Coronavirus, Fed Rate Cut, The Economy, The Mortgage Industry...

First of all, I encourage everyone to remain calm and level-headed and heed the precautions laid out by the CDC around the coronavirus. Please DO NOT read the following as anything other than me providing an analysis of the current mortgage industry as a whole coupled with the current potential economic implications as a result of this virus. Now I'd like to make a case for why mortgage professionals might want to consider shifting a portion of their business away from the Agency side of our business and toward the residential investor side.

Your first reaction may be, "isn't he just taking advantage of a tough situation and isn't this a bit self-serving?" Well, yes and no...yes to the latter, in the end, if you heed my advice, do your research, and decide what I'm saying is true and end up allowing me to help you along the way, then yes, it ultimately benefits me, but it will benefit you far and away more! Absolutely NO to the former, and after reading the following, I think you will easily agree.

So, what effect will this have on our economy, our industry, our future? I have a 100% guaranteed accurate answer for that question, and that is, I have no idea. However, what I do know quite a bit about is the current state of the mortgage industry, and that, coupled with the current uncertain environment is why I'm writing this. I believe you will find this article to be incredibly uplifting and useful after reading it, so hold on to your hat, because it's going to be a bit bumpy, but stay with me until the end, and I promise it will be worth it!

Since earlier this year, I've urged residential real estate and mortgage professionals to take a strong look at ANYTHING other than the easy cheesy bread and butter agency side of the business. Whether it's Amazon, Zillow, Redfin, Google, Walmart, one of the many other players, or a combination thereof, the train has left the station and is picking up steam. This quietly started some time ago, and with the breakneck pace of technology, there will be quite a surprise for residential real estate and mortgage professionals who ignore this and take no action. If you have had the opportunity to read my recent article published in National Mortgage Professional Magazine, The Future of the Residential Real Estate and Mortgage Industries, you can see that our industry is already in the process of dramatically changing, and it's not going to slow down, but quite the opposite, and in some major ways!

The impending major changes, coupled with the current potential health crisis, could leave one a bit concerned for the entire housing industry, well, not so fast! Keep in mind, when the economy is hot, the investor side of our business thrives...but guess what, it does exactly the same thing, only in different ways, when the economy is struggling. When the economy is struggling, far fewer people are buying owner-occupied properties, and as a result, many more people are renting. Well, what do you know, at the same time, properties available for investors to purchase will be at an even greater discount. This, coupled with the demand for rental properties increasing, results in the perfect storm for residential real estate and mortgage professionals who carve out at least a portion of their business to the investor market!

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected] or call/text me anytime at 469-975-6550.

The preceding are my opinions and my opinions alone and do not represent the opinions of Hometown Equity Mortgage, LLC (NMLS #133519) dba theLender.