March Madness
Dear Friends,
I’m always searching for quotes, insights and ideas to share with you to make these letters insightful and valuable (and occasionally humorous). If I just wrote about mortgage rates, the Fed’s policies and home values every month, you’d probably get bored quickly.
With that being said, I am often asked by clients, real estate agents and other financial professionals “where are rates at” and “where are rates headed.” I taught a CE class this week in Mankato to CFP’s and was asked the rate question and decided to give this answer:
He who lives by the crystal ball is destined to eat shattered glass.
That was a quote from one of the world’s largest hedge fund managers when asked about the timing of the Fed’s rate hikes/cuts. The CFP laughed and said, I’m going to use that!
Another opportunity many people may want a crystal ball for is March Madness betting. On Tuesday, I got a text from my wife that said, “Print off 4 brackets and bring home so we can fill out as a family tonight.” We’re having a little family competition and looking forward to 67 total games with potential upsets, Cinderella stories, the Sweet Sixteen, Great Eight, Final Four and finally, the Championship Game!
It always seems impossible until it’s done.
The most interesting thing about March Madness is no one has ever filled out a perfect bracket. You would think with “only” 67 games to get right, someone would get it. Turns out the coin flip odds are a 1 in 8,223,372,036,864,775,808 of getting a perfect bracket. That doesn’t stop hundreds of people every year from trying!
There is nothing permanent except change.
The biggest piece of real estate news this month is actually not mortgage rates—it’s the NAR lawsuit. For decades realtors have made their money off a percentage of a home’s list price, and almost always the seller paid for the buyer’s and seller’s realtor fees. Typically the buyer didn’t see them—they only saw the cost “baked into” the sales price. The lawsuit argued that this practice limited competition and increased home prices. If the lawsuit goes through, it will lead to more transparency for buyers and sellers and likely some sort of “tiered” pricing where buyers and sellers can choose exactly which services they want from their realtor for different fee structures.
Despite all the market changes, we’ve had the earliest spring market start we’ve seen in a long time! If anyone you know is looking to make a move this year, give us a call!
