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Quinton: Welcome back to the What's Your 1 More Podcast. I'm your host, Quinton Harris. You're dialed in for 2 64 new studio. [00:00:05] Same headlines, new housing information and higher loan limits. What does all that mean going to [00:00:10] 2026 for homeowners? That and more in this episode at What's your one more?
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Quinton: Hey, we are at our new studio. Super pumped. [00:00:20] Take a look around, uh, if you can. We got some stuff on social right now. My producer did a heck of a job [00:00:25] like this is awesome that he set up. We built a lounge outside of the studio. We've got [00:00:30] additional, producing area. It's gonna be really cool. We're gonna show you that and more in these upcoming episodes, but let's get into a [00:00:35] couple of things here.
Like, we took a little time off of the podcast, took us about two weeks to relocate. I [00:00:40] started getting text messages, started getting some emails, people going, Hey, Q, have you canceled the podcast? Are you [00:00:45] still doing the pod? Like, what's up? And I was like, no, no, no, no. Like I, I may be quiet. And that's not [00:00:50] that I've lost my voice or that anything's wrong.
I was just trying to find the, the right hill to die on. And I [00:00:55] have, and for a lot of people it's gonna be uncomfortable. And, uh, get ready and buckle up because, uh, we got a lot to [00:01:00] bring to you in more of these next upcoming episodes. So let's get started. Let's talk about some things here. Um, recent [00:01:05] headline from Zillow says 53% of US homes have gone down in value [00:01:10] compared to 14% from a year ago.
So pretty, pretty lethargic headline when you take a look at [00:01:15] that here. Um, and I, I, I kind of question that because when we look at that, is that really true? The [00:01:20] average homeowner is now owning their home for eight years compared to in the past, studies showed five [00:01:25] years, eight years now. A lot of homeowners have a tremendous amount of equity.
We've talked about this over and over again on [00:01:30] the show here. Headline down 53%. Like if I'm a future homeowner and I'm looking at this, I'm like, man, I [00:01:35] don't wanna buy homes. They're going down. This is, this is a bad headline, right? What, what they're showing [00:01:40] and what they're reflecting is that we all go to estimate, right?
Zillow's estimated form of value. And you might [00:01:45] sign up, you might get emails and you might notice a little down arrow. You might notice a green up arrow. But homes are going [00:01:50] down in these, these estimates, right? That doesn't mean the value of your home went down, that just means [00:01:55] estimates saying it went down and that's not the end all be all.
'cause we wouldn't get appraisals if it was up to Zillow. And [00:02:00] there's estimates, right? But a deceiving headline because later on in this particular study, and in particular [00:02:05] headline here, you'll find that they talk about values are actually up in some areas and down [00:02:10] in others. But yet, how did they come up?
53%. How did they come up? 53% of homes are down in value. [00:02:15] Well, let's look at it this way. If all the homes across America when they did this survey or when they. [00:02:20] Kind of looked at the testimate and said, Hey, you had a down arrow. 53% of 'em were down. Okay, [00:02:25] maybe they're down 0.5%, maybe they're off. And the one thing about zest [00:02:30] is it's a month to month indicator, meaning it goes up, it goes down.
I've signed up for it to see how the tool works, and it's [00:02:35] almost like a Christmas light every now and then. It's green every now and then. It's red. It's up or down. Down's not consistent, [00:02:40] especially in this market. But that doesn't mean home values are deteriorating. Home values are. Off, and it doesn't mean [00:02:45] home prices are off 53%.
So one of the things I wanna talk about is the Federal Housing [00:02:50] Finance Agency that's ran by Bill Pulte, and that's the agency, the government agency that monitors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.[00:02:55]
Now what's interesting is every year around today's date, which is the end of November, heading into [00:03:00] December, they release what we call the new conventional loan limit. Now what's interesting about that is that [00:03:05] loan limit is determined based on loans that were done and home values that were [00:03:10] bought during the time of the evaluation of 1124 to 1125.[00:03:15]
Well, in this evaluation they've assessed that values have gone up [00:03:20] 3.2%. So here it is an annual rise of 3.2% of all homes that are [00:03:25] purchased through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Now, again, those are finance deals, so [00:03:30] when you look at some other. Resources out there that come in and say, Hey, home prices are this, [00:03:35] and you know, appreciation is is X, Y, Z.
Sometimes those include cash deals. And cash [00:03:40] deals can be more competitive, thus driving the price down. But when you're financing it and you're going through Fannie Mae and Freddie [00:03:45] Mac, sometimes those deals aren't as competitive as far as negotiations. You might get more [00:03:50] closer to the list price, and that is showing that homes went up 3.2%.
So because of that, they [00:03:55] established a new higher loan limit. And so you'll see this chart on our YouTube channel at What's your One [00:04:00] more That's at, what's your one Moreth number one. Uh, love putting charts on the show. Uh, our friends over at Housing [00:04:05] Wire produced a great graph here showing these conventional loan limits over a course of a 10 year window.[00:04:10]
Now, in 2016, that loan limit was 417,000. That was [00:04:15] nine years ago. Getting ready 10 years ago, we've effectively doubled that. You've doubled the [00:04:20] size of the conventional loan limit. Now, in 2016, that loan limit was four 17 for just [00:04:25] about a decade, and that's because of what happened during, you know, 2008, 7, 7, 8, 9, [00:04:30] 10.
You go on and on. But it was there for a long time at four 17. But look at the ramp up in this [00:04:35] graph and it's, it's pretty significant, the increases of, of, of loan sizes through there. And why [00:04:40] is that important? Well, 'cause as a homeowner, the prices are going up and if these loan limits didn't go up and [00:04:45] adjust with the prices, you wouldn't be able to buy a home at 5% down.
You wouldn't be [00:04:50] able to do, heck, 10% down in some cases. So these loan limits move up to adjust [00:04:55] to the values of the property and the asking prices, selling prices, finance [00:05:00] prices. Lemme say that one more time. The values are determined. Loan [00:05:05] limits are determined based on the values of the properties being sold and financed.[00:05:10]
So why on earth are we getting an article by Zillow saying [00:05:15] 53% of all homes are going down in value, and yet we have a curve that's tracked [00:05:20] by the Federal Housing Finance Agency who gets all the data from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That's suggesting the prices [00:05:25] went up 3.2%. See, this is the stuff that's not published because it's not a, it's not a fun headline to grab.[00:05:30]
And a lot of people don't want to admit that home prices are actually extremely stable and in some [00:05:35] cases going up. And I think that this kind of speaks volumes to that, and it's important to us here on the [00:05:40] show to talk about that. Because again, as a homeowner going into 2026, I need be armed with the right [00:05:45] information and armed with the facts, not the fear mongering that's on line right now and in these articles coming out.
[00:05:50] So let's take a look at a couple other things here on this. I think that when I look at lenders as a [00:05:55] whole, one of the things I try to take a look at is like aggressive stances or how does something like this [00:06:00] work? Obviously you can't take advantage of this till January 1st, but a lot of lenders will allow you to go [00:06:05] ahead and currently do that loan limit.
They'll allow you to go ahead, start financing it, getting done ahead [00:06:10] of the curve. So if you're a homeowner and you're wanting to kind of jump ahead of this, the opportunity's there. What [00:06:15] I would start taking a look at right now is, where's my window of opportunity? You have sellers that [00:06:20] are for the first time in history, taking more homes off the market, what we call delisting at such a [00:06:25] rapid rate that we haven't seen before.
That's not a bad thing. It actually happens during the holidays, but it's happening more [00:06:30] now than ever before at a rapid rate. Because there's so many homes that were on the market that are now coming back [00:06:35] off during the holiday season, which again makes sense. You don't wanna have your home listed during Thanksgiving and during Christmas, [00:06:40] and you know, just people you don't know coming in inside of your house during that time.
So this is a natural [00:06:45] course of action that happens. It's just happening to be that we had more homes on the market than before. However, here's where the win is for a new [00:06:50] buyer.
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Quinton: So if I'm a new homeowner going into 2026, I started thinking about what does that look like? [00:07:55] As I start to think about, okay, what do I need to set the stage for? Is there planning? I need to do? Couple plans you need to do. [00:08:00] Meet with your lender, get pre-approved. Meet with your real estate agent.
Identify a budget. Identify exactly what [00:08:05] home you're looking for. Look at those home now during the holiday season, especially if they're available. Maybe they came off the [00:08:10] market, they were delisted. But look at those homes now because what you wanna take advantage of are these cooperative [00:08:15] sellers that are willing to work with you in the form of helping you with a lower rate, paying closing costs, many different avenues you can take [00:08:20] advantage of on there.
However, if you wait into Q1, and we know the Federal Reserve has set the stage [00:08:25] for quantitative easing, lower rates, we don't need them to lower the Fed funds rate in order for the bond market to [00:08:30] deteriorate. The yields get lower, and then all of a sudden the 30 year fixed mortgage rate gets lower as well.[00:08:35]
The stage is set. Maybe look at doing that now versus. Into next year, because into [00:08:40] next year you might be in a crowded space with other buyers who are thinking the same thing. Look at this now. [00:08:45] Identify the property. Get pre-approved. It's a great time to take a look at these properties. And again, [00:08:50] don't believe the headlines.
This 53% of homes are lower now than what they were at the beginning of the [00:08:55] year. Is a just a botched headline. Don't buy into that. Don't get caught up into these, you know, headlines, [00:09:00] these click baits, doom porn, as we call it on here before. There's a lot of people that wanna tell [00:09:05] you what you need to do.
Start analyzing the facts for yourself and get ahead of the curve. So guys, if you like [00:09:10] what you're hearing, please take a look at us on YouTube at What's Your 1 More with the number 1 and subscribe to our channel and check us out on [00:09:15] Spotify and Apple. Until the next episode, I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving and give thanks to be with Family [00:09:20] and Health Guys.
Speaker 2: See you at the next episode of What's Your 1 More I got one more shot. I'm gonna make [00:09:25] it one more chance. [00:09:30] [00:09:35] I'm. [00:09:40] [00:09:45]
