On home equity:
“People are going to burn through that equity. People are still going to travel, they’re just going to leverage their assets. They want access to that home equity line because they need to pay off credit cards – they’ve gotten themselves into debt.”
On interest rates:
“Coming into 2022 and coming off low rates, we’re trying to stay optimistic that people are going to keep buying properties, no matter what the rates are, because they’ve got to live, they’ve got to have shelter and it’s still cheaper than paying rent. But it has definitely gone from a seller’s to a buyer’s market because all first-time homebuyers can’t afford to pay $350,000-$400,000 for a first-time house on one person’s salary, and, sometimes, even if it’s two people buying a house, they run into down payment concerns.”
Yury Shraybman broker at Innovative Mortgage Brokers, Philadelphia
On 2022 and the year ahead:
“It’s definitely been a tough year. The last couple of years have been really good, but I don’t think anybody really expected it to slow down as quickly as it did. Increasing rates so many times within the last 12 months…that’s been huge. However, I believe that 2023 is looking very good.
“We just got our positive monthly report for the month of November and inflation’s coming down – there’s a feeling that the Federal Reserve has control over it. Because of that, the bond market – the long-term market – is causing rates to start coming down, and the more that inflation comes down, the more the rates are going to come down.”
On interest rates and house prices:
“Seeing that rates are in the fives is not great. They’re definitely far from what they were a year-and-a-half to two years ago, but they’re also much better than they were a couple of months ago. So I feel positive for the mortgage business looking forward to 2023. A lot of people should be able to refinance to lower rates – hopefully a couple of percent lower – maybe sometime next year.