Solano Real Estate Scene: Jim Porter
Article By: Jim Porter – September 13, 2024
Economists across the nation are being asked about whether a recession is coming or not. We hear the terms hard landing and soft landing, and 60% of the PhD. brainiac economists are calling for a soft landing while 40% are suggesting a hard landing recession.
My parent company, Amercian Pacific Mortgage, uses Dr. Elliot Eisenberg, economist and founder of “Graphs and Laughs,” who is forecasting a short recession coming in the first or second quarter of 2025, but he emphasizes that Realtors and lenders will not be impacted because real estate already had its recession.
Eisenberg predicts this uptick in unemployment and recession fear will motivate the Fed and Chairman Jerome Powell to move this month and every six weeks until the overnight lending rate drops from 5.375% down to 3.375%, which will correct the inverted yield curve we have been living with for a few years and will bring mortgage rates down on the 30-year fixed rates as well as a return to the market, 5-1 and 7-1 ARM loans at rates lower than fixed.
Lower rates will increase refinancing for lenders and make homes more affordable for Realtors and increase inventory because so many people that were planning to move up from their starter home to their forever home in 2020 when Covid delayed their plans, will move up from three bedrooms and 1,200 square feet to four bedrooms and 2,000-plus square feet.
Now is the time to get started on the move-up strategy with your mortgage pro and for those staying put that have a ton of credit card debt, need to look into a cash out refinance or second mortgage now to consolidate their debts and lower their monthly outlay.
Jim Porter, NMLS No. 276412, is the branch manager of Solano Mortgage, NMLS No. 1515497, a division of American Pacific Mortgage Corporation, NMLS No. 1850, licensed in California by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the CRMLA / Equal Housing Opportunity. Jim can be reached at 707-449-4777.
