The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades
This week’s music inspiration for my article is the 1980 hit “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades” by Timbuk3. This week, we had the inauguration of our 47th President, Donald J. Trump. President Trump, in his speech, spoke about many things regarding his vision/plans for the economy – from tax cuts to reducing government spending, increasing the research of AI capabilities, to making homeownership more affordable. He has signed numerous executive orders in less than 72 hours of taking office, and for the most part, our Wall Street “warriors” like what they have heard thus far. As of this report, the DOW was at its highest point since mid-December of 2024. The 10-year treasury has gone back below 4.65% after testing the 4.80% level a few weeks ago, and mortgage rates appear to be heading back below the 7% mark. So far, so good.
While he has signed many executive orders as of today, the one order that has not been officially put in place is the tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico. The date of February 1 has been bantered around as the date he may impose a 10% tariff on China, but that date does not appear to be set in stone as of now. He has further stated he is having folks close to the White House, including our Treasury Secretary, to do further research on the overall effects that these potential tariffs may have on the U.S. economy. The tariff issue is a question being bounced around Wall Street as to whether it will be ultimately inflationary for the US consumer or not. The fact that he is having further research done is a good thing, and it appears that our “warriors” on Wall Street are taking a “wait and see” position for now, which is why we have seen, at least for now, mortgage rates move back to lower levels.
President Trump has many plans for improving the overall economic outlook for the United States. U.S. jobs and bringing down inflation are at the top of his list. The inflation component will certainly drive the direction of mortgage rates over the next several years, and we know that lower mortgage rates will increase home sales and new home construction, which will create many more jobs.
While it is way too early in the game to get too excited about our economy and home sales moving back in the right direction, for now, I am certainly cautiously optimistic.
Remember… the BEST RATE… IS A LOCKED RATE… with a float down… ask me about our program that allows you to lock your rate and then float down if rates move lower.
Make sure you (or your buyer) get pre-approved before looking at homes so we can determine if you are looking in the correct price range and have you armed to submit an offer with a pre-approval letter!
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Blog post date: Thursday, January 23, 2025
