What Are You Coveting?
Money? Power? Fame? Social Status? Position? Others to notice or like you?
How To Better Your Place In Life
One of the most underrated skills that we have attained as adults is listening. My youth pastor would always joke and quote James 1:19 saying that God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason; we’re supposed to use the former more often.
Want to improve your place in life? First find out who you need to be listening better to today, this week, this month, this year. Maybe it’s your client, maybe it’s your boss, maybe it’s your employees, maybe it’s your coworkers, maybe it’s your husband or wife, maybe it’s your children, maybe a friend and so on. I can guarantee you that at any given time we can find someone that we could do more listening to, to find out what they’re needing, find out what they’re wanting. We could think of someone right now that we need to give the time of day.
Doing this almost always results in action. You hear a specific need when you truly listen and more often than not, we end up being moved and motivated to want to meet that need. To be moved we have to truly listen and put ourselves in their shoes for a moment. We all crave this. To be heard and seen. When we hear someone else we just may get the bug to be the answer for them or help. Bonus content: you will get blessed in the process. It’s very hard to improve the life of someone else and not turn improve your own life. I can already hear the comments on how your own actions won't be reciprocated. True it may not be each time, however you will have begun to attain the skill of standing out and being different in the crowd around you due to practicing you’re listening , Over your speaking, and in doing so you begin to better yourself as a person. The saying is Luck is when opportunity and preparation meet. Began to go down the path of choosing to be less self-focused and you're bound to run into opportunity and be more prepared than the next person to receive it.
Gonna have to trust me on that one and just put it into practice to see for yourself.
Going out of your way to listen to those who need you to listen to can’t help, but in the long run, create a better marriage, a better friendship, a better work environment, a higher return on investment with your customers and employees.
Yes, others in your life need to work on their part with you as well, but take the first step and be the difference. Go out of your way to use your two ears more often than you use your one mouth. It starts with you and me first before others jump on board. Success is waiting. How do we get success? By paying the rent, and the rent is due every day.
Chase Your Dreams
Achieving your dreams is 90% showing up and participating. Showing up to the job daily, going to the gym weekly, eating from home more often, cracking open a book nightly, most of the battle is just getting to the starting line. That is the hardest part. One of my favorite authors Jordan Peterson, known for his phrase and chapter on cleaning your room, and one of my personal favorite quotes to my wife and children, hardest thing you will do all day is make your own bed. It's the easiest battle to lose and it is the first thing you face each morning. Most don't see the point in making a bed, seems meaningless because it will just get messy again in a few hours. I think this is an important first daily battle we face. Fight the inner demon to just walk away and make your bed right when you wake up. It gives you your first win of the day and puts you in the winner mind set of checking this off your list and looking at a nicely made bed instills pride. Feeled with winning and pride you will be ready for the rest of your morning routine and to take on the gym or work.
Bonus points for taking on a challenge to make the rest of your day seem easier in comparison - go for a run, read your bible, spend some time in education, do the cold dip at the gym. That's a personal favorite of my own in which I always say this is going to be the hardest thing I do all day as I am freezing in the cold water. Once it's over the rest of my day the challenges aren't so hard. Well I am raising three teenagers so sometimes I'm psyching myself out that doing the dad thing with hormones and attitudes raging won't be that difficult.
Back to showing up is ninety percent of success so is taking the first step. Taking the first step is the hardest part when trying to make any life change and can often be overwhelming. Summoning the courage and strength to take that first step is like looking up at Everest from the bottom, the near impossibility of the task surges over you. However just like walking its all in that one first step that sets you off balance and into a falling forward motion. All of a sudden you are moving in the direction you want to go in life.
What are you afraid of dealing with right now? That may be where you need to start. The freedom feeling that can come from even the smallest action towards what we are afraid to deal with can be so great. You might become addicted and see it all the way through this time.
Choose today to take one step in the direction of your goals, dreams, desires. Forget about what others have to think or will say and go for it with a small action today.
How To Transform
"Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings."
William Arthur Ward
Thanksgiving is upon us, the holiday dates back to November 1621. The first thanksgiving was on the heals of tragedy of a harsh winter with many dying including 78% of the women who traveled on the Mayflower. This left around 50 colonists to attend the first Thanksgiving: 22 men, 4 women, and over 25 children and teenagers. The Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians gathered at Plymouth in the first Thanksgiving. The menu most likely consisted of deer from the Wampanoag, local seafood, fruits and pumpkin from the first pilgrim harvest. No mashed potatoes though as potatoes hadn’t made it to North America yet. Pilgrims shared their first harvest with the Wampanoag as a thank you for saving them from starvation in the previous winter. To learn a little more about the possible menu for the first thanksgiving check out this article from the history channel:
https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/first-thanksgiving-meal
During this time of year it is a reminder to reflect and choose to be grateful for something. When we choose to be grateful it can transform our thinking, our feelings, our actions. Today we can be a blessing to someone around us as the Wampanoag’s were to the Pilgrims. Who will you choose to be a blessing to and possibly change their life for the better?
Interest Rates? Where are they at this week November 18, 2024
Monday is here and we got updates for you! So I want to start sharing market insights from those like my lending partner Michael McDermott at Bay Equity and his deep dive into what's going on around us in the mortgage and real estate industry. If you want jump straight to the snap shot of the current mortgage interest rates scroll to the bottom. If you want to read the market overview see below.
What's currently going on from my perspective is I am getting buyers and sellers to call in again since the election. Activity has picked up the last week and people seem more optimistic and interested in making a move. This is good news for homeowners looking to cash in and sell their home. My last listing received multiple offers and a bidding war was started raising the purchase price. I hoping this is going to be the case for many other sellers out there so they can get the additional money in there pockets to buy down interest rates when they purchase their next home. The Buyer conversations that I have over the last few months the biggest concern is interest rates. These rates have been fluctuating up to over 8% to down to low 5s back up to the 7s, mostly hovering at the mid 6s over the last year. One of positive things I have seen recently for my buyers are offerings from sellers and builders of credits and concessions to buy down the interest rate to make their monthly payments more affordable. We are seeing a lot more homes on the market giving buyers more options when choosing their next home.
Well enough of what I have to say, lets hear from Mike:
"Good morning, everyone!
All things considered, rates weathered economic news rather well last week despite inflation coming in hotter than expected, and Retail Sales beating expectations. Let’s get into it!
Consumer Inflation Moves Higher
Wholesale Inflation Moves Higher
October Retail Sales Hotter Than Expected
Weekly Rate Recap – What to Expect This Week
Consumer Inflation Moves Higher
Up until a few years ago, this was the Feds preferred gauge on inflation so while it might not be their preferred today, it can still move the bond market (mortgage rates). The latest Core Consumer Price Index (CPI), which doesn’t include food and energy prices, increased 0.3% from September while the annual reading remained at 3.3%. This reading peaked at 6.6% in 2022 and has obviously improved but in the prior 12-month timeframe, the reading has largely stalled, only improving from 3.9% to 3.3% over that timeframe. Four out of the last five readings have now come in at 3.3% which is one of the reasons we’ve seen mortgage rates remain elevated around the 7% mark.
After this CPI reading last week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell noted that “the economy is not sending any signals that we need to be in a hurry to lower rates.” So long as inflation remains stubborn, or stuck, around these levels, we can expect the Fed to lean towards leaving the Fed Funds Rate alone. While they must be concerned with a weakening job market, they also can’t cut rates too quickly with inflation not showing signs of improvement. In fact, if we average the last 6 months of CPI readings, inflation would be on track for 2.5% annually. However, when we look at the most recent 3 months, that annualizes to 3.5% which would be a rise in inflation. In short, recent readings indicate that inflation is not just stubborn, but poised to rise which won’t help long term rates such as mortgage rates. We’ve been saying this for a little while now – expect inflation data to worsen in the coming 3-4 months.
Wholesale Inflation Moves Higher
We don’t talk too often about Wholesale level inflation but it’s worth noting on occasion since it can be a leading indicator to Consumer inflation later. The Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 0.2% in October with the annual reading jumping from 1.9% to 2.4% which was hotter than the 2.3% that the markets estimated/expected. Any time these inflation readings come in higher than expected, it doesn’t bode well for mortgage rates. Core PPI, which again strips out food and energy prices, rose 0.3% for the month and moved the year-over-year reading higher to 3.1%. It’s this annual reading moving higher that bond traders/investors don’t like to see. This is just one monthly reading, but this move higher now puts more attention on the upcoming months to see if this is going to become a trend higher, which correlates to higher Consumer inflation later down the road.
These two inflation reports combined, CPI and PPI, last week is largely what caused mortgage rates to deteriorate a little bit from the week prior.
October Retail Sales Hotter Than Expected
Investors were expecting a rise of 0.3% in October for Retail Sales, but this reading came in a bit hotter, at 0.4%. While this might not sound like much, anything hotter than expected with Retail Sales leads the market to believe that the Fed might have to sit tight on a rate cut at the next meeting. What we have today is just a snapshot in time but if the Fed were meeting today, they likely would not be able to cut rates given inflation is still very much a thorn in our side and yet, consumers continue to spend. Now, the argument very well could be made that the consumer is spending more but they are not buying more product; that’s the ugly side effect of inflation. It just costs more now to buy the same amount of product. Nonetheless, what we want to see in terms of lower mortgage rates and improved housing affordability is the opposite of what we got last week – we need weaker Retail Sales and lower inflation data.
Weekly Rate Recap – What to Expect This Week
It’s a relatively quiet week as things start to wind down for the Thanksgiving Holiday next week. We will get housing reports later today and homebuilder confidence readings though. We’ll also get a peek at Existing Home Sales and Jobless Claims later this week but neither of those typically move the mortgage rate market too much. Fed Members will be speaking at various conferences this week though and that can sometimes spook the market depending on what is said. For right now, expect rates to stay right around where they are today with a little drift higher as the market just isn’t too sure of what to expect for economic data this holiday season.
It’s worth pointing out that the daily survey of mortgage rates has been updated a little bit. These daily readings are a collection of dozens of lenders, and it provides the rate they are offering a top tier buyer, not an average, which is defined as a buyer with 25% down, a 780-credit score, on a primary residence purchase. Obviously, it’s still very possible to put less than that down and there are still loan programs available for buyers with a credit score as low as 500 but the rates associated to those scenarios would be higher than what is published here.
Here’s how rates ended the week, and year-to-date:
Lastly, with the tweaks to the daily published rates on MND, I’ve updated the estimated monthly payments for various loan programs here. This includes principal, interest, average property taxes, average property insurance, and average mortgage insurance (if applicable):
Mike's Monday Mortgage Minute - Week of November 11, 2024 in Review"
Welcome To Billy Schneider Realtor's Blog Posts
This is our first Blog Post and we will try to update these from time to time to give you market insights in the areas we specialize in. I have been a realtor for 10 years as a top producer on my team and brokerage and surround myself with other top producers. What does that mean for you - well top producer sounds nice to say to inflate the realtor's ego but it is important to pair your home buying or selling process with someone who knows what they are doing. This is usually a top producing agent - one that does a large volume of sales monthly/annually so that when you have a question they have the experience to help you navigate it, the process and get you the most money or best deal on your next home.
I love what I do for a living as I get to work with people from all different walks of life. Its humbling whether I am working with a $1m buyer/seller or a $100k buyer/seller to know that we are all basically the same people - we want to be heard, understood, and someone to act on our behalf to meet our needs to show they were actually listening and care! Care is the name of the game - top shelf care is what everyone deserves! That is 100% what you will get at The Schneider Team, Class, Expertise, and a Real Estate Team that actually cares about your needs and fights for them!
We have worked and dominated throughout the entire valley for years and will meet you wherever your real estate needs are from San Tan Valley to Buckeye to Waddelle and Surprise! We do Specialize in the North Valley - Peoria, North Phoenix, North Scottsdale, Surprise area. Being a Peoria Based Real Estate Business, Peoria is our backyard and we have our fingers on the pulse of what is going on in the community, rates, market trends etc! Please call or text us with any questions! We look forward to working with you!