Welcome to our FIRST Weekly Mortgage Update of the month of August, which is our 567^th edition overall! We wrapped up another great month last month because of many of you connecting us to your family, friends, and clients to assist with their mortgage questions and needs. So, THANK YOU for that!



Before we get to the update, reminder that we have an AWESOME network of trusted, locally owned, and operated resources to connect you to in order to help at your house. Whether you need plumbing help, have an electrical issue, or you need a dumpster for your reno (and attic clean out), you can reach out to us to help connect you to someone to help so that you don’t end up WAY over paying, just give us a call! Now, back to the update. This week, rates bounced around and worsened some, but we’re hoping for improvement in the coming weeks. The rates are shown just above the trivia question. If you have questions about how these rates apply to your situation, let's talk. But as usual, there is LOTS GOING ON, SO LET’S GET STARTED!

CRAZY STORIES


For those concerned that AI would eventually take over everything, the good news is there is EVIDENTLY still A LOT of work to be done before that happens, especially if you choose the wrong manufacturer.

A school district in upstate New York had planned to bring in a $60,000 humanoid AI robot named Sally to the classroom this fall to help students interested in robotics. But parents and teachers pushed back hard once they learned about it. Their concerns were about student privacy and the robot's manufacturer, which also has a sister company that makes lifelike dolls… for ummm… adults. Well gang, the Teachers Union did not hold back, saying that a robot built by THAT kind of company has no business in a classroom, which is not tough to agree with. For now, the district is powering down Sally, hitting the pause button on the project while it works out stronger privacy protections with the state. This sounds like a weird sequel with Jack Black and School of Rock BUT, evidently some school district in upstate NY is looking for a Robotics Teacher.

It makes A LOT of sense that those parents pushed back on that humanoid robot above. Keeping the robot/AI theme going what about being hired to work at a retail shop by AI. A store called Andon Market just opened in San Francisco, and the boss is not a person. Her name is Luna, an AI system built by two entrepreneurs using Anthropic technology. Luna was given a budget, a three-year lease, and told to build a profitable store from scratch. She picked out the inventory, designed the artwork on the walls, and even posted job listings on Indeed to hire her own human employees to carry out tasks in the ‘REAL WORLD’. One new hire admitted he was pretty stunned once he realized an AI had interviewed and hired him. Luna even messages her staff through Slack and apologizes when she messes up the schedule, just like a real boss would. Employees seem to like Luna, but not sure where this will go. Click below to read more. 

REAL ESTATE TO BEHOLD



Let’s get the real estate to behold section started with a GIANT listing! Pathfinder Ranches in Wyoming just changed hands, and this one is not your average backyard. The ranch covers 916,000 acres, which is actually bigger than the entire state of Rhode Island, stretching across four Wyoming counties. In case you don’t readily know the size of Rhode Island, To put that in perspective, Pathfinder Ranches has more acreage than New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, and Birmingham combined, which adds up to a little more than 850,000 acres. It was listed for $79.5 million and sold to Christopher Robinson, a Utah rancher whose family already owns close to a million acres across the West. Robinson says he has no plans to develop or subdivide the land. Instead, he wants to reunite it with a neighboring ranch he bought a few years ago and keep it working as one large cattle operation, just like it once was generations ago. I think someone’s been watching too many episodes with Kevin Costner on Yellowstone. Click below to read more.

If you've ever dreamed of finding the recipe for KFC's 11 herbs and spices, this property may have it written down somewhere. The Claudia Sanders Dinner House and Blackwood Hall in Shelbyville, Kentucky just hit the market through a sealed bid auction. This is not just any restaurant. Before KFC was sold in 1964, this site served as company headquarters, where Colonel Sanders trained franchise operators himself. Right next door sits Blackwood Hall, the Colonel and Claudia's former home for about 25 years. The sale includes roughly 3 acres, a 25,000 square foot restaurant that seats nearly 700 guests, plus the trademarks, recipes, and brand goodwill that come with it. Bids were due July 31, BUT the website below still shows it as NO SALE… so YOU could bring an offer that’s “Finger Licking Good” and be the lucky new owner!

For our next spot, we wanted to bring you a property with some international flair and DEEP historic roots that go way back. Rendcomb Park in England's Cotswold region has a history that predates the Norman Conquest, which our history buff readers know was in 1066AD, meaning this land has changed hands for nearly one thousand years. The 230-acre estate includes a grand historic mansion with 190,000 square feet of space, a stable block, ancient woodland, and its own deer park. For the last hundred years the estate was home to a private school, but the school closed its doors just last month due to financial troubles, opening the door for a new owner. The asking price lands somewhere between $25 and 30 million. Seems like a deal for a piece of land older than most countries. Check it out below.

Finally, if that last property wasn’t for you due to location, size, or color stone and rock used, have we got a website for you! We bring youCastlemap.com. This interactive website allows you to search for YOUR perfect castle, palace & chateau, fortress, or ruin, if you prefer a fixer-upper. It has over 6,000 to choose from and if that total number of choices is too overwhelming, it even has a “surprise me” button which allows you to read more about the story of the palace or castle. You can narrow down your Castle Search by its fame ranking and by what year it was founded There’s EVEN a CastleGuessr to try to guess where in the world a Castle is based on one picture. It’s much harder than you think. Check it all out below! 

THE ECONOMY AND REAL ESTATE

Earlier this week we found out that private companies added 44,000 jobs in July, according to ADP, which was short of the consensus estimates. Well, the official government report came out today and it painted an even weaker picture. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the economy actually lost 23,000 jobs in July, far below the roughly 83,000 economists expected. On top of that, May and June were revised down by a combined 103,000 jobs, meaning the job market was quietly cooling all summer while it looked stronger on paper.

The unemployment rate actually dipped slightly to 4.1 percent, but that is mostly because fewer people were working or looking for work. Worker pay barely budged from the previous reading last month.

Gang, remember the Fed's dual mandate: Price Stability and Maximum Employment. With hiring somewhat stalling out, pressure is building for the Fed to start paying closer attention to the jobs side of that equation, not just inflation, when they meet again in September. What does this mean for rates, you may ask? Well, stay tuned until our next episode!

The housing market is doing exactly what it normally does this time of year, cooling off a bit. The national median list price landed at $428,950 in July, basically flat from June but down 2.4 percent from a year ago, marking nine straight months of annual price declines. Sellers are getting more realistic too, with 20 percent of listings seeing a price cut, highest in the West and South, lowest in the Northeast.

Here's the encouraging part. Pending sales, meaning homes officially under contract, rose 1.3 percent compared to last year, marking eight straight months of growth, the longest such streak since 2020 and 2021. Homes are also selling one day faster than this time last year, even though they took a bit longer than June.

Mortgage rates are still a little higher than anyone here at the Weekly Update would like, which pushes many to be more selective. But with inventory growing, AND sellers potentially willing to negotiate, our buyers who are willing to shop around have the ability to look for a deal. Check out more by clicking below. 

Speaking of housing, we wanted to close this week with something inspired from our friends at Keeping Current Matters. It touches on something we're seeing a fair amount of in the Birmingham market. Whether folks want to do this to give them more time to complete some before listing projects, or want a stronger offer without a sales contingency, it makes the selling easier because of kids or pets, Here’s Where To Start if You’re Selling and Buying at the Same Time. Keep reading the summary from KCM below, but if you have specific question about this buying before selling, bridge loans, or recasting your loan, please reach out.

If you're a homeowner getting ready to move, one question usually comes first: should you buy your next home before you sell, or sell your current house before you start looking?

There's no single right answer, since it depends on your finances, your local market, and your timeline. But in a lot of cases these days, selling first puts you in the stronger spot.

The Advantages of Selling First

Selling is usually the trickier half of a move today, so getting it done first clears your biggest hurdle. There are more homes for sale than there are buyers right now, which means houses are taking longer to sell than they did a year or two ago.

1. You Won't Get Stuck Paying Two Mortgages

Buy before you sell, and you could end up carrying two mortgages at once, and that overlap may drag on longer than you planned. Selling first takes that risk off the table. As Ramsey Solutions puts it, "It's best to sell your old home before buying a new one to avoid unnecessary risks and possible headaches."

2. You Can Use Your Equity To Fuel Your Move

One of the biggest perks of selling first is knowing exactly how much money you're walking away with. According to Realtor.com, homeowners who've been in their home for 5 years have about $180,000 in equity on average, and those who've had their home 6 to 10 years have over $340,000. After you sell, you can use that money for your down payment or even buy your next home in cash.

3. Your Offer Will Be Hard To Pass Up

When your house is already sold, you don't have to make your offer contingent on that sale, and in a market where buyers are taking their time, that's exactly what sellers want to see. It can even give you room to negotiate repairs, since a motivated seller would rather keep things moving than wait for another offer.

Is There a Catch?

Selling first has tradeoffs too, so it helps to see the pros and cons side by side before deciding. Here's a quick breakdown based on information from Zillow:

Bottom Line

There's no one size fits all answer to buying and selling at once, but for a lot of homeowners, leading with the sale makes moving easier on their mind and their wallet.

Let's connect, so you can navigate selling and buying with more confidence, more financial power, and less stress.

RATES:

Pricing and rates remain erratic and volatile. Confirm rates & pricing directly with your loan officer.

Check out the trivia below and remember, there is a drawing to enter to win a gift card. This is your chance to enter for a chance to win the gift card awarded every other month. This trivia question is for the July & August drawing/card.

TRIVIA QUESTION

One of our former editors, who's moved to North Carolina, called to say she was going to see the latest sweeping epic from Christopher Nolan, The Odyssey, which follows Matt Damon as Odysseus as he travels home following a war. (Our editors feel like every few summers, Damon gets lost and needs rescuing: Saving Private Ryan, The Martian, Interstellar.)

On his journey home, Damon/Odysseus visits the underworld to speak with a dead prophet for guidance. What is that prophet's name?

A) Tiresias

B) Circe

C) Chiron

D) Nestor

E) Orpheus

F) Telemachus

Click here to EMAIL ME YOUR ANSWER.

**Email your answer to me to have your name entered in a drawing for a gift card at the beginning of even months and YES you can go back and answer previous weeks’ questions if you have not answered them already AND if we have not unveiled the answer yet***