5% mortgage rates

5% Mortgage Rate Looms Ahead, Real Estate Tech Company Secures Millions, and More

5% mortgage rates Watch, listen, read, and follow the latest and greatest in real estate insights—February 16, 2018, edition.

WATCH: Here’s how a 5% mortgage rate would roil the US housing market

The average 30-year fixed rate has jumped to around 4.5 percent. What if it reaches 5 percent? How will this affect prospective homebuyers? Some experts predict that people will stop selling their homes, opting to stay in them instead. This means there will be even fewer homes on the market, causing prices to go up even more.

Redfin has its own set of predictions for a 5 percent mortgage rate:

  • 25 percent of homebuyers would slow down their plans to purchase
  • 6 percent of prospective homebuyers would drop their plans to purchase altogether
  • Another 20 percent would relocate or opt for smaller homes

On the upside, Redfin’s chief economist believes that tight credit, lack of inventory, and high demand mean there is no impending housing bubble.

LISTEN: Real Estate Rockstar Radio

Pat Hiban Interviews Real Estate Rockstars is a top-ranked, three-day a week real estate podcast, hosted by billion-dollar agent Pat Hiban, interviewing the best of the best in and around the real estate industry.

This episode focuses on Linzee Ciprani, who runs two real estate business. She shares her story of how she made the move from an administrative position to CEO of multiple companies.

Here’s an overview of the podcast:

[1:34] Linzee’s brief bio
[2:38] How Linzee got started in real estate
[4:49] Linzee’s income and profit figures for the last 12 months
[5:24] How Linzee’s team is structured
[9:00] Pricing for Linzee’s consulting services
[13:36] How to find great buyer’s agents for your team
[17:20] Linzee’s strategy for finding an office manager
[18:41] Personalities to consider for an office-manager position
[20:04] Personalities to consider when hiring new agents
[23:20] The systems Linzee uses to hold her team accountable
[29:48] Linzee’s strategy for selling as many homes as possible in six months
[31:16] Where to get Linzee’s communication journal

READ: Real estate technology company Homesnap secures $14 million in funding

HousingWire is reporting that Homesnap, a real estate technology company that provides a mobile productivity app and marketing platform real estate professionals has received $14 million in new funding. Homesnap, dubbed one of the top technology companies in the real estate and housing biz, plans to use the money to develop new tools to improve real estate agents’ productivity in the field.

FOLLOW: Las Vegas real estate agent Debbie Drummond

There are plenty of real estate agents on Twitter, but the vast majority of them rarely tweet—or have anything all that interesting to say when they do. Debbie Drummond (@vegashomepro), a Las Vegas real estate agent with more than 10,000 followers, is a refreshing exception. She posts great resources for real estate agents on everything from homebuying etiquette to home staging.