We've been freezing our tails off here in Montana for the last couple of weeks. The cows are getting ready to calve and we all need a thorough thawing out! I hope you have stayed reasonably warm. We have some interesting things to talk about today.

One of the biggest conundrums facing homebuyers today is how to manage the transition of buying a NEW home with the equity in your current home as down payment. It's quite puzzling and stressful. Imagine, you have found the house of your dreams and you want to put in an offer before anyone else steps in front of you, but you haven't even started the process of listing your home for sale, let alone found a buyer. You could put in an offer on the new home with a Home Sale Contingency, meaning you would have to sell your current home prior to closing on the new home.

Are you a fan of solicitors calling your phone trying to sell you something? Me neither. I love hearing from friends, family and folks in business that I KNOW but I am not a fan of companies I don't know calling to sell me something. I think most of my clients feel the same. Am I wrong?

As we move into another holiday season and a new presidential administration, home buying is still a bit challenging. Buyers are struggling with monthly payment which has been generated by higher prices coupled with higher interest rates. It has made for a conundrum that has been hard to swallow. However, FEAR NOT!

I hope you can feel the wind down of the year and are preparing for a lovely holiday season ahead. This time of year makes me think about home and how lucky we are to be a small part of a family's journey to get there.

This is going to be a common statement this week. The FED dropped the FED Rate by 50 basis points on the 18th of September. The whole mortgage world was supposed to get better, right? Wrong. When my clients and realtors call me and mention the FED dropping rates and how that is going to make mortgage rates better, I always remind them, while SOMETIMES mortgage rates can mirror the FED rate movement, often they do not. Look what happened over the last few days.

I would definitely say that the mortgage industry is about the slowest to catch up with the times. Sometimes it feels like a grumpy, curmudgeon grandpa that won't consider anything other than "his way or the highway".

’ve been kicking this idea around for awhile in my head. It may come across as controversial but it keeps sitting on my heart and I want to share it with you. We get the privilege to see homes be built and when I say homes, I don’t mean HOUSES. I mean homes, places where families live, grow and find sanctuary. I’ve had the honor recently of being asked for my guidance as a realtor friend of mine navigates purchasing what we hope will be her forever home.

The snow is falling again today and it has me thinking about strategies long since forgotten in the mortgage industry. Interest rates had gotten so crazy over the past few years that this arrow in our quiver has been left in the back of the closet, but now, with rates becoming a TINY bit more reasonable, we should probably dust her off again. This strategy is LENDER CREDIT, who would have thought!?