Solano Real Estate Scene: Jim Porter
Article By: Jim Porter – August 8, 2025
First of all, after I read last week’s column in the paper, I realized that I may have pulled a Dell Griffith, John Candy’s character, in “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.”
In a scene from one of the funniest and at the same time most poignant movies of all time, Steve Martin tells Candy, “here is an idea, when you are going on and on telling one of your stories, have a point! it makes it so much more interesting for the listener.”
Last week, the point I was trying to make is that the value of buying a home to occupy and enjoy for the next 20 to 30 Christmas mornings is about happiness and shelter for your family, pets and all your stuff, and not an investment. Having a landlord stinks.
The other point I was trying to make was that most first-time homebuyers who buy a home with a mortgage payment much higher than the rent they are paying now, grow into the payment after a few years with salary increases, job promotions and mortgage refinancing to lower rates.
It is now officially a buyer’s market and although home prices might come down 5% to 6% over the next few years, home values are not artificially inflated like they were in 2007 after four years of Wall Street-endorsed mortgage fraud.
Based on my 40 years of experience and the historical statistics going back 100 years, I am willing to assure every single homebuyer today, that they will be very happy they bought a house in 2025, when 2045 rolls around.
For Realtors and mortgage brokers on commission, today’s market is about as tough as I have ever seen. Back in the 1990s, when there were 80% to 90% fewer loan officers competing for loans in Solano and Yolo counties, we had to pound the pavement visiting Realtors and builders hacking for loans. Things were different back then, people would move every seven years and so loan officers would hope to make a paycheck with repeat clients moving up, or after helping someone buy a house, call them when a refinance opportunity would come around.
From 1992 to 1993, 1998 and then 2000 to 2003, 2012 and 2016 during Brexit, and then the Covid refi mania from 2020 until St. Patrick’s Day 2022 was a time when mortgage brokers and commission-only loan officers made a lot of money. There were at least 40 local loan officers in Solano and Yolo who made more than $500,000 in 2021, and more than 300 loan reps who made over $200,000 in 2021 doing refis for new clients and past clients.
This is one of the great things about being a loan officer in comparison to a Realtor, refis and home equity second mortgage loans are like residual income that comes after the initial sale. 2021 was the best year for local commission-only loan officers in history and 2024 was the worst.
In America, 50% of the people in the mortgage business in 2021 are no longer in the business today. The next refi rush in 2026 will be important for our Realtors and our market, but it will not be a big refi mania. Realtors do get residual income because all the top producers run a business based on referrals from raving fans, and even though people are now only moving once every 10 to 12 years, the old survivor Realtors do get repeat business.
For people moving up, and for the really old veteran Realtors that make it long term, they get probate listings for their clients who die after living happily in the house the Realtor sold them 40 years earlier. Realtors who have built a property management business and those who have purchased income-producing rental properties of the past 35 years are lucky because they have monthly revenue during the tough times.
I believe that real estate agents will be selling mortgage loans in five years, and I believe mortgage brokers will be involved in selling homes by 2030. To me, it just makes sense that Realtors who act as real estate advisers will want to help their clients with refis and home improvement loans as well as big home renovation projects.
Car dealers sell cars and then make money servicing the cars. Apple sells phones and then makes money selling apps and services. Microsoft sells software and then gets paid monthly for the subscriptions. IBM used to make all their money selling 2,000-pound computers and now sells services as well as big mainframes.
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.
