. Right. So
that's like, oh my God,inflation's back. And remember,

(01:49):
inflation's the enemy ofinterest rates, especially
long-term interest rates.
'cause if you're lendingmortgage money at seven and
inflation's running at threeRight. You're only making the
difference, which is 4%.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah. And that's, I think that's a disconnect
people have when they considermortgage rates compared to the
rate that the Fed controls.
Right. Right . 'cause the , theFed , uh, either staying on
their hands or choosing to dropthe rate that they can control,
that's an extremely short terminterest rate overnight. Right.
Overnight, literally theshortest you can get, which is,
you know, the complete oppositeof say, a 30 year fixed

(02:22):
mortgage rate. Right.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Correct. Which could last for three decades. Yeah.
Um, so also just bycoincidence, federal Reserve
shared , Jerome Powell gave ustestimony before Congress,
which he does twice a year, andsaid, Hey, don't expect us to
be cutting rates anytime soon,because, you know, inflation's
still stubborn stick andsticking around . We wanna get
that to come down to 2%. And ,uh, and then also the job

(02:43):
market's looking pretty good,so we don't really have any
reason to cut short term rates.
Right. But then somethingreally weird happened on
Thursday. We got themeasurement of inflation at the
wholesale level called the PPIProducer Price Index. Okay.
That too was higher thanexpected. So I was fully
expecting things to get even

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah . Rates to get worse. Yeah . Worse .

Speaker 1 (03:04):
But instead, analysts dug into the details.
And there is some detailswithin that PPI report that
foreshadow what the inflationmeasurement is gonna be , uh,
using the fed's actualpreferred method, which is the
PCE or per the personalconsumptions expenditures index
that comes out on February 28th

Speaker 3 (03:25):
End of the month.
Yeah. And

Speaker 1 (03:26):
So by looking deep inside that report, they said,
you know what we think when theFed gets their report that they
like, it's gonna show inflationcoming down. So mortgage rates
came back down. Sure . And then, uh, what happened on Friday?

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yeah. So then on Friday we actually got a
another little nice bounce backon rates , uh, due to consumer
spending. So consumer spendingactually came back a little bit
, uh, lighter than wasanticipated, which means people
are choosing not to spend asmuch of their money as maybe
was forecasted. Uh, so thatcaused mortgage rates to , um,

(03:58):
improve a little bit on Friday.
So ironically, between thebounce back on Thursday and
Friday, it , it almostcompletely canceled out the
rate worsening that happened onWednesday. So for the week,
we're kind of flat.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
We're kind of flat or maybe a touch better. Yeah.
Uh , low overhead ACU net , uh,finished the week being able to
offer a 6.8 7 5 30 year fixedrate with no points. That's on
a $250,000 loan to buy an owneroccupied single family detached
her condo with 25% down and allthe other Right. Stuff. The A
PR would be 6.89. Uh , youcould get 6.375. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
If you want to buy down the rate with points

Speaker 1 (04:34):
That would be costing you $5,000 in points at
closing, making the a PR 6.58over the entire 30 year life of
the loan payment difference, bythe way, between 6 8, 7, 5, and
6 3, 7 5 is 83 bucks . 83 bucks, spend five grand extra to
save $83. Right .

Speaker 3 (04:52):
So you'd make your money back in five years on
that investment, by the way.
Right. Right . 'cause if you'respending five grand at closing,
that money is spent, it's gone.
And then you save it back onemonth at a time in the form of
$83 a month in payment savings. So five grand divided by 83
gets a break even , which is 60months, five years. So if
you're

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Thinking that there's a good chance that
rates could come down all bythemselves mm-hmm . Over the
next five years, you wouldn'tpay to get that now. Right .
You'd wait. Right .

Speaker 3 (05:16):
Unless, unless you just really want that low rate
. Yeah .

Speaker 1 (05:18):
. Yep . It's certain. And , uh, you know,
remember you have to qualifyagain to refi so it's not an
automatic slam dunk. Right. Uh, the other data point, our
special Wisconsin first timehome buyer rate , uh, that's
for folks who have householdincome up to 117,400. If there
are dollars a year, if thereare three or more household
members, that's all the waydown at 6%. Yeah. That's

(05:41):
amazing. Uh, the a PR if youput 20% down would be 6.02.
Yeah . That payment differenceon a $250,000 loan versus 6.875
is 143 bucks.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yeah. That's real money. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
So if you can, if we can get you to qualify for that
program, that's definitely theway to go. Um , okay. So, so
rates are decent. Um, Tim,another thing on Thursday, I
was on the WBBM , uh, newsRadio Noon Business Hour Oh ,
nice . Down in Chicago. Yeah.
And I was asked this questionby their host, who's a former

(06:14):
WTMJ guy. Oh , Hart . All right. Uh , he said, so, you know,
Brian, if somebody's out there,you know, thinking about
getting into the market thisspring, should they wait for
rates to come down? ,let's give our answers. Uh,
when we come back from thisbreak, you're listening to the
Academic Mortgage and RealtyShow on AM six 20 WTMJ

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Home buying advice from the guys who know it best.
This is the ACU Net Mortgageand Realty Show with Brian
Wicker on WTMJ.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Welcome back, and thanks again for tuning in to
this week's show. Tim, we weretalking about how rates ended
the week favorably when in themiddle of the week it didn't
look so good, but by the end ofthe week, it was looking better
than ever. Uh , or at leastbetter than than where it was.
So , um, I , as I mentioned, Iwas on WBS noon business hour ,
uh, in Chicago on Thursday. AndRob Hart, former WTMJ on her

(07:04):
personality asked, so Brian, ifsomebody is thinking about
getting out there in themarket, should they wait for
rates to come down? ,what would be your answer?

Speaker 3 (07:13):
Uh , my answer would be an emphatic no .

Speaker 1 (07:15):
Why is that, Tim?
Because that was also myanswer, by the

Speaker 3 (07:18):
Way. Yeah, well, it's, is the juice worth the
squeeze, as I like to say?
Right. So it's like, let's sayyou wait, first of all, how low
do you want them to go?
Ironically, most people don'thave a specific answer to that
question. They just, I want 'emto be lower. Yeah, it's okay .
Okay. If rates are at 6.875 forno points, which is what we

(07:38):
said in the first segment, whatdo you want to get 'em to? Six
and a quarter? Six, five and ahalf . We've already flushed
out the impact in the monthlypayment for that rate
difference. And typically,while it's not nothing, it's
not worth it to wait. Right.
Because in the meantime, morepeople are gonna join the
market as we get into springand summer, there's gonna be

(07:58):
more competition, and thentherefore you'll probably have
to pay more for the same house,which that means either more
money down or a higher loanamount, both , which would
offset the lower interest ratesif we even get them. Yeah .
Which, you know, all signs arepointing to, at least for the
remainder of this year. We'renot gonna get , not gonna get
some windfall of rates droppingmagically. I mean, it would be
nice, but ,

Speaker 1 (08:19):
So you and I are singing out the same page of
the hymnal. Yeah. Uh , I , Imentioned that, hey, the latest
kind of best case forecast fromthe Mortgage Bankers
Association and Fannie Mae isthat hey, maybe rates are gonna
get down to six and a half on a30 year by the end of the year.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
Oh , hot diggity.
Yeah . .

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Right. And , and so, you know, if that were to come
to pass, that is a 62 60 $2 permonth payment difference on a
$250,000 loan. Yeah . It's ,but then as you point out, if,
if the payment, or I'm sorry,if the house price goes up by
5% mm-hmm . Youknow, and you're waiting, it
defeats that. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
Cancels it

Speaker 1 (08:52):
Out. And actually , and more than that, it makes it
25 bucks a month higher. Right.
So, so we we have the sameanswer. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
And this is a a com very common question Right.
That I get with a lot of peoplewho are calling in and
inquiring. It's like, oh ,should I wait or should I act
now? And it's like, well, ifyou wait a year, right? I mean,
generally home values are justgonna keep on going up. So it's
like

Speaker 1 (09:17):
That's a losing.
Yeah . You know , nobody'sexpecting anymore that 30 of
your fixed rates are comingdown to five and a half . No,

Speaker 3 (09:23):
You know , nine ,

Speaker 1 (09:23):
The current expectation is six and a half .
So, alright , so you weretelling me , uh, on the break,
you talked to some , uh, is ita first time home buyer this

Speaker 3 (09:31):
Week? No. Re repeat . Repeat. Okay . Home buyer ,
uh, rega . Yeah. So they, theyown a home and again, looking
to move not at all for mortgagerate reasons, right. They
wanted to get into a differentschool district , uh, because
their kids are reaching the agewhere they're gonna be changing
schools so they, you know, theydon't have to move immediately,
but they're doing the rightthing where they're kind of

(09:53):
planning for their future alittle bit and kind of planning
for where they wanna be for thenext 10 to 15 plus years.
Right. Um, so they're lookingin a very specific area. And
they had actually alreadygotten pre-approved with , uh,
a different lender, a

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Credit union, I think you said a large credit

Speaker 3 (10:09):
Union. A large credit union. And, you know,
the, the funny thing is aboutthat is that if they can get
pre-approved there, they cangenerally get pre-approved
anywhere. Sure. Right. Uh , nota lot of customers know this is
that mortgage lenders generallyhave to play by the same set of
rules. That's right. Indetermining who they can
pre-approve and qualify for amortgage. Not to say that there
isn't some art to that. 'causethere, there certainly is, and

(10:30):
we're , we're experts at that.
But generally, and I told 'emthis, I was like, listen,
that's great that you'repre-approved. I can absolutely
give you that pre-approvalletter from Kinon as well. But
what are the other things thatmatter to you in ultimately
deciding who you're gonnapartner up with for your home
buying journey? Right. Becausethis is a , this is a journey.
This is not a Yeah . A simple ,uh, you know, nuts and bolts

(10:53):
transaction. And he said, oh,well I really want to talk
about , uh, you know, your,your pulse Tim on kind of this
new world with real estateagents, you know, where and
pertaining to their commissionYeah. How they're gonna earn
that. So we talked about thatfor a long time. And he said,
and you know, I really wannaget connected with a very
experienced buyer's agent.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
I like the way he's thinking.

Speaker 3 (11:15):
And he even used the word buyer's agent . So I said,
kudos to you for even knowingthe difference. Yeah .

Speaker 1 (11:20):
Go .

Speaker 3 (11:20):
Right . Uh , so I could tell he'd done a little
cursory research of his own andhe said, yeah, you know, I want
someone who's gonna beexperienced in the area that
I'm looking to buy that canhelp me get into the winner
circle. 'cause he is , youknow, he's looking in a very
condensed, narrow right .
Geographical area so that thecompetition's gonna be tight,
there's not gonna be a lot ofinventory. And when a house
does come on the market thatthey wanna buy, they want to

(11:43):
get that house.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
That's right. And remember, you know, that that's
where that local knowledge Yeah. Comes in really handy because
the listing price is just amade up number, right, right .
That the seller and the listingbroker came up with. So that
experienced buyer's agent isgonna help you understand, is
that a low number? Are theyasking a really high number?
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
What's it gonna take to win? Yeah .

Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah. What is it gonna take to win this offer?
And that's where your expertisecomes into Yeah . As well by
showing, well, hey, you know,if you have to pay more than
even what it appraises for,for, let me show you what that
means in dollars and cents.
Right . Where I don't thinkyou're gonna get that from a
typical bank or credit union.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
No. And, and when we come back, I can put a bow on
this story, but I, I'm gonnatell how I actually provided
this customer with someresources that he did not get
from that local credit union ,uh, to just make him, frankly a
lot more comfortable andconfident, you know, as he's
beginning his home search here.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Alright. We'll cover that when we come back and
more, you're listening to theAced Mortgage and Realty Show
on Wisconsin's radio station.
AM six 20 WTMJ,

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Getting you into the home of your dreams. Here's
more of the Accu Net Mortgageand Realty Show with Brian
Wicker on wg mj

Speaker 3 (12:50):
Welcome back to the Acuate Mortgage and Realty
Show. I am Tim Senior Loanconsultant joined by majority
owner and chairman BrianWicker. Uh, Brian, before the
break , um, we were starting todiscuss a customer, I had just
started talking to this lastweek who , um, was choosing,
you know, trying to go throughthe process of choosing what
lender , uh, to work with. Andthrough that conversation it

(13:13):
actually sort of pivoted to howdo I find a good buyer'ss agent
Right. Uh , to work with, whichis extremely important,
especially in this reallycompetitive housing market that
we're in. Or at least the areathat he's gonna be shopping is
gonna be very competitive.
Right. Yeah .

Speaker 1 (13:28):
By the way, we've got some information on January
home sales coming up later inthe show. Oh , okay. That'll
reinforce that idea. Good,

Speaker 3 (13:33):
Good teaser.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
So what did you do to help him find a , uh,
buyer's

Speaker 3 (13:36):
Agent? Yeah, so , uh, I have access and ANet has
access to a resource where wecan look up the number of
transactions a realtor hasdone, either on buyer side or
seller side. It , itdifferentiates the two and then
we can , uh, narrow down thatsearch even by zip code. Sure .
Right . So I found the zipcodes in the areas where , uh,

(13:58):
this gentleman is looking tobuy is the next to him . And I
looked up the data on what topthree agents had done the most
buyer side transactions in thelast, I just did the last 12
months. Sure. Okay. And I said,alright , here are the names. I
said, I want to give youseveral options because aside
from experience, I thinkthere's certainly a personal
fit , uh, component to it aswell. And I said, you wanna get

(14:22):
hooked up with someone whoknows what they're doing. Right
. AKA has a lot of reps undertheir belt also helpful that
they've done transactions inthe specific area that you're
looking to buy. Yeah . Yeah .
You know ,

Speaker 1 (14:32):
And price range.

Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah. And , and just that level of consultation was
miles above what age receivedfrom this credit union, and he
recognized the value andimportance to that. Sure. Along
with all the other things thatmatter, low rate, low closing
costs , obviously, things likethat. But, and

Speaker 1 (14:49):
How did he find out about us ?

Speaker 3 (14:50):
Tim ? Uh, he's a, a loyal radio

Speaker 1 (14:52):
Listener, in fact .
Ah , okay. So we , so we ,something tickled him that
said, you know what, yeah, Iwent to my bank or credit union
of this case and gotpre-approved, but maybe there's
something better

Speaker 3 (14:59):
Out there. Maybe there something better. Yeah.
And you know,

Speaker 1 (15:01):
You need every advantage you can get when
you're a buyer in today'smarket.

Speaker 3 (15:03):
Well, exactly. And you know, we've, we're now at
the point where we have himpre-approved through ANet . He
has the list of realtors. He isgonna start that , uh, those
phone calls and thoseconversations. Does

Speaker 1 (15:13):
He have to sell his existing home to qualify?

Speaker 3 (15:15):
No, he does not. In fact, we , uh, both in real
life, he, they want to probablybuy and move , uh, or sell
their current home after thefact. Okay . So they can do a
slower move, maybe do some, youknow , uh, cosmetic
improvements to the new home,you know , right away before
they move in type of thing.
But, you know, also on thefinancial side, it's certainly
a benefit to do that anywaysbecause then you can , uh, be

(15:39):
pre-approved and make an offernot contingent on the sale of
your current home.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
Well , which is almost a certain kiss of death.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
Right. Sellers want to know that if you own a home
currently, you don't need tosell it as part of successfully
buying the new home. So thatgame plan is in place. We've
already talked about after thefact how they'll probably do a
recast of the mortgage afterthey get

Speaker 1 (16:00):
The Oh . And that's , they'll pay down the
principal balance and withoutrefinancing may maybe we'll be
able to refinance 'em if ratesare lower.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
If rates are lower, maybe we'll refine to a 15 year
fix to accelerate, you know,how fast he pays off the new
mortgage. But in , in any case, uh, he expressed a lot of
appreciation to kind of divinginto the details a little bit
more. It's comprehensive. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:21):
Because comprehensive consulting,

Speaker 3 (16:22):
Right. Aside from the nuts and bolts of the
mortgage, which I equate almostto a car, right? Sure. If
you're buying the same makemodel year of car, you know,
where can you get it for thecheaper price? Well, right.
But, but the other stuffmatters just as much, if not
more in my opinion, which isthe expertise, the experience,
the attention to detail are ,are

Speaker 1 (16:40):
They gonna have more than 10% down? Yeah .

Speaker 3 (16:42):
They're gonna do be able to do 20% down Wow .
Through assets that they have .

Speaker 1 (16:45):
So I'm sure you already talked about this, but
you know, as they get homes intheir sites, you'll be able to
put that through Fannie Mae andFreddie Mac , automated
underwriting software to see ifwe get those magic words Yeah .
No appraisal required. Right.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
Which will also strengthen the offer. Oh my
god. Even more . Right. Youknow, making a strong offer at
a good asking price, noappraisal required, you know,
fast financing, contingency,deadline, all those things are
gonna put him definitely in acompetitive position. Now, it's
not gonna be a guarantee thatthey, you know , uh, hit a home
run on the first at bat, butit's , it's gonna definitely

(17:17):
increase their chances. We'll

Speaker 1 (17:18):
Do everything we can to work with their buyer's
agent to help get 'em in theYeah . In the winner circles.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
It's a collaboration. Right?
Absolutely. It's like once theypick an experienced buyer's
agent, it's a team effortbetween me and that agent and
the customer , uh, to all berowing the boat in the same
direction, so to speak.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
So, absolutely. A hundred percent. So , um, after
we come back from this , uh,bottom of the hour news break ,
um, I've got the January , uh,home sale and , uh, also
listing numbers good for , uh,five counties , uh,
Southeastern Wisconsin, MetroMilwaukee area, which I'm gonna
point out for not the firsttime is a lot different than

(17:55):
the , uh, national numbers thatpeople may have been reading
about. We'll cover that rightafter we come back. Uh , right
now it's time to turn it overto the WTMJ Breaking News
Center.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
Don't break the bank to get into a house. Back to
the ACU Mortgage and RealtyShow with Brian Wicker on WTMJ.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Welcome back and thanks again for tuning in. I'm
Brian Wicker, a majority ownerof ACU Mortgage and also
licensed real estate brokerwith ACU Net Realty Advisors,
along with my son-in-law, TimHoldman today one of our senior
loan consultants at Could atMortgage. Tim, I've got the
home sale numbers for the fivecounty metro Milwaukee area.
Alright . Uh , according todata from the multiple listing
service, which turns out iscopyrighted data from the

(18:35):
financial business systems whomust own the metro MLS. And uh
, so my first question for you,Tim, is do you think home sales
were up or down in January of2025 versus January, 2024?

Speaker 3 (18:48):
I'm gonna go up.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
You are correct, sir. There were 103 more single
family detached in condos thatsold in January compared to a
year earlier. So the totalnumber of sales last month was
935 on a percentage basis.
That's up 12.4%.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
It's not too shabby.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Not too shabby. Yeah . And is in stark contrast to a
national report that I sawpublished, I think it was on
Thursday from real estatebrokerage firm. Redfin, they
said that nationwide existinghome sales were only up 0.1%.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
Yeah . Which doesn't matter at all to our listeners.
Right. Because I mean, they'renot buying nationally. Nobody
is. So it's Yep . This datathat we're gonna dive into is
way more relevant andimportant. I , I think to
everybody.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Yeah . By the way, 24% of the sales last month
were recorded as cash offers.
Wow. In MLS that's up from 22%,I think it was in , uh,
December. By the way, cashbuyers on average paid 99.1% of
the listing price. So not muchof a discount. No. Uh, if you
got a a conventional mortgageyou paid , but

Speaker 3 (19:53):
They got the house.
They got

Speaker 1 (19:54):
The house .
Yeah. Uh , if you got aconventional mortgage , uh,
those buyers typically paid98.8. So I mean, virtually the
same number Yeah . Of thelisting price. Uh , the median
sales price , uh, was 38 grandhigher this January compared to
a year ago. Wow. At 309,000. Soto our prior conversation, that

(20:15):
waiting probably means you'regonna pay more. Right . That's
a 14% increase. Now, oneinteresting thing is that
January's median price of 309is a lot lower Oh . Than the
median sales price for all of2024, which is 3 35. Okay. But
that is just a seasonalphenomenon. Yeah . If you look
at the data, January's mediansales price always lower. It

(20:36):
doesn't mean that propertyvalues have come down. No. Just
means the mix of size and type.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
Yeah. The property characteristics of the homes
that were sold in January justhappened to be of that lower
price range, you know,characteristic.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
Right. And now I always like to go back to pre
covid. So if we look at Januaryof this year versus January,
2019, home sales were only downby 120 units. I was surprised
that was only an 11% decrease.
I thought it was gonna be more.
Uh , but the median price overthe last six years has gone up
$116,000. Woo .

Speaker 3 (21:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
60%. Alright . What about , uh, having to pay over
asking , uh, here's a multiplequestion. Uh, do you think that
number was 27%, 32% or 37% inJanuary? Hmm .

Speaker 3 (21:22):
I'm gonna go, I'm just gonna pick the middle.
Let's do 32%

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Always a good guess on my quiz show. it is
32%, which is very much in linewith January of 2024. And also
exactly the same as January,2023. January seasonally is
always the lowest number.
Right. For a percentage overasking

Speaker 3 (21:41):
It's only gonna go up, which it's already relative
. I mean, it's one in threealready. That's right. Right.
So it's not like it's a lowpercentage even now.

Speaker 1 (21:47):
Correct. And compared to Redfin's National
number though, they say that22% so

Speaker 3 (21:53):
Right . So this local five county market is
hotter than the nationalaverage .

Speaker 1 (21:56):
You got it. Yeah .
Um, we can expect if, ifFebruary this year is like
February of last year, we canexpect that number , uh, to go
back up to around 40% overasking Sure. For February and
then about 50% over asking byMarch

Speaker 3 (22:12):
In , in the spring and summer. Yeah . Yeah . And

Speaker 1 (22:13):
Then it kind of goes up into the mid fifties
typically, you know, over thepeak. Um ,

Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah. Which begs the question, why aren't more
people deciding to look now?
You know, it's like , uh,knowing this data Yeah .
Independent of rates. It'slike, you know, I I mean, I
know it's not fun to trudgethrough the snow and the cold
to go look at a house, but

Speaker 1 (22:32):
Maybe they're just waiting for , um, more, I more
inventory inventory to come onthe , uh, on , on the market. I
don't know .

Speaker 3 (22:37):
It could be. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
So good old supply and demand demand is gonna keep
going up. Let's take a look atthe listing sides real quick.
Um, January new listings in thefive county Milwaukee area
totaled 1,353. So the first bitof good news is that's a lot
more than what's sold. Yep .

Speaker 3 (22:53):
That is good. Uh,

Speaker 1 (22:53):
So inventory is increasing and that too was a
10% increase over January lastyear. Hmm . Median listing
price 3 45.

Speaker 3 (23:03):
3 45.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yep . So up from the median sales price of 3 0 9.
Um, by the way , uh, anotherbright spot is there were 418
more listings. I already saidthat. Versus closed sales.
Redfin says that inventory ofexisting home sales is up 13%.
Nationwide

Speaker 3 (23:22):
Sellers are finally realizing that they gotta sell
. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
They're capitulating. Yeah . It's like
whatever. Um, my last littlenugget here on inventory and
strength of the market is , uh,right now we've got about 2,549
active single family detachcondos on the market in the
five county metro area. If youdivide that by the number of
February closed loans , uh,it's a 2.6 month supply.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
Yeah. So still a seller's market.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
Yeah , that's right.
Anything under three isconsidered a seller's market.
If you use March's numbers of1240, that would be only a two
month supply. So even more of aseller's market. Yeah. Redfin's
National number by the way, isa 3.6 month supply, which would
put it in the low end of abalanced market.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
Sure. Yeah .

Speaker 1 (24:10):
So, as always , um, real estate is local.
Absolutely don't believe thenational headlines get the real
scoop of what's happening hereon the academic mortgage. There
you go . Show hey, when we comeback, I've got a story to share
about some Madison areacustomers who are looking to
make a move despite interestrates. We'll cover that when we
come back. You are listening tothe Aced Mortgage and Realty

(24:30):
Show on AM six 20 WTMJ.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
Important home buying questions and answers
you can count on. This is theAccu Mortgage and Realty Show
with Brian Wicker on WTMJ.
Welcome

Speaker 1 (24:44):
Back. I'm Brian Wicker, and that's , uh, Tim
Holdman over there. Goodmorning. You won't consult with
ACU Mortgage. And uh, Tim, Igot a call from a past client
currently lives in Madison.
Okay . At the Madison area. And, uh, the question was, Hey,
we're looking Oh , same as yourclients. We wanna make a move.

(25:05):
And , uh, you know, partlybecause of school, our kids are
such an age, we want to getinto a better school district,
but they actually wanna movefrom the Madison area to either
pick your , pick your , uh,pleasurable place to live.
Wauwatosa . Okay. Evanston,Illinois or the Twin Cities.
Wow.

Speaker 3 (25:23):
All right . three markets

Speaker 1 (25:23):
We happen to serve.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
Yeah. And three very different , uh, geographically
, you know . That'sright .

Speaker 1 (25:30):
And so a couple of twists in this and this , uh,
client was pretty sharp. Uh,very sharp. As a matter of
fact, she realized that becauseher husband just went from
being a 20 a W2, a W2 employeeto being self-employed. Ah .
That his income would not beusable.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
Not right away, no.
Okay .

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Now, what she didn't realize is that there's an
advantage to let's leave himoff the application. Okay.
Because he brings some prettyhefty school loan debt, all the
puzzle,

Speaker 3 (25:57):
Wipe that out.
That's

Speaker 1 (25:58):
Good. And so he can still be on the title to the
house, but let's not put him onthe promise to pay back the
money. So that was , um, whatdo you call it ? Revelation
number one. Sure. Yeah . Andthen she's also sharp enough to
say, but, you know, I can't, Idon't make enough income to
carry the day. So I think we'regonna need one of our parents
to co-sign. Sure. Yeah . Well ,luckily the most likely parent

(26:18):
to co-sign is how they foundout about acuate in the first
place.

Speaker 3 (26:21):
All right . There

Speaker 1 (26:21):
You go. From , uh, her husband's father and we had
just helped them buy a condo in2023. Oh, perfect. So we had
some relatively UpToDatenumbers for them . Yep . And
now this isn't all gonna happenuntil like April or May. Sure .
So , but the , the fundamentalquestion was, is this even
possible?

Speaker 3 (26:38):
Like , can we do this? Yeah .

Speaker 1 (26:39):
Can we do this? Can we, you know, come outta this,
can we, we buy, and the realquestion was can we buy a
750,000 home with 10% down? If, if it's just

Speaker 3 (26:48):
With , with no home sale contingency either,

Speaker 1 (26:49):
Right? Well, no, no.
They , she realizes thatthey're gonna have to sell
their home. All

Speaker 3 (26:54):
Right .

Speaker 1 (26:54):
And in fact, she's already got it planned out.
They're gonna pay off a coupleof car loans and a credit card
Perfect. Yeah. To help Okay .

Speaker 3 (27:01):
Consolidate some debt. Yeah,

Speaker 1 (27:02):
That's right. So now the other couple of interesting
twists, and this is in thecategory of the devil is in the
details. Yes.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
Always.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
So , uh, on her side of the , uh, income ledger, and
by the way , um, as long asshe's on the loan or you know,
then , then we can count thisas an owner-occupied
transaction Oh, absolutely. Andget the best pricing even
though there's going to be anon OCU occupying cobar.
Totally

Speaker 3 (27:25):
Fine. Yeah .

Speaker 1 (27:26):
The other thing that I think people don't always
realize though is that inaddition to using the
co-signers income, we also haveto use their monthly
obligations. Right. Whichincludes, even if they happen
to now own their home free andclear the taxes and insurance
and HOA dos if it's a condo

Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yeah . We have to count that as a monthly ongoing
expense, even though, you know,obviously they pay their taxes
and insurance annually, we haveto count it as sort of a
monthly expense to , uh, fit itinto what's called the debt to
income ratio. That's

Speaker 1 (27:54):
Right. So she had listed on her income $4,500 a
month from a part-time , um, W2job that she has. Okay. Um, and
luckily she's been on that jobfor over two years. Excellent.
So we can use that. 'causethat's a little rule, part-time
income. Gotta have at least atwo year history. And, and
she's hourly. So that'sconsidered variable. And this
is a , an important part of thestory. And then she also listed

(28:17):
$4,500 a month from a healthrelated studio that she owns
and works at in Madison. Okay.
And in her mind that income isgonna continue even though
she's gonna move away. But Isaid, I don't think we're gonna
be able to use that.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
That would be a tough sell. You'd have to prove
that it's

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Kind of an in-person business.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
Yeah. You can do it remotely and something like
that for a health studio. Idon't know if

Speaker 1 (28:42):
That's gonna fly .
How , how do you Yeah. You ,you , you really can't overcome
the skepticism there. No.
Right. Um, okay. So the , thething that is not clear to
people, and it's perfectlynatural, is that she assumed,
Hey, my current pay from thispart-time job, so we're gonna
do this with her part-timeincome. And then the ,

Speaker 3 (29:02):
She says

Speaker 1 (29:02):
Father-in-law. Yeah . And then the father-in-law's
and everybody's, you know,debts is that she listed her
current income at from thatjob, 4,500. But what do we have
to do when it's a part-timejob?

Speaker 3 (29:16):
Well, we have to prove that it's going to
continue at generally the samerate. Well , we gotta average
it, right? Yeah. You gotta do atwo year average of the

Speaker 1 (29:24):
Income. Right ? Yeah . And so instead of, and then
she dutifully and very quicklyuploaded her pay stubs and W
twos mm-hmm . Soit turns out that instead of
$4,500 when we average it over20 23, 20 24, and now 2025 year
to date , we're only at 3,200.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
Right. 'cause my guess is maybe her income has
been going up over time . Oh ,it's , it's

Speaker 1 (29:44):
Been going up.

Speaker 3 (29:44):
Which is great, but to your point, we have to look
at that two year history 'causeit's considered variable
income, which is a word thatmakes, you know, Jason Hanson,
our operations manager, youknow, turnover and be night .
Well ,

Speaker 1 (29:56):
It's , it's a big, it's a big hot button with fan
being Freddie Mac is let's notbe overestimating. Right . This
variable income. The last thingthough that she had no idea,
and that I pointed out, is thatif you buy in Evanston,
Illinois, those property taxesare probably gonna be 20 grand
Yeah .

Speaker 3 (30:15):
For a $750,000 house. Yeah . Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
Whereas , which is gonna be beyond, it's really
would be stretching it. Whereasif you buy in Wauwatosa , maybe
it's gonna be 10 or 11,000 orsomething like that. Yep . I
looked up some, you know,recent listings. And so that is
gonna make all the difference .
So in quick , uh, amount oftime really in a day Yeah.

(30:38):
We're able to say, yeah, youknow what, this is possible.
Uh, but you know, here are somethings you gotta be aware of.
So that's what we love

Speaker 3 (30:46):
To do. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
We love to take complex situations and give
people the answers. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
And , and even with this really sharp customer,
Brian, there are things thatthey didn't know or understand
about the mortgage process and, and why would they? Right.
It's , it's , it's our job tohave that expertise.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
That's right. So another happy , uh, situation
going on there. Hey, when wecome back, let's talk about ,
uh, Fannie Mae's most recenthome purchase sentiment index
reading . How are peopleexcellent feeling about the
housing market? We'll coverthat when we come back. You're
listening to the AC Mortgageand Realty show on AM six 20
WTMJ.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Find a place to call home without the headache. This
is the Accu Mortgage and RealtyShow with Brian Wicker on WTMJ.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
Welcome back. And , uh, Tim, thanks for doing the
show with me today.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
My pleasure.
Appreciate

Speaker 1 (31:32):
It. So Fannie Mae, once a month , uh, does a
survey, I think it's of athousand Americans. Okay. And
it's called the Fannie Mae HomePurchase Sentiment Index. So
basically it's just trying tosay how do people feel, right.
Or believe, you know, what istheir mindset relative to
buying a home? And so , uh, forJanuary, the number came in at

(31:54):
73.4, which by itself meansabsolutely nothing

Speaker 3 (31:58):
. Right.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
But it is up from a year earlier when the index was
70.7. So a nice little increasethere. And , uh, the highest
index score ever was 93.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
That came back in late 2019.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
Makes sense.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
And then the low point was a 61.6 reading back
in October of 22 when the 30year fixed rate mortgage was
over 8%.

Speaker 3 (32:22):
Also makes sense. So we're

Speaker 1 (32:23):
Kind of back from the doldrums , uh, but , uh,
but moving, you know, slowly inthe right direction. And so
that index is derived frombasically six questions. So
let's see, you know, what, whatyour mindset is or our audience
play along with us at home. Thefirst question is, is it a good
time or a bad time to buy ahome? And so , um, do you think

(32:44):
that the answer for good timewas 22%, 24%, or 30%?

Speaker 3 (32:51):
Uh, I'll go middle, but I feel like you're gonna
try to switch this up on menow. Yeah . 'cause I got your
pattern down . That'sright. That's

Speaker 1 (32:56):
Right. The answer is it's only 22%. Okay . Of people
say it's a good time, thatmeans 78% said it's a bad time
to buy. Yeah. And so theymeasure that difference. It's a
negative 55% difference betweenthe good and the bad. So that's
still, you know, not great onthe negative side. Yeah . But
here it's 11 points better thanit was a year ago. Yeah . So,

(33:17):
you know, people are

Speaker 3 (33:18):
So more , more and more people are starting to
say, yeah, you know what it isan okay time to

Speaker 1 (33:22):
Buy . It's not Yeah . If it's , if it's not a good
time, it's the time. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
Right. It it is the time. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
Okay. The next question is selling conditions.
Good time , uh, versus badtime. Uh , and the answer there
is that 63% people said it wasa good time and only 36 said it
was a bad time. So that's aspread of 28% Sure. In favor of
good time. That too is 9%better. Got it. Than a year
ago. Okay. So sellers are like,yeah, whatever. Now I'm , I'm

(33:48):
doing it. Yep . Um , mortgagerate outlook , um, do we think
rates are gonna go down only35%? Those who think they're
gonna go up 32%. And so that'sa 3% difference. Uh, that's 5%
worse than last year.

Speaker 3 (34:04):
So interesting.
Yeah. Because people are no

Speaker 1 (34:05):
Longer optimistic about rates coming down, which
is realistic.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
Yeah, that's understandable. And, and
frankly accurate, you know, soit's

Speaker 1 (34:11):
Good . Now , this is interesting and I , I guess
kind of goes to the national ,uh, element to the survey. Do
you think home prices are gonnago up 43%? Do you think they're
gonna go down 22%? So that's anet of 20% in the go up
department. Mm-hmm . Which is,

Speaker 3 (34:28):
Which the , the data we already previously discussed
kind of flushes that out

Speaker 1 (34:32):
For our local market for

Speaker 3 (34:33):
Sure. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
So this is again, a nationwide survey, but it's
like 5% more people think thatthey're gonna go up , uh, than
a year ago. Okay. Yeah . Whichmaybe people are just getting
more realistic. Um , the lasttwo things real quick are , uh,
job loss concern you're notconcerned is 78% , uh, you are
concerned is 22%. Okay . Yeah .

(34:54):
So that's a spread of 56% infavor of, I'm not worried about
losing my job,

Speaker 3 (34:58):
A good amount of stability, but

Speaker 1 (34:59):
That is eight points worse. Oh. Interest than
interesting . So people are alittle bit more worried about
losing their job. And the lastthing is household income , uh,
17% say they think it's gonnabe significantly higher , uh,
versus significantly lower isonly 9%. That's an 8% spread,
4% better Okay. Than last year.
So you add that all up and moreand more people both on the buy

(35:21):
and the sell side are saying,you know what, it's a little
better. Yeah. This year thanlast

Speaker 3 (35:25):
Year. I think that data does reflect accurately
and just the on the frontlines, you know, and David has
shared this and I would agreewith him. I think more and more
people are waking up anddeciding this is the year we're
gonna try to buy. Buy.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
Yep . And that means somebody's waking up and it's
gonna sell, as we said.
Hopefully. Yeah. Listings wereup in January, so let's hope
that trend continues for ourclients. Absolutely. That's all
the time we have for today'sshow, folks. If you would like
to work with enthusiastic andhighly skilled professionals to
help you become a home buyer in2025, we'd love to help you .
All you gotta do to get startedis click on that blue
[e-mail]. Thanks againfor tuning in. You've been

(35:59):
listening to the ACLU Mortgageand Realty Show on AM six 20
WTMJ. The proceeding was a paidprogram. Advice and opinions
expressed during the AccuMortgage and Realty Show are
solely that of the host orguests of Acuate Mortgage and
Acuate Realty Advisors, and notWTMJ Radio or Good Karma
Brands. Milwaukee, LLC.