Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Hey, I'm Michael Blaze. Welcometo Your Home three sixty, the show
where we talk about everything that hasto do with your home. It's brought
to you by Poolworks, exclusive LowCountry dealer of the Little Pool line of
pools. What is a little pool? Go to Mypoolworks dot com and find
out. You'll be impressed and you'llwant one. I can almost guarantee you.
(00:23):
On today's show, I'm going todiscuss the latest real estate news interspersed
with some commentary, so let's getright to it. According to weekly real
estate news to new data, reportshave found housing supplies starting to outpace demand.
Zilo is reporting that new listings ofhouses rose by nearly thirteen percent from
(00:43):
one year ago. That's good news. Total inventory was up twenty two percent
year over year. That's also goodnews, and while the inventory is still
thirty four percent below pre pandemic norms, it's the smallest deficit in more than
three years now. For the notso good news, sales are down six
percent year over year. Nearly onequarter of all homes for sale received a
(01:06):
price cut in May. That's thehighest share in the past six years for
this time of year. Or IfiDevoni Zillo, Senior Economists said about the
trend, quote, inflation has hityounger households hardest and stubbornly high rates have
pushed a mortgage out of reach formany first time home buyers. That has
cooled competition for houses. If thesetrends hold, were likely to see price
(01:29):
growth flatten or tick down over thenext year, she said. Separately,
data from Redfin determined that more thanthree to five homes that were on the
market in May had been listed forat least thirty days without going under contract.
That numbers up around two percent froma year ago. Redfin also warned
that having more homes for sale ona slow demand market will result in a
(01:52):
glut of less desirable listings. Theslowest moving markets so far have been Dallas,
Texas, and there's three of themin Florida for At Lauderdale, Tampa,
and Jacksonville. The top cities thatsaw their days on the market numbers
decline where Seattle, Washington, LasVegas, Nevada, and San Jose,
California. Global financial experts at theWorld Economic Forum in Davos twenty twenty four
(02:16):
highlighted that while global inflation is easing, high interest rates are expected to persist
due to supply shocks and economic uncertainties. Jida Gopinath, the first Managing Director
at the International Monetary Fund, notedthat we're moving into a higher rate environment,
suggesting that central bankers will be morecautious about lowering rates until inflation is
(02:38):
firmly under control. Matt vernon Hadof retail lending at Bank of America noted
the fen's likely decision to cut ratesin twenty twenty four would be a key
factor that could breathe new life intothe housing market. However, he noted
that home ownership can still be asmart financial move even when interest rates rise.
(02:58):
The key is to focus on thelong term benefits rather than the short
term fluctuations, he said. DanielleHale, chief economist at Realtor dot Com,
says, I expect the Fed tokeep the option for an additional future
rate hike on the table, evenif the odds that will need to exercise
that option are low. Without gettingtoo much into all of that, I
(03:19):
would say ignore the interest rates now. One thing that maybe you've heard me
talk about before is interest rates arestill, if you look at it historically,
not that high. Sure, therewere interest rates in the twos and
threes not that long ago. Soeverybody thinks that now an interest rate of
around seven percent is exorbitant, butif you look throughout history, it's not.
(03:44):
I remember the first mortgage I pulledwas I don't know, ten eleven
percent, and I thought I gota pretty good deal at the time.
And if you look back, ifyou can look back to the eighties,
some of those interest rates were,you know, seventeen eighteen percent. So
the interest rates are really not historicallythat high, and they're expected to maybe
(04:06):
move down a little bit. Asyou disturbed. I mean, there's uncertainty.
But the thing is you can alwaysrefinance as long as you still have
your job and as long as youcan still qualify for that loan. So
keep that in mind. But youknow, as a rule of thumb,
about every one percent rate decrease,you should refinance and it will end up
(04:28):
saving you money in the long run. Otherwise you risk if you're waiting on
prices to go down, especially herein Charleston, I would not do that.
Prices are still creeping up slightly ata more healthy rate. Now we're
seeing you know, between three andfour percent, which is probably right around
where you want to see it,three four five percent rate of appreciation every
(04:51):
year. But the point is they'restill getting more expensive, and insurance costs,
taxes, things like that keep goingup, and that all counts against
your purchasing power. So you're probablyif you're on the sidelines, saying,
man, I'm finding it hard toafford the home. I like already.
(05:14):
Waiting any longer for interest rates togo down, I don't think is going
to help you very much. Andas long as your financial situation stays the
same, you'll have the option torefinance. So for what it's worth,
my opinion is, do not wait. And I'm not saying that as a
realtorm I'm saying that, you know, out of goodwill. So the US
(05:36):
Supreme Court has made news recently abouttheir ruling on presidential immunity will. They
also made news about a ruling thatallows cities to retain the right to enforce
bans on homeless people sleeping outdoors.The ruling was rooted in a ban on
outdoors sleeping in public in Grant's Pass, Oregon. A San Francisco based appeals
(06:00):
court decision determined that a municipal banon outdoor sleeping ran a foul of the
Eighth Amendments prohibition on Cruel and Unusualpunishment. However, the Supreme Court ruled
six to three that bans were notunconstitutional. Homelessness is complex, wrote Justice
Neil Gorsich for the majority ruling.Its causes are many, so maybe the
(06:24):
public policy responses required to address ita handful of federal judges cannot begin to
match the collective wisdom the American peoplepossess in deciding how best to handle the
pressing social question like homelessness, hewrote in dissent Justice Sonia So too,
my ear pointed out that grants pass, which is no shelters for its homeless
(06:46):
people, either find or jailed peoplewho slept in public. Sleep is a
biological necessity, not a crime,she wrote. For some people, sleeping
outside is their only option. Forpeople who know acts says to shelter that
punishes them for being homeless, thatis unconscionable and unconstitutional. She wrote in
her descent, I don't know ifyou've experienced this or not lately, but
(07:11):
our studios are here in Mount Pleasant, and lately I've seen a huge increase
in the amount of homeless people thatare around, and it's unsafe for I
think us as the workers here thathave to come to work, in my
case, in the dark in themorning, you know, and somebody's coming
at you as soon as you getout of the car in the dark.
(07:33):
That's not safe for me. That'snot safe for them, because what's my
reaction going to be. And Igrew I shouldn't say I grew up.
I didn't. But I've lived andworked in some high crime areas and you
know, and so I'm especially attunedto it. You know, my radar
goes off. And not only that, but you know, you look in
(07:58):
the woods out back. Sometimes they'rehanging their laundry back there, they leave
their trash all over on the benchesout here. They're coming up begging for
money and doing things like this.So you might think that I'm cold hearted.
And you know that we should thatthese poor homeless people, we shouldn't
be treated that way, and youought to treat them, you know,
with respect and dignity and dollars.But you know, I don't need that
(08:24):
has So when I'm coming to work, I'm gonna speak honestly here. I
feel sorry for them. I helpthem out sometimes, But we don't need
a bunch of people just sleeping whereverthey want and leaving them like I said,
especially when they're leaving their trash andhanging their laundry and all that.
I mean, you know what,we pay and work to keep areas nice,
(08:48):
and there ought to be some sortof solution where maybe they're allowed to
camp in certain areas or whatever thatsolution might be. But I'm not with
justice Sonya saw to my ear whenshe says just because they're homeless, that
they're being published punished for being homeless, and that sleeping outside is their only
(09:11):
option. And you heard that Grant'sPass has no shelters for homeless people,
so that's part of the problem.So you know, open up some shelters,
maybe take some public land, andwhether you know wherever it may be,
designate the area where they're allowed togo and sleep. And forgive me
for getting a little bit of politicalhere, but homelessness has been used by
(09:35):
politicians in this sense. They wantyou to believe that some people just fell
on bad luck and now they're homeless. That is not the majority of homeless
people. The majority of homeless peoplehave mental health issues. They have substance
abuse issues, they have all kindsof issues. There might be a small
(09:56):
percentage out there that just wound upnot having a place to live because life
dealt them a bad hand at themoment. But to listen to some of
these politicians, that would be mostof them, and that's just not the
case. The case is they've droppedout of society for one reason or another,
(10:16):
and like I said, a lotof times that reason is because they're
mentally ill, and in following that, they have substance abuse problems, and
so on and so forth. AndI don't think that the rest of us
are required to live among that,in what's left behind, as I said,
and live in that kind of environmentsimply to show goodwill. We can
(10:41):
still show goodwill and have a heartand try to help them without necessarily saying,
hey, you can just go campout anywhere you want. Hey,
my front lawn's fine. Hey,the bench outside the office is fine,
the bus stops fine, the shoppingcenter sidewalks fine. Whatever it is,
it's a problem. It seems tobe a growing problem. It's not only
(11:03):
a problem for them, it's aproblem for us. So we have to
deal with it. Responsibly. Wecan do that compassionately and with a heart,
but that doesn't mean we just haveto acquiesce and let anybody do whatever
they want and sleep or wherever theywant and not have to contribute to society.
So call me a hard ass,but that's my position on that.
(11:28):
You know, these people do deservesome compassion, and they do deserve to
at least be treated humanely, butthat doesn't mean that they get run of
the place. Speaking of run ofthe place, US Senator jd Vance is
arguing that twenty million illegal aliens arepreventing Americans from being able to access affordable
(11:52):
homeownership. The Ohio Republicans' comments wereposted on x in a response to remarks
by financial writer James sir Wecki,who raised the senator's ire while responding to
a tweet that complained quote, I'mso sick of this administration. I'm twenty
three years old. I'm ready tobuy a house and start putting my roots
(12:13):
down, but I have to stickto running because the house market is ridiculous.
Vote for the convicted felon this sis getting old. Sir Weckie's response
to that comment was quote, howwill Trump's policies make it easier for this
guy to buy a house. Hehas no answer. Literally, I asked,
It's just mortgage rates were low underTrump and they're high under Biden.
(12:35):
Therefore Trump will bring mortgage rates down. It's magical thinking, Sir Wecki said.
Vance replied to Sir Wencke's tweet bystating, not having twenty million illegal
aliens who need to be housed,often at public expense, will absolutely make
housing more affordable for American citizens.But I see the left strategy of making
(12:56):
fun of people for suffering under Biden'spolicies continues a pay Sir Wecki's response to
Vans, how are you planning tofind and deport these twenty million illegal aliens?
The Senator did not immediately respond tothat question. The US Department of
Veterans Affairs issued a circular announcing atemporary policy change that will enable borrowers using
(13:18):
the VA Home Loan Program to paycertain real estate buyer broker fees when purchasing
a home. The circular comes inthe wake of the class action settlement involving
the National Association of Realtors in severalmajor brokerages, which resulted in upcoming changes
to the real estate broker commission structure. Prior to this policy shift, the
(13:39):
VA home loan program prevented buyer brokerfee compensation. The VA stress the policy
change was temporary, adding that thedepartment will monitor the effects of the settlement
on the brokerage market before pursuing rulemakingon the matter. The VA said quote,
we always want to put veterans andtheir families in the best possible posisition
(14:00):
to buy homes they want, andthat's what this update is all about.
Veterans using VA home loan benefits cannow pay reasonable and customary amounts for certain
charges, including commissions and other brokerrelated fees, thus ensuring that they remain
competitive in the rapidly changing housing market. NAR president Kevin Sears issued a statement
(14:22):
praising the temporary policy change. Hesaid, the VA's home Loan guarantee is
the only program that explicitly bans buyersfrom directly paying for professional real estate representation.
We applaud the VA for revising thispolicy and for allowing veterans and active
duty service members the same advantages asother buyers in a competitive real estate market.
(14:43):
Sears added that NAR will support theVA in whatever way possible to protect
the brave men and women who servethis country and ensure that they're given equal
opportunity to achieve the American dream ofhome ownership. All right, sorry,
but I have to editorialize here again. Settlement that they're talking about here in
case you haven't heard, So,there was a class action lawsuit against certain
(15:07):
real estate brokerages. It ended up, you know, they pursued these real
estate brokerages. They turned it intoa class action suit. So the National
Association of Realtors settled the suit onbehalf of all almost all realtors. As
a part of this settlement, theyagreed that compensation shall no longer be offered
(15:28):
on the MLS. The way thatit works now and until August, when
this rule change takes place, isit was customary for the seller to pay
the buyer's realtor fees. And thatwas for a number of reasons. I
don't want to elaborate on that toomuch, but if you go back several
(15:50):
decades, there was no such thingas a buyer's agent. There was only
a seller's agent, a list agent. So a list agent sold the house
and then a buyer would go tothe list agent and say I want to
buy this house. The list agentwould say why certainly, And it was
determined that that arrangement was not inthe buyer's best interest. And maybe you
(16:11):
can see why. The seller's agenthas a fiduciary duty to the seller,
not to the buyer. So thebuyer comes up and says, you know,
anything wrong with the house, No, not at all. It would
be a perfect house for you,and here I will offer you a great
bargain to buy it, a greatprice at which to buy it for.
(16:33):
So it was determined that that youknow, was not in the buyer for
obvious reasons, not in the buyer'sbest interest. So a buyer's agency was
developed. And to protect the consumer, they're like, all right, buyers
are probably less likely to have moneyto pay for that representation, you know,
than a seller does. The selleris getting money out of their home,
(16:59):
the buyers trying to scrape together everylast penny to put a down payment
down into qualifying for the loan tobuy it. And it would also benefit
the seller to have the buyer representedby a professional. So it would make
sense that the seller pays that commissionbecause this is the process of selling their
home and doing it successfully for severaldifferent reasons. It will streamline the process,
(17:25):
you know, because otherwise the buyerdoesn't know what they're doing, not
very many of them do anyway,So to have a professional step in and
handle that increase the chances at asuccessful closing, at bringing the deal to
fruition. And so it benefited theseller in that manner. And it also
(17:48):
benefited the seller that they're bringing abuyer to the table and that they've already
vetted them, that they're representing them, and they know what they're doing.
So it was customary for the sellerto pay the buyer's commission fees, real
estate agency commission fees. So that'swhat this lawsuit was all about. Those
fees have always been negotiable, andin I think it was in Missouri.
(18:12):
It was somewhere in the midwest,Indiana, Missouri, I don't quite remember
at this time where this suit originatedfrom. They sued a group of lawyers
and ultimately, as I stated,turned it into a class action suit,
which, much to ask any realtorout there, much to realtor's chagrin,
(18:34):
the National Association of Realtors, whowas supposed to be our professional organization,
looking out for us settled this caseby agreeing that that will not be the
case anymore where the seller automatically isassumed to pay the buyer's agent commission.
And as I said, it's beennegotiable all the way through. It's been
(18:56):
customary. But the seller has toagree with this. It wasn't like they
were forced into it with a gunto their head or anything. And in
the end it benefits them by havingthe buyer represented by a professional. Now
that they've done away with this,they expect buyers to pay their real estate
agent directly. So the result ofthis watch a lot of people are they
(19:19):
don't realize what realtors do for them. And I can tell you firsthand.
They think that we just go finda house and then laugh all the way
to the bank, or on theother side, slap up a sign and
laugh all the way to the bank. You wouldn't believe what we go through
to foment a successful deal and bringit to fruition and bring it to closing.
(19:45):
There are so many things that wehave to do that it's too long
to list here. And I've saidbefore and ask any realtor you know,
they'd probably agree with me. Thisis going to cause you know what show
in the real estate market. Youeven heard the President of the United States,
Oh, this will drive down thecost of housing. Knows how he
(20:07):
blames everybody else, you know,inflation and say it's on greedy manufacturers and
retail stores and all of that.The cost of housing is because of greedy
realtors, not because of his badpolicies, not because of this government's bad
policies. It's our fault. Sowatch this ought to help houses get cheaper?
(20:29):
They say, no, it won't. The sellers just going to pocket
that extra money, and the buyeris still in a position where they may
not be able to afford that professionalrepresentation, and they're going to be representing
themselves. So if you're a sellersitting there thinking, well, good now
I don't have to offer any compensationand that was unfair and I'm going to
(20:52):
keep that money, good luck dealingwith the seller representing himself. Good luck
to you trying to get that toclosing, and see what happens during the
process of bringing that contract through toclosing. It's going to cause a huge
spike in failed closings and in faileddeals. It's going to cause a bunch
(21:15):
of confusion. It's going to well, I'll just go ahead and say it.
It's going to cause more dishonesty tocreep back into this business. And
so the whole reason that the buyer'sagency was established in the first place was
to prevent that dishonesty, was toprovide a fair shake to each side.
(21:37):
And the very first deal and thisisn't even in effect yet, so this
rule doesn't go into effect where theoffer of commission split is removed from the
listing. That hasn't even gone intoeffect yet. That's going to go into
effect in August, but people arestarting to do it already. So the
very first time that I dealt withthis was just the other day, and
(22:03):
they offered zero compensation on the listingto the buyer's agent. And I'm representing
the buyer. Now, my buyer'swell vetted. He's a longtime client,
a longtime friend. He says,you know, I'll pay you, don't
worry about it. So we haveour separate agreement there where you know where
(22:23):
he's going to pay my commission.But let me tell you what happened.
And remember, this is a veryfirst one that I've dealt with like this
where they were offering zero compensation.I talked to the agent on the other
side. The agent says, well, maybe you noticed that this seller is
offering zero compensation and that's because theyread about this law suit. Now they're
(22:45):
willing to offer some compensation. Sowhen you turn in a deal, just
put in a compensation agreement into thedeal and include that with your offer.
And I said, well, howmuch are they willing to compensate and the
reply was, well, it dependshow much the offer was. So any
(23:07):
realtor out there can tell you thatit's unethical to insert your commission into the
negotiation on behalf of your client overthe price of a home. Think about
it. You're putting your interest beforethe clients. So you're saying, hey,
before we discuss anything that has todo with my client here and negotiate
(23:32):
anything that would benefit them, let'stalk about what's going to benefit me.
So right off the bat, itwas misused and it was unethical. The
very first one that I dealt with. And if you remember, if you
listen to the show, I'm like, this is going to cause so many
problems, and this was one ofthem. You know where. Now it's
(23:55):
the wah waw West again. Soyou're going to see more and more of
that kind of crap happening. You'regoing to see less and less deals get
to the closing table. You're goingto see buyers getting ripped off even more.
You're going to see buyers not beable to get into houses. You're
going to see the number of successfulfirst time buyers probably go down because they
(24:18):
decide to represent themselves. And thesame applies as the old saying about attorneys.
I'm gonna paraphrase, I can't rememberexactly how it goes. What is
it Those that choose to represent themselveshave a fool for a client, something
like that. And it's the sameway with this business, because there's a
whole lot more involved than just sayingyeah, I want and I'll give you
(24:38):
this much. You have to knowwhat each contingency in the contract means and
what it can mean down the line, and how you're going to negotiate that,
and what negotiation tactic are you goingto use with this particular property,
with your particular situation. Like Isaid, I mean, there's just way
(25:00):
too much to get into here,of all that goes into it. I
always and I'm not even joking sayingwhen you're on the buyer side, everybody
thinks that it's your job to gofind him a house. That's like the
least important thing you do. TheInternet's out there now, most people can
go find a house on the internet. That's not the important part of what
(25:21):
you're real to representation should be.And if it is, then you need
a better agent, you know,because you need somebody that looks out for
your best interests and has a fiduciaryduty to you to get the job done
and get it done for the bestterms for you the buyer. And that
(25:41):
also benefits the seller because as aseller, let me ask you, do
you want just Joe Blow representing himselfand coming along, and do you want
to do a deal with that personas I said, good luck to you,
or do you want that person tobe well represented and well educated and
well consulted, somebody that's represented bya professional. It is to the benefit
(26:07):
of both sides of that deal.So even though you're a seller and you
don't want to pay the buyer's commission, as I've stated, that's a part
of in my opinion, of theprocess of successfully selling your home. And
that's what's going to get you thesmoothest transaction and what's going to ultimately get
(26:30):
you to your goal most efficiently isif both sides have professionals representing them and
they just blew all this up.So let the circus begin, Because,
as I said, the first deal, the very first one I dealt with,
was like, Okay, here wego. Now I see how this
is going to be. So anyway, you may or may not agree with
(26:52):
me on that, but I thinkthat I make a pretty good point if
I do say so myself. Eventhe story I just had about the VA,
the VA never allowed for the buyerto pay the realtor directly. The
seller was expected to do that,and it was against VA rules for the
buyer to do that. Now theVA's saying, well, now with this
settlement, we're going to temporarily allowthis. Notice how they didn't say it's
(27:15):
a permanent change. They say itwas temporary and that they'll monitor the effects
of the settlement on the brokerage marketbefore pursuing rule making on the matter,
which means they even know that thisis going to be a nass show.
And I know that you may notrespect realtors and in a lot of cases
with good reason. But if youhave a good realtor, they're more than
(27:38):
worth their commission. I'm out oftime here, but I think back of
when I bought my first house.I was not a realtor yet, and
then I became a realtor, andnow I've got like twenty years of experience,
and I think back to what Idid when I bought that first house,
and I can't say that I hada very good realtor, honestly,
And I'm like, man, ifI only knew what I know now,
(28:00):
or if I only had somebody thatwas on the ball, had somebody like
me representing me, I would havedone a whole lot better. That's it
for this week's Your Home three sixty. Remember you can catch the podcast online
just to look for it under podcastat ninety four to three WSC dot com,
or you can look for it onyour iHeartRadio app, which you can
(28:22):
download for free. I'm Michael Blaze. Thanks for listening. Enjoy the rest
of your weekend, and I'll talkto you again on Monday morning.
Hey, I'm Michael Blaze. Welcometo Your Home three sixty, the show
where we talk about everything that hasto do with your home. It's brought
to you by Poolworks, exclusive LowCountry dealer of the Little Pool line of
pools. What is a little pool? Go to Mypoolworks dot com and find
out. You'll be impressed and you'llwant one. I can almost guarantee you.
(00:23):
On today's show, I'm going todiscuss the latest real estate news interspersed
with some commentary, so let's getright to it. According to weekly real
estate news to new data, reportshave found housing supplies starting to outpace demand.
Zilo is reporting that new listings ofhouses rose by nearly thirteen percent from
(00:43):
one year ago. That's good news. Total inventory was up twenty two percent
year over year. That's also goodnews, and while the inventory is still
thirty four percent below pre pandemic norms, it's the smallest deficit in more than
three years now. For the notso good news, sales are down six
percent year over year. Nearly onequarter of all homes for sale received a
(01:06):
price cut in May. That's thehighest share in the past six years for
this time of year. Or IfiDevoni Zillo, Senior Economists said about the
trend, quote, inflation has hityounger households hardest and stubbornly high rates have
pushed a mortgage out of reach formany first time home buyers. That has
cooled competition for houses. If thesetrends hold, were likely to see price
(01:29):
growth flatten or tick down over thenext year, she said. Separately,
data from Redfin determined that more thanthree to five homes that were on the
market in May had been listed forat least thirty days without going under contract.
That numbers up around two percent froma year ago. Redfin also warned
that having more homes for sale ona slow demand market will result in a
(01:52):
glut of less desirable listings. Theslowest moving markets so far have been Dallas,
Texas, and there's three of themin Florida for At Lauderdale, Tampa,
and Jacksonville. The top cities thatsaw their days on the market numbers
decline where Seattle, Washington, LasVegas, Nevada, and San Jose,
California. Global financial experts at theWorld Economic Forum in Davos twenty twenty four
(02:16):
highlighted that while global inflation is easing, high interest rates are expected to persist
due to supply shocks and economic uncertainties. Jida Gopinath, the first Managing Director
at the International Monetary Fund, notedthat we're moving into a higher rate environment,
suggesting that central bankers will be morecautious about lowering rates until inflation is
(02:38):
firmly under control. Matt vernon Hadof retail lending at Bank of America noted
the fen's likely decision to cut ratesin twenty twenty four would be a key
factor that could breathe new life intothe housing market. However, he noted
that home ownership can still be asmart financial move even when interest rates rise.
(02:58):
The key is to focus on thelong term benefits rather than the short
term fluctuations, he said. DanielleHale, chief economist at Realtor dot Com,
says, I expect the Fed tokeep the option for an additional future
rate hike on the table, evenif the odds that will need to exercise
that option are low. Without gettingtoo much into all of that, I
(03:19):
would say ignore the interest rates now. One thing that maybe you've heard me
talk about before is interest rates arestill, if you look at it historically,
not that high. Sure, therewere interest rates in the twos and
threes not that long ago. Soeverybody thinks that now an interest rate of
around seven percent is exorbitant, butif you look throughout history, it's not.
(03:44):
I remember the first mortgage I pulledwas I don't know, ten eleven
percent, and I thought I gota pretty good deal at the time.
And if you look back, ifyou can look back to the eighties,
some of those interest rates were,you know, seventeen eighteen percent. So
the interest rates are really not historicallythat high, and they're expected to maybe
(04:06):
move down a little bit. Asyou disturbed. I mean, there's uncertainty.
But the thing is you can alwaysrefinance as long as you still have
your job and as long as youcan still qualify for that loan. So
keep that in mind. But youknow, as a rule of thumb,
about every one percent rate decrease,you should refinance and it will end up
(04:28):
saving you money in the long run. Otherwise you risk if you're waiting on
prices to go down, especially herein Charleston, I would not do that.
Prices are still creeping up slightly ata more healthy rate. Now we're
seeing you know, between three andfour percent, which is probably right around
where you want to see it,three four five percent rate of appreciation every
(04:51):
year. But the point is they'restill getting more expensive, and insurance costs,
taxes, things like that keep goingup, and that all counts against
your purchasing power. So you're probablyif you're on the sidelines, saying,
man, I'm finding it hard toafford the home. I like already.
(05:14):
Waiting any longer for interest rates togo down, I don't think is going
to help you very much. Andas long as your financial situation stays the
same, you'll have the option torefinance. So for what it's worth,
my opinion is, do not wait. And I'm not saying that as a
realtorm I'm saying that, you know, out of goodwill. So the US
(05:36):
Supreme Court has made news recently abouttheir ruling on presidential immunity will. They
also made news about a ruling thatallows cities to retain the right to enforce
bans on homeless people sleeping outdoors.The ruling was rooted in a ban on
outdoors sleeping in public in Grant's Pass, Oregon. A San Francisco based appeals
(06:00):
court decision determined that a municipal banon outdoor sleeping ran a foul of the
Eighth Amendments prohibition on Cruel and Unusualpunishment. However, the Supreme Court ruled
six to three that bans were notunconstitutional. Homelessness is complex, wrote Justice
Neil Gorsich for the majority ruling.Its causes are many, so maybe the
(06:24):
public policy responses required to address ita handful of federal judges cannot begin to
match the collective wisdom the American peoplepossess in deciding how best to handle the
pressing social question like homelessness, hewrote in dissent Justice Sonia So too,
my ear pointed out that grants pass, which is no shelters for its homeless
(06:46):
people, either find or jailed peoplewho slept in public. Sleep is a
biological necessity, not a crime,she wrote. For some people, sleeping
outside is their only option. Forpeople who know acts says to shelter that
punishes them for being homeless, thatis unconscionable and unconstitutional. She wrote in
her descent, I don't know ifyou've experienced this or not lately, but
(07:11):
our studios are here in Mount Pleasant, and lately I've seen a huge increase
in the amount of homeless people thatare around, and it's unsafe for I
think us as the workers here thathave to come to work, in my
case, in the dark in themorning, you know, and somebody's coming
at you as soon as you getout of the car in the dark.
(07:33):
That's not safe for me. That'snot safe for them, because what's my
reaction going to be. And Igrew I shouldn't say I grew up.
I didn't. But I've lived andworked in some high crime areas and you
know, and so I'm especially attunedto it. You know, my radar
goes off. And not only that, but you know, you look in
(07:58):
the woods out back. Sometimes they'rehanging their laundry back there, they leave
their trash all over on the benchesout here. They're coming up begging for
money and doing things like this.So you might think that I'm cold hearted.
And you know that we should thatthese poor homeless people, we shouldn't
be treated that way, and youought to treat them, you know,
with respect and dignity and dollars.But you know, I don't need that
(08:24):
has So when I'm coming to work, I'm gonna speak honestly here. I
feel sorry for them. I helpthem out sometimes, But we don't need
a bunch of people just sleeping whereverthey want and leaving them like I said,
especially when they're leaving their trash andhanging their laundry and all that.
I mean, you know what,we pay and work to keep areas nice,
(08:48):
and there ought to be some sortof solution where maybe they're allowed to
camp in certain areas or whatever thatsolution might be. But I'm not with
justice Sonya saw to my ear whenshe says just because they're homeless, that
they're being published punished for being homeless, and that sleeping outside is their only
(09:11):
option. And you heard that Grant'sPass has no shelters for homeless people,
so that's part of the problem.So you know, open up some shelters,
maybe take some public land, andwhether you know wherever it may be,
designate the area where they're allowed togo and sleep. And forgive me
for getting a little bit of politicalhere, but homelessness has been used by
(09:35):
politicians in this sense. They wantyou to believe that some people just fell
on bad luck and now they're homeless. That is not the majority of homeless
people. The majority of homeless peoplehave mental health issues. They have substance
abuse issues, they have all kindsof issues. There might be a small
(09:56):
percentage out there that just wound upnot having a place to live because life
dealt them a bad hand at themoment. But to listen to some of
these politicians, that would be mostof them, and that's just not the
case. The case is they've droppedout of society for one reason or another,
(10:16):
and like I said, a lotof times that reason is because they're
mentally ill, and in following that, they have substance abuse problems, and
so on and so forth. AndI don't think that the rest of us
are required to live among that,in what's left behind, as I said,
and live in that kind of environmentsimply to show goodwill. We can
(10:41):
still show goodwill and have a heartand try to help them without necessarily saying,
hey, you can just go campout anywhere you want. Hey,
my front lawn's fine. Hey,the bench outside the office is fine,
the bus stops fine, the shoppingcenter sidewalks fine. Whatever it is,
it's a problem. It seems tobe a growing problem. It's not only
(11:03):
a problem for them, it's aproblem for us. So we have to
deal with it. Responsibly. Wecan do that compassionately and with a heart,
but that doesn't mean we just haveto acquiesce and let anybody do whatever
they want and sleep or wherever theywant and not have to contribute to society.
So call me a hard ass,but that's my position on that.
(11:28):
You know, these people do deservesome compassion, and they do deserve to
at least be treated humanely, butthat doesn't mean that they get run of
the place. Speaking of run ofthe place, US Senator jd Vance is
arguing that twenty million illegal aliens arepreventing Americans from being able to access affordable
(11:52):
homeownership. The Ohio Republicans' comments wereposted on x in a response to remarks
by financial writer James sir Wecki,who raised the senator's ire while responding to
a tweet that complained quote, I'mso sick of this administration. I'm twenty
three years old. I'm ready tobuy a house and start putting my roots
(12:13):
down, but I have to stickto running because the house market is ridiculous.
Vote for the convicted felon this sis getting old. Sir Weckie's response
to that comment was quote, howwill Trump's policies make it easier for this
guy to buy a house. Hehas no answer. Literally, I asked,
It's just mortgage rates were low underTrump and they're high under Biden.
(12:35):
Therefore Trump will bring mortgage rates down. It's magical thinking, Sir Wecki said.
Vance replied to Sir Wencke's tweet bystating, not having twenty million illegal
aliens who need to be housed,often at public expense, will absolutely make
housing more affordable for American citizens.But I see the left strategy of making
(12:56):
fun of people for suffering under Biden'spolicies continues a pay Sir Wecki's response to
Vans, how are you planning tofind and deport these twenty million illegal aliens?
The Senator did not immediately respond tothat question. The US Department of
Veterans Affairs issued a circular announcing atemporary policy change that will enable borrowers using
(13:18):
the VA Home Loan Program to paycertain real estate buyer broker fees when purchasing
a home. The circular comes inthe wake of the class action settlement involving
the National Association of Realtors in severalmajor brokerages, which resulted in upcoming changes
to the real estate broker commission structure. Prior to this policy shift, the
(13:39):
VA home loan program prevented buyer brokerfee compensation. The VA stress the policy
change was temporary, adding that thedepartment will monitor the effects of the settlement
on the brokerage market before pursuing rulemakingon the matter. The VA said quote,
we always want to put veterans andtheir families in the best possible posisition
(14:00):
to buy homes they want, andthat's what this update is all about.
Veterans using VA home loan benefits cannow pay reasonable and customary amounts for certain
charges, including commissions and other brokerrelated fees, thus ensuring that they remain
competitive in the rapidly changing housing market. NAR president Kevin Sears issued a statement
(14:22):
praising the temporary policy change. Hesaid, the VA's home Loan guarantee is
the only program that explicitly bans buyersfrom directly paying for professional real estate representation.
We applaud the VA for revising thispolicy and for allowing veterans and active
duty service members the same advantages asother buyers in a competitive real estate market.
(14:43):
Sears added that NAR will support theVA in whatever way possible to protect
the brave men and women who servethis country and ensure that they're given equal
opportunity to achieve the American dream ofhome ownership. All right, sorry,
but I have to editorialize here again. Settlement that they're talking about here in
case you haven't heard, So,there was a class action lawsuit against certain
(15:07):
real estate brokerages. It ended up, you know, they pursued these real
estate brokerages. They turned it intoa class action suit. So the National
Association of Realtors settled the suit onbehalf of all almost all realtors. As
a part of this settlement, theyagreed that compensation shall no longer be offered
(15:28):
on the MLS. The way thatit works now and until August, when
this rule change takes place, isit was customary for the seller to pay
the buyer's realtor fees. And thatwas for a number of reasons. I
don't want to elaborate on that toomuch, but if you go back several
(15:50):
decades, there was no such thingas a buyer's agent. There was only
a seller's agent, a list agent. So a list agent sold the house
and then a buyer would go tothe list agent and say I want to
buy this house. The list agentwould say why certainly, And it was
determined that that arrangement was not inthe buyer's best interest. And maybe you
(16:11):
can see why. The seller's agenthas a fiduciary duty to the seller,
not to the buyer. So thebuyer comes up and says, you know,
anything wrong with the house, No, not at all. It would
be a perfect house for you,and here I will offer you a great
bargain to buy it, a greatprice at which to buy it for.
(16:33):
So it was determined that that youknow, was not in the buyer for
obvious reasons, not in the buyer'sbest interest. So a buyer's agency was
developed. And to protect the consumer, they're like, all right, buyers
are probably less likely to have moneyto pay for that representation, you know,
than a seller does. The selleris getting money out of their home,
(16:59):
the buyers trying to scrape together everylast penny to put a down payment
down into qualifying for the loan tobuy it. And it would also benefit
the seller to have the buyer representedby a professional. So it would make
sense that the seller pays that commissionbecause this is the process of selling their
home and doing it successfully for severaldifferent reasons. It will streamline the process,
(17:25):
you know, because otherwise the buyerdoesn't know what they're doing, not
very many of them do anyway,So to have a professional step in and
handle that increase the chances at asuccessful closing, at bringing the deal to
fruition. And so it benefited theseller in that manner. And it also
(17:48):
benefited the seller that they're bringing abuyer to the table and that they've already
vetted them, that they're representing them, and they know what they're doing.
So it was customary for the sellerto pay the buyer's commission fees, real
estate agency commission fees. So that'swhat this lawsuit was all about. Those
fees have always been negotiable, andin I think it was in Missouri.
(18:12):
It was somewhere in the midwest,Indiana, Missouri, I don't quite remember
at this time where this suit originatedfrom. They sued a group of lawyers
and ultimately, as I stated,turned it into a class action suit,
which, much to ask any realtorout there, much to realtor's chagrin,
(18:34):
the National Association of Realtors, whowas supposed to be our professional organization,
looking out for us settled this caseby agreeing that that will not be the
case anymore where the seller automatically isassumed to pay the buyer's agent commission.
And as I said, it's beennegotiable all the way through. It's been
(18:56):
customary. But the seller has toagree with this. It wasn't like they
were forced into it with a gunto their head or anything. And in
the end it benefits them by havingthe buyer represented by a professional. Now
that they've done away with this,they expect buyers to pay their real estate
agent directly. So the result ofthis watch a lot of people are they
(19:19):
don't realize what realtors do for them. And I can tell you firsthand.
They think that we just go finda house and then laugh all the way
to the bank, or on theother side, slap up a sign and
laugh all the way to the bank. You wouldn't believe what we go through
to foment a successful deal and bringit to fruition and bring it to closing.
(19:45):
There are so many things that wehave to do that it's too long
to list here. And I've saidbefore and ask any realtor you know,
they'd probably agree with me. Thisis going to cause you know what show
in the real estate market. Youeven heard the President of the United States,
Oh, this will drive down thecost of housing. Knows how he
(20:07):
blames everybody else, you know,inflation and say it's on greedy manufacturers and
retail stores and all of that.The cost of housing is because of greedy
realtors, not because of his badpolicies, not because of this government's bad
policies. It's our fault. Sowatch this ought to help houses get cheaper?
(20:29):
They say, no, it won't. The sellers just going to pocket
that extra money, and the buyeris still in a position where they may
not be able to afford that professionalrepresentation, and they're going to be representing
themselves. So if you're a sellersitting there thinking, well, good now
I don't have to offer any compensationand that was unfair and I'm going to
(20:52):
keep that money, good luck dealingwith the seller representing himself. Good luck
to you trying to get that toclosing, and see what happens during the
process of bringing that contract through toclosing. It's going to cause a huge
spike in failed closings and in faileddeals. It's going to cause a bunch
(21:15):
of confusion. It's going to well, I'll just go ahead and say it.
It's going to cause more dishonesty tocreep back into this business. And
so the whole reason that the buyer'sagency was established in the first place was
to prevent that dishonesty, was toprovide a fair shake to each side.
(21:37):
And the very first deal and thisisn't even in effect yet, so this
rule doesn't go into effect where theoffer of commission split is removed from the
listing. That hasn't even gone intoeffect yet. That's going to go into
effect in August, but people arestarting to do it already. So the
very first time that I dealt withthis was just the other day, and
(22:03):
they offered zero compensation on the listingto the buyer's agent. And I'm representing
the buyer. Now, my buyer'swell vetted. He's a longtime client,
a longtime friend. He says,you know, I'll pay you, don't
worry about it. So we haveour separate agreement there where you know where
(22:23):
he's going to pay my commission.But let me tell you what happened.
And remember, this is a veryfirst one that I've dealt with like this
where they were offering zero compensation.I talked to the agent on the other
side. The agent says, well, maybe you noticed that this seller is
offering zero compensation and that's because theyread about this law suit. Now they're
(22:45):
willing to offer some compensation. Sowhen you turn in a deal, just
put in a compensation agreement into thedeal and include that with your offer.
And I said, well, howmuch are they willing to compensate and the
reply was, well, it dependshow much the offer was. So any
(23:07):
realtor out there can tell you thatit's unethical to insert your commission into the
negotiation on behalf of your client overthe price of a home. Think about
it. You're putting your interest beforethe clients. So you're saying, hey,
before we discuss anything that has todo with my client here and negotiate
(23:32):
anything that would benefit them, let'stalk about what's going to benefit me.
So right off the bat, itwas misused and it was unethical. The
very first one that I dealt with. And if you remember, if you
listen to the show, I'm like, this is going to cause so many
problems, and this was one ofthem. You know where. Now it's
(23:55):
the wah waw West again. Soyou're going to see more and more of
that kind of crap happening. You'regoing to see less and less deals get
to the closing table. You're goingto see buyers getting ripped off even more.
You're going to see buyers not beable to get into houses. You're
going to see the number of successfulfirst time buyers probably go down because they
(24:18):
decide to represent themselves. And thesame applies as the old saying about attorneys.
I'm gonna paraphrase, I can't rememberexactly how it goes. What is
it Those that choose to represent themselveshave a fool for a client, something
like that. And it's the sameway with this business, because there's a
whole lot more involved than just sayingyeah, I want and I'll give you
(24:38):
this much. You have to knowwhat each contingency in the contract means and
what it can mean down the line, and how you're going to negotiate that,
and what negotiation tactic are you goingto use with this particular property,
with your particular situation. Like Isaid, I mean, there's just way
(25:00):
too much to get into here,of all that goes into it. I
always and I'm not even joking sayingwhen you're on the buyer side, everybody
thinks that it's your job to gofind him a house. That's like the
least important thing you do. TheInternet's out there now, most people can
go find a house on the internet. That's not the important part of what
(25:21):
you're real to representation should be.And if it is, then you need
a better agent, you know,because you need somebody that looks out for
your best interests and has a fiduciaryduty to you to get the job done
and get it done for the bestterms for you the buyer. And that
(25:41):
also benefits the seller because as aseller, let me ask you, do
you want just Joe Blow representing himselfand coming along, and do you want
to do a deal with that personas I said, good luck to you,
or do you want that person tobe well represented and well educated and
well consulted, somebody that's represented bya professional. It is to the benefit
(26:07):
of both sides of that deal.So even though you're a seller and you
don't want to pay the buyer's commission, as I've stated, that's a part
of in my opinion, of theprocess of successfully selling your home. And
that's what's going to get you thesmoothest transaction and what's going to ultimately get
(26:30):
you to your goal most efficiently isif both sides have professionals representing them and
they just blew all this up.So let the circus begin, Because,
as I said, the first deal, the very first one I dealt with,
was like, Okay, here wego. Now I see how this
is going to be. So anyway, you may or may not agree with
(26:52):
me on that, but I thinkthat I make a pretty good point if
I do say so myself. Eventhe story I just had about the VA,
the VA never allowed for the buyerto pay the realtor directly. The
seller was expected to do that,and it was against VA rules for the
buyer to do that. Now theVA's saying, well, now with this
settlement, we're going to temporarily allowthis. Notice how they didn't say it's
(27:15):
a permanent change. They say itwas temporary and that they'll monitor the effects
of the settlement on the brokerage marketbefore pursuing rule making on the matter,
which means they even know that thisis going to be a nass show.
And I know that you may notrespect realtors and in a lot of cases
with good reason. But if youhave a good realtor, they're more than
(27:38):
worth their commission. I'm out oftime here, but I think back of
when I bought my first house.I was not a realtor yet, and
then I became a realtor, andnow I've got like twenty years of experience,
and I think back to what Idid when I bought that first house,
and I can't say that I hada very good realtor, honestly,
And I'm like, man, ifI only knew what I know now,
(28:00):
or if I only had somebody thatwas on the ball, had somebody like
me representing me, I would havedone a whole lot better. That's it
for this week's Your Home three sixty. Remember you can catch the podcast online
just to look for it under podcastat ninety four to three WSC dot com,
or you can look for it onyour iHeartRadio app, which you can
(28:22):
download for free. I'm Michael Blaze. Thanks for listening. Enjoy the rest
of your weekend, and I'll talkto you again on Monday morning.
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