Ep 268
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Welcome back to the next episode of What's Your One More?, you're dialed in for episode 268. I'm your host, [00:00:05] Quinton Harris. In this episode, we're gonna talk about where's all the inventory going? Why are more homebuyers [00:00:10] having more power now than ever before? And why are sellers retreating?
All that and more in this episode of What's Your [00:00:15] One More?.
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So hey, we're back. Welcome back to the show. Couple things to talk about here. Let's start with where's all the inventory [00:00:25] going? I mean, right now we're at some of the most depleted inventory le- levels nationwide [00:00:30] that we've seen in some time, and that's making it difficult for homebuyers.
You would think the homebuyers have all [00:00:35] the p- prospective buyers have all the power right now. You know, they're asking for incentives. They're asking for more things to be [00:00:40] fixed during inspection. But the reality is, if there's not enough inventory, those [00:00:45] homebuyers can't take advantage of some of the options that are being given and bestowed to them in this market.
And then you take [00:00:50] a look at the sellers. Where... What's going on? Why are m- more delistings happening right now? Why are [00:00:55] more homes being taken off the market? Well, I think it's a combination of a couple of things. [00:01:00] Number one, let's talk about the homes coming off the market. Why is that important? Well, sellers are listing these [00:01:05] homes at prices that are probably unrealistic.
You know, I think it's interesting when I see articles about home [00:01:10] prices, not rising, not going up at these significant levels, but they're still going up. You know, they're going up at a slower [00:01:15] pace than normal, but they're not depleting. They're not going backwards. And homes are being listed as if there's a [00:01:20] combination of, you know, somewhere in the middle between this normal rate of return and this accelerated post-COVID [00:01:25] era we're coming out of.
And let's face it, if you're gonna list your home, you always think you want more for it than probably what it's [00:01:30] worth. And in this environment, we're battling the lock-in effect. We're battling in, you know, a rise in oil [00:01:35] prices, gas prices. There's a lot of inflationary measures being shown right now.
People wanna get [00:01:40] more bang for their buck when they go to list something if they're gonna be inconvenienced in moving. But the reality [00:01:45] is, the buyers aren't matching that temperature. And so homes are coming off the market 'cause people can't get what [00:01:50] they want for it. We've talked about this numerous times on the show, like, "Hey, if I'm gonna list my home, like, like, what the [00:01:55] hell?
Like, if I'm gonna list it, I better get X for it. And if I don't get X, like, screw off, [00:02:00] right? I don't need to sell it. I'm not in this, I'm not in a situation where I'm forced to be out of the house. You know, I'm in a [00:02:05] situation where I'm comfortable around the payment. I'm in a situation where maybe I've got this imagery in [00:02:10] my head that I'm gonna net hundreds of thousand dollars of equity that I have in there on the sale, [00:02:15] and maybe it's comfortable for me to go make a move somewhere else, right, at this point, based on those other two things I just described."
[00:02:20] But when they don't add up, it's like, "You know what? I'm done. I'm out. I'll just stay where I'm at." Because no one likes to move. Let's face it, [00:02:25] moving is not fun, right? But if I'm gonna be inconvenienced, I'm gonna do it, it better be worth my time, right? And then there's the [00:02:30] buyer that comes into the market that's like, "Hey, I feel like this home's overpriced.
I feel like I'm paying too much for this [00:02:35] home." And the reality is, you're always buying at the peak, right? I mean, that's always the case. But let's [00:02:40] go back to some other logic here. If you have buyers that have a little bit of pires- power, [00:02:45] excuse me, saying, "Hey, will you pay my closing costs for me? Hey, will you help in discount, you know, the rate with [00:02:50] buydowns?
Will you help with fixing things around the house that, I'd like for you to fix before I move in?" That, that are maybe, [00:02:55] cosmetic, not necessarily structural, that aren't required by the lender or required by the loan, [00:03:00] sellers would normally be cooperative if the price is right. But in this market where people are trying [00:03:05] to work down prices or in this market where- there's this battle line that's taking place between buyers and [00:03:10] sellers.
There's really just not that cooperation going on right now. And then the second thing of reason on [00:03:15] inventory, and this is probably one of the ones that I think is the most interesting, and I spent some time researching, [00:03:20] going around different areas and looking at this. But we used to have a buy-up buyer, right?
Excuse me, buy-up, move-up buyer, right? [00:03:25] So the move-up buyer is someone that would sell their home and say, "I'm gonna buy another home, list my [00:03:30] home, move on, and buy up in a home," whether it's size of the property, family size, [00:03:35] they would move up and go on. In this particular case, what's happening right now, and we've talked about this for the last five [00:03:40] years, the lock-in effect has driven a different mindset around the country.[00:03:45]
Meaning that your home that you currently live in has become not... Traditionally, it's [00:03:50] always been thought of as, like, your largest investment. And you know, there's people out there say, "Hey, your primary residence is not an investment." [00:03:55] A- and I see both sides of the coin here. But the reality is, most Americans, their wealth is in their [00:04:00] home, right?
More so now than ever before. We have some of the highest equity rates ever on stage in [00:04:05] America. So when that person goes to think about selling their home, they're [00:04:10] also looking at the fact, like, "Wow, I've got this locked-in rate. I'm never going to get this rate again. Like, [00:04:15] I'm just not going to get this probably in my lifetime.
So why would I sell it?" And in the [00:04:20] past, when the margins of deciding to keep that home is based on renting and the margin's, like, $50, [00:04:25] $150 a month, it's just not worth it to the prospective, you know, home, new home buyer selling [00:04:30] their home. They'll just sell it and move on. Now there's this reality of, "I can net somewhere [00:04:35] $500, $800 a month, sometimes $1,000 a month, just by keeping the current loan that I'm in right now and renting it out.[00:04:40]
Okay.
Well, I'm going to go buy another home, maybe put a home equity line on this one, put a down [00:04:45] payment and keep this and rent it out and make that differential, because I'm willing to do that at this point. I'm [00:04:50] willing to say, 'Hey, property manager, I'll hire or I'll do it myself.' It's worth the squeeze at this point [00:04:55] because of the amount of money being made."
And they can do that because of the lock-in rates. We have more people converting their home [00:05:00] into an asset than we've ever had before once they move out. That's restricting the inventory. So [00:05:05] instead of having a home buyer that, you know, moves up and sells and adds to the [00:05:10] inventory level, you're having a home buyer that moves up and retains, rents, thus depleting inventory.[00:05:15]
And that is a big thing happening in the market right now. You know, just a couple of headlines here I'd like to point [00:05:20] out. Uh, and, and we'll jump in in just a second right after this commercial break.
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All right, so welcome back. There is [00:06:25] a headline that's out right now by Lawrence Yun. Now, for those who aren't familiar, Lawrence Yun is the [00:06:30] economist, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, uh, also known as NAR.[00:06:35]
He actually said in his forecast... Now, it's a very, very timid forecast from the standpoint that, [00:06:40] you know, it's 25 years away, right? 24 years away. He said, get this, Charlie, by [00:06:45] 2050, you know what the average home price in America he suspects is gonna [00:06:50] be? A million dollars For average. Let that sit in [00:06:55] for average.
And the whole audience was like , "No way." Well, think about this. He said, [00:07:00] "Let's go back to 1990. In 1990, the average home price in America was [00:07:05] $100,000. And in 1990, if you would've told 1990 that [00:07:10] today's average home price is $430,000, they'd have been like, 'No way.'" He goes, "We're [00:07:15] not that far away," he goes, "Right now the average home price in San Francisco is over a million dollars."
He goes, "We're just, there's [00:07:20] not enough homes being built to offset the demand that's there. And even if you're using just moderate growth at [00:07:25] 3%, you're going to get to that million dollars. So are we becoming so [00:07:30] unaffordable and that's unattainable, or is income gonna go beyond that? I mean, you're not outpacing inflation in the current [00:07:35] market with that.
But the reality is, he set the tone that, don't think you're gonna go into these markets and just go get a steal. [00:07:40] And I thought that was interesting because it adds to the flavor of the commentary we talk about is you're always [00:07:45] buying at the peak. And recently, I, I've been asked to come back to my alma mater and [00:07:50] speak to students about real estate and speak to them in regards to [00:07:55] retaining wealth and financial literacy through real estate.
Now, I love this, 'cause one of the [00:08:00] questions I asked my alma mater was, "Well, do you have any real estate classes?" And they said, "You know, we just started bringing them [00:08:05] back by student demand," by the way. The students demanded these classes. That to me says a lot about [00:08:10] home ownership and wanting to know about real estate.
But what they're teaching them is [00:08:15] essentially commercial real estate. There's very little residential real estate in there, and that was one of the questions I asked, like, why [00:08:20] so little on residential real estate? And you know, they had some flavor commentary to add around that, but the [00:08:25] reality is, it's interesting to me because I go back to [00:08:30] this teens and real estate topic that we've talked about many times on this show, this passion project of mine.
And I told these [00:08:35] guys, I said, "Listen, I want the average student to know the day they graduate, the empowerment is [00:08:40] in their hand to make the decision. Not that of social medias, not that of the medias, not that of their friends and [00:08:45] family, but theirs, right?" And I wanna show them and teach them ways to leverage and to obtain some of [00:08:50] these homes that are available even before this price becomes $1 million in [00:08:55] 2050.
And I want them to understand that this is not so far out. And as I told this [00:09:00] person, at the college, you know, the average first-time home buyer is 40. That's ridiculous. We gotta get that better, [00:09:05] right? He said, "Man, you're literally, like, talking to me, like, in real life." And he [00:09:10] gave me his story.
I thought it was awesome. I appreciate him sharing this. And the bottom line was he became a [00:09:15] homeowner at the age of 41. First-time homeowner at the age of 41. And he's like, "Literally, you're telling me my [00:09:20] story right in front of me." I'm like, that's the thing." And he gave me reasons as to why that happened, and it was never [00:09:25] financially unattainable.
It was financial literacy. They usually start somewhere in the household with the mom and [00:09:30] dad, very similar to mine, that it's not talked about, it's not, discussed, and it's not shown, [00:09:35] right? And so a lot of these students when they graduate are in that same pool, but more [00:09:40] importantly, they're being told that you gotta wait until you're older, and the reality is that's not the case.
So I'm [00:09:45] very excited to get back to that, but that headline, Jeff, we have a million dollars by 2050. It's insane, right? [00:09:50] And here's these people online telling us that home prices are gonna drop, home prices are gonna go down, and [00:09:55] over the last 12 years, the doomers, as we like to say, have been preaching this.
Where are they at? Where-- Guys, you are [00:10:00] welcome to come on the show, all of you. We've heard it. Please come in, sit right here. the Podfather will [00:10:05] jump on here with you, and I will show you what's up with the charts that we have because facts over fear. You can't [00:10:10] beat me on that, right? But then this fear-mongering draws audiences and, they don't wanna listen to the facts about that.
The other [00:10:15] headline that I wanted to bring up here is that more real estate agents are quitting and mortgage originators are quitting than ever before in the [00:10:20] business. Why? Because the average transaction counts are going down as far as the number of counts, and [00:10:25] people say it's just getting harder. Now, I'd like to point out, we have a terrific sponsor in Texana Bank who [00:10:30] offers an amazing program that's called Real Estate Mortgage Loan Originator.
That's REMLO trademark [00:10:35] product, but allows you to absolutely take advantage of all aspects as a real estate agent so that you [00:10:40] don't have to quit, but become part of the origination team as well and be compensated for that. What a wonderful opportunity when [00:10:45] many of your competitors are getting out of the business, as well as loan officers.
The peak of loan officers, [00:10:50] registered loan officers in 2021 was February of 2021. We are forty percent [00:10:55] below that now. Forty percent of the competition's gotten out, and real estate agents are quitting day by [00:11:00] day. What an opportunity to get in here and take advantage of that. And then last but not least, this is one of my favorite ones.[00:11:05]
What's the most critical mistake that a future home buyer [00:11:10] makes when they get into the market? Here it is. Ready? Front and center. Future mis- [00:11:15] first mistake they make is literally going into the property thinking you're [00:11:20] going to get a better deal than what's on the table or what's on the sign or what's on the MLS.
[00:11:25] That you're going to go in and you're going to negotiate down the price of this home [00:11:30] because you feel like you have the empowerment. Did you not just hear the stats we talked about? Did you [00:11:35] not see any of the previous podcasts? There is not enough inventory for you to go in there with that [00:11:40] mentality.
Go in there. Homes in today's market are selling one percent [00:11:45] below list price. One percent. Seller alert. Listen up here. If you price your home correctly, [00:11:50] you're probably going to get people knocking down that door, thus driving up the price because you're [00:11:55] listing it correctly. Listen to your real estate agents that are giving you that advice.
They do know what they're talking about when it comes to [00:12:00] that. They see more in the market than you do. Take advantage of that. It's a great opportunity. [00:12:05] And for my other audience, I mentioned REMLO earlier. If you're not familiar with what that is, [00:12:10] check us out at REMLOprogram.com. There is a tremendous amount of opportunity there.
We are signing up [00:12:15] people in this very successfully. Had one of our biggest months in the month of May 2026. Thanks to all [00:12:20] of our REMLO agents out there doing wonderful things. I look forward to talking more about that. Guys, if you like what you're [00:12:25] hearing, please five-star review us. Uh, check us out on YouTube. Uh, smash up the like button, subscribe. [00:12:30] Uh, we're so appreciative of all the comments you guys leave and all the feedback. It drives us to do more on this show, research [00:12:35] more information. And hey, if you're gonna be around the Knoxville area in the fall, come listen to what we're talking about with real estate, Teens and Real [00:12:40] Estate.
It's a great opportunity. It's gonna be a great moment to hear a positive message for once about real estate and not all this [00:12:45] negative Nelly stuff that's out there. So till the next time, see you guys in the next episode of What's Your 1 More?
I got one more [00:12:50] shot. I'm gonna make it. One more chance. I'm gonna take it. [00:12:55] I meant it when I said it. Now it's time for me to do it. I got one life to live so I'll [00:13:00] put my all into it. Yeah Thanks for tuning in to What's Your One More [00:13:05] hosted by Quinton Harris. Production and music by Charlie Walker. If you're a real [00:13:10] estate agent looking to grow your business, visit askaboutremlo.com to learn more.[00:13:15]
If you got value from today's episode, follow the show, leave a review, and share it [00:13:20] with someone who needs it. Thanks again. We'll see you next [00:13:25] time
