We need to keep going.
Is my mic on?
You're going to have to move around a little bit
so you're conversational.
There you go.
Yeah.
Welcome back to another amazing episode of Take 10,
just a normal day here in the office with the LTW group,
Lisa Wiles and Corey Friels.
Yeah.
It's Halloween.
It is Halloween.
Don't we love some Halloween?
Just in case you're just listening and you're like,
we're in a costume.
Yes.
I'm a shark.
I'm a flamingo.
And when you get me with my pack, we're flamboyance.
Yes.
Yes, we are.
Is that what they call it?
That is what they call it.
Wow.
I know.
So let's start with market.
What's going on, Corey?
Let's talk about it.
I'm not happy about it.
I know.
I don't have any good news for you on interest rates.
Today, we're testing the highs we've seen in this cycle
and then really all the way back to the second of July.
So interest rates are high right now.
Higher than they were.
They're higher right now.
So why is that?
Well, a few things.
Some people believe that markets are preparing for a Trump
presidency and pricing in a Trump victory.
If you remember in 2016, you probably don't,
because why would you?
But we do, who are in the business in 2016
when Donald Trump got elected, interest rates went up fast.
And then that combined with some policies
that he's forecasting and then how that's
forecasted to impact inflation, you've
got some market movement there around that.
So it's pushing rates a little higher.
You're also seeing this happen across the globe.
So globally, we're seeing inflation
start to tick up in certain places over in Europe.
And then also some new legislation in Europe
around raising taxes and government spending
has European bonds.
And their price of their debts going up too.
So it's not just an us thing here in the United States.
It's happening all over the world.
And it just is another reminder, guys,
that you cannot count on interest rates
to come down to save you.
You have to have a plan in place for the market
that you're in right now.
Wait, is it a good idea to buy right now?
I have seen some of the best deals ever put together
in the last two months.
Yes.
Because you've got inventory that sellers are, you know,
sellers now, if your house sits 30 days,
they feel like it's never going to sell,
which is actually kind of a normal market.
What's the average right now, like 45 days?
Right.
It's not terrible.
But sellers are freaked out and they're motivated.
And so buyers have some leverage.
And we're putting together some really great deals,
like using temporary buy downs.
Yeah, temp buy downs.
Or I mean, it's getting that payment back down
to where the customer feels or the buyer feels
like they can afford.
And it allows them that additional time
to sit and wait on the rates to come back around.
That's right.
And then sometimes we're having people do permanent buy downs
as well.
So the seller's just paying points on their behalf
to purchase a lower rate.
But then with, quote, aging inventory,
air close with fins, with aging inventory,
once those sellers do get under contract,
they're going to want to close pretty fast, right, Lisa?
Yeah.
And actually, we just got a couple contracts
for one that's closing in 10 days and one that's closing
in 15 days.
And you may be asking, how in the world
are you all going to pull that off?
Well, we did our upfront underwrite, the pre-check advantage
program that we have.
I've been upfront underwriting as many people as possible,
especially under the price range of $400 and under.
If they'll agree to it and go through the steps,
we can have that entire process already ironed out.
And when they go in to make an offer,
we are down to title work and property approval only.
Listen, let's go.
Yeah, two weeks is pretty comfortable, honestly.
Two weeks is comfortable.
And nobody feels like they're dying except for maybe
the title company.
No.
But we love you guys.
And thanks for all your hard work.
So keep that in mind.
I mean, the other thing about that
is if we get them all the way through underwriting
and they don't have a sale contingency,
we can actually do a cash guarantee behind that.
Ooh, I love that.
Right?
Yep.
So Fairway has a cash guarantee.
If we take a bar where all the way through underwriting
on most loan programs, then we will actually
guarantee that we're going to close
or we'll give the seller $10,000 to sell it to somebody else
or we'll pay cash for the house.
So Fairway is putting their money where their mouth is.
And when we pay cash for the house as Fairway,
we turn right around to the agent who brought us the deal
and we have them list the property to sell.
All right?
I'll also say to my knowledge, as of the last time
we report on this every so often,
Fairway's never had to purchase a house.
Not yet.
We close the loan or we pay the seller
to sell it to somebody else.
We're not trying to buy houses.
That's right.
Not in the business of that.
That's right.
I think going back around to the aging inventory,
I just had a thought.
And I kind of talked this through with somebody this morning
who is a very savvy person about the market.
And it kind of made a lot of sense.
So right when we came to Fairway, that was March of 2021.
And literally March of 2022.
22?
Thanks.
I don't even know.
Tom Fosner, you're having fun.
I lost the year during COVID, never caught back up.
I'm sorry.
And so the rates went up over 1%.
Like literally within the first week of us arriving.
And one of the programs or products that I used and saved
a bunch of deals was the Shop, Lock, Pop, Drop.
That's it.
Shop, Lock, and Go.
Wait.
Lock, Shop, and Go.
You lock the rate first, then you shop.
And what that does is it allows your customer
to hedge the high side.
Because right now, guys, we don't even
know who's going to win this election.
So maybe for the next couple weeks or so,
maybe we look at that Lock, Shop, Pop, and Drop program.
And we look at that so we can hedge the high side,
especially for the buyers who are right up against their debt
to income max that want to buy at that higher level.
And then if everything goes great and the rates drop
after the election and they find a house,
they have a float down to the current market.
But if the rates keep going up, they're protected
and they are still approved.
Yeah.
I mean, let's go.
You had more than one deal.
I remember one specifically that was USDA.
And you locked him in like a 4.75.
Yes, I did.
And he goes, that was so high.
Yeah, he thought that grade was just awful at the time.
And who wouldn't kill for something
that starts with a 4 right now?
But literally, he wouldn't have qualified.
No, he would have closed at 5.875 at the time
that he actually closed on a deal.
And so.
And he wouldn't have closed at all because the debt
to income went to work.
I mean, it saved the deal.
It's a great program.
Yeah.
And it's something that may be relevant again.
That's right.
So.
Ooh, also, one other thing is maybe a quick little blurb
of some really actually exciting good content
that we're coming up with right now on social.
It's pretty good.
I mean, you guys have to follow LTW group.
Yeah.
So we have a new team member, Shelby Gray.
Yes.
And she's amazing.
So amazing.
And so she's partnered with Becca in our marketing content
and just making all of our marketing dreams come true.
I mean, those two are crushing it.
So great.
Crushing it.
Yeah.
So in just a short amount of time too, right?
Like hit the ground running.
I think you're going to see a visible difference of us
putting more content out more often.
And I think you're going to actually really enjoy it.
So please get on there and check it out.
And Becca's here with us.
And do you have anything to add?
I was just going to say, a friendly reminder that YouTube
dives deeper on a lot of the topics
that we talk about on social.
That's right.
We have a YouTube channel.
Yeah.
We do have a YouTube channel.
Smash that like button.
Is that what they say?
Smash it.
Give us a follow.
Like and subscribe.
Send to your friends.
And also maybe coming out with some new branding
in the immediate future.
So always fairway, always fairway,
but a little new look, a little new branding,
something to play with.
So we'll sneak peek that out in the next following couple
weeks.
But thank you guys for joining us.
Yeah.
We're going to give you a minute back.
Because we took a minute from you last time.
Let's go.
So we're giving it back.
Yeah.
All right, guys.
Hey, don't forget we work nights and weekends.
After hours at theltwgroup.com.
That's 8 to 8.
8 to 8.
8 days a week.
8 AM, 8 PM, 8 days a week.
You can get us after hours at theltwgroup.com.
Happy Halloween.
Be safe out there.