Knowledge is (almost) power. 💪

Chances are, you agree because you're reading this.

But let me explain what I mean...

People and businesses that have more and better knowledge tend to have a greater chance to succeed.

Consider how much your life can change through just one mindset shift. 🤔

Or how learning a better way to solve a problem saves you hours of doing it the old way.

All you did was learn something new or change the way you think about something and your entire worldview shifted.

But we have to consider the value of action as well.

Knowledge by itself isn't powerful.

The power is generated when you take action using the knowledge you've gained. 👍

Example: Mortgage Rate Knowledge

Let's start with some knowledge that might change the way you look at things.

The vast majority of real estate professionals think that lower mortgage rates would make their problems go away. 🤞

"If we could just get back down to 4%, my business would take off again."

And this is a very normal thing to think after what we experienced in 2021 when rates were in the 3's and the party was roaring. 🤩

But is that the right way to think about our businesses?

Let's look at what the data says.

Below is a chart comparing the relationship between mortgage applications (axis on the left) and mortgage rates (axis on the bottom) since 1991: 

It shows that as rates go up, mortgage applications generally go down and vice versa. ⚖️

Sort of..

The relationship only get's a score of 49% which means it's decent, but far from perfect.

See how the dots aren't all tightly clustered around that line? 🧐

We see that certainly as rates go over 7% people really stop applying for a mortgage. Almost no dots are above the line once we go over 7%.

But, between 4% and 7% the dots go all over the place.

And this is a valuable insight because it shows that there can be a lot of activity should rates stay under 7%. 💡

It also shows that activity can be surprisingly lower at 4% if outside factors are impacting the housing market (like a slow economy). 😲

What about home sales?

Next, let's look at the relationship between home sales in Florida (left axis) and mortgage rates (still on the bottom axis) since 2008:

This relationship is much weaker - scoring just 29%. 🤷‍♂️

It turns out that home sales in Florida aren't strongly tied to mortgage rates.

It matters some, but we see people buying houses across the range of rates.

When you consider that we've averaged roughly 40% cash sales throughout the state since 2008, you can see why rates don't have as strong of an impact as you might have previously thought. 💵

Finding Opportunity

Ok that was the knowledge.

But, what do we do with this information? What action do we take? 🤨

First, we recognize that rates are part of the picture, but they're not everything.

Remember, rates were In the 3's and 4's from 2012-2018 and we didn't have the blowout 2021-type performance any of those years. 😳

Sales are currently down from the peak in 2021, but are holding up relatively well. 

Second, it's time to stop waiting for rates to fall to take action.

Instead of waiting for lower rates, we take action regardless of the rates.

One way to take action is by focusing on your relationships:

• Existing relationships: start here and take steps to prioritize the people you currently hang out with and see how they're doing. Ask about their goals for 2025. Invest to make the relationships you already have stronger.
  
  
• Past relationships: A lot of you have people you used to be close to and things have fallen off. This naturally happens as time goes on if we don't invest in the relationship. It can feel awkward when you haven't talked in a while, but push through the fear and take action to reconnect. 
  
  
• Future relationships: There will be people you'll meet in 2025 that will change your life. Make a point to go to a few new events where you can meet new people next year. Think about what kind of person you'd like to meet and where they might show up.

In all of this, focus on how you can add value to the other people.

Ask questions to learn from them. 

And most of all, enjoy the adventure you'll go on if you treat it that way.

Don't just collect knowledge. Take action every day and be amazed at what you accomplish. 🚀

Dr. Alex Stewart
Founder

Are you a real estate agent and looking to grow your business using information like this? 

Here's 3 ways to dive deeper:

1. 🎯 Market Insiders Coaching Membership: Join an exclusive group of Realtors focused on becoming experts in our local Jacksonville market. This membership gives you access to monthly live coaching from yours truly, a member-only community for private updates and discussions, and additional resources to address clients questions and supercharge your business.
   
   Rated 9.65 out of 10 for value to their business by my members.
   
   
2. 👩‍💻 Digital Course: How to Use Market Stats in Your Business: Accelerate your business growth by learning how to use data. This course will help you more easily understand the market, improve your client presentations, and increase your conversion rate with clients. No finance degree required as I lay everything out in very simple terms.
   
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3. 📊 Schedule a live presentation: Want to learn in person? I offer the MarketPulse 360 presentation that connects all the dots (national to local) so you get a comprehensive breakdown of today's market. It's 2 hours of beautiful charts designed to give you all the major trends you need to know about and address the most common questions in the market. You'll walk out feeling more confident, with resources to use in your business, and a level above the rest of the Realtors who are wandering around blindly.
   
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