THE REAL (ESTATE) STORY By Larry Underhil| "THE SKY IS FALLING!" I hear the outcry about higher interest rates and remember 1982 when I sold my tire business and moved Julie and our two little girls to Lodi. I was STOKED because the going interest rate was 14.5% and I got a 13.25% rate on my new home loan! Yippee! MY GO-TO LENDER for the past 30-plus years, Wes Rice, recalls the many years when the buzz in the real estate industry was, "You'll never see single-digit interest rates again." And guess what? Life went on. PEOPLE NEED TO MOVE. People sell. People buy. When the market is up, when the market is down. Life goes on. ONE IMPORTANT FACT is that every quarter- point uptick in mortgage rates reduces a Buyer's qualifying power. People "live in their payment". Most folks are more concerned with their monthly "nut" than they are with other factors of a home purchase. SO THERE IS validity to the concern about rates. You need to be wise, but the reality is that buying your own home is (in my humble opinion) the very best investment you can make. Pay rent to yourself, and watch your equity grow over the long haul. Ideally, build a little portfolio of real estate over time. It's the surest path to wealth I know of for the average person. I REMEMBER when interest rates finally (after more than a decade) dipped to 9.5%. Realtors danced in the streets! (Not literally. Many Realtors can't dance.). The current market climate (High demand, limited inventory, rising but still-reasonable mortgage rates) is just another chapter in the ongoing real estate saga. Have a great week ahead! See you next Sat. THE STATESMAN kw TEAM License 00858988 209-333-2380 CAL BRE LICENSE NUMBER 01907539 www.TheStatesmanTeam.com THE REAL (ESTATE) STORY By Larry Underhil| "THE SKY IS FALLING!" I hear the outcry about higher interest rates and remember 1982 when I sold my tire business and moved Julie and our two little girls to Lodi. I was STOKED because the going interest rate was 14.5% and I got a 13.25% rate on my new home loan! Yippee! MY GO-TO LENDER for the past 30-plus years, Wes Rice, recalls the many years when the buzz in the real estate industry was, "You'll never see single-digit interest rates again." And guess what? Life went on. PEOPLE NEED TO MOVE. People sell. People buy. When the market is up, when the market is down. Life goes on. ONE IMPORTANT FACT is that every quarter- point uptick in mortgage rates reduces a Buyer's qualifying power. People "live in their payment". Most folks are more concerned with their monthly "nut" than they are with other factors of a home purchase. SO THERE IS validity to the concern about rates. You need to be wise, but the reality is that buying your own home is (in my humble opinion) the very best investment you can make. Pay rent to yourself, and watch your equity grow over the long haul. Ideally, build a little portfolio of real estate over time. It's the surest path to wealth I know of for the average person. I REMEMBER when interest rates finally (after more than a decade) dipped to 9.5%. Realtors danced in the streets! (Not literally. Many Realtors can't dance.). The current market climate (High demand, limited inventory, rising but still-reasonable mortgage rates) is just another chapter in the ongoing real estate saga. Have a great week ahead! See you next Sat. THE STATESMAN kw TEAM License 00858988 209-333-2380 CAL BRE LICENSE NUMBER 01907539 www.TheStatesmanTeam.com