Mark’s Market Update – 10/26/2023
Hug your favorite Pumpkin in life…
I was nine when my mother (fresh off a divorce) moved me and my twin brother from Ogden, Utah to Albuquerque, NM. She needed a fresh start – and she was hell-bent on making sure she was able to live the life that she wanted.
She bought our first home that we had in Albuquerque at 1919 La Veta NE.
She was also a single mom. Rates at the time were 12.9%.
12.9%! Almost 13%!
She could have rented. She didn’t. She wanted to own a home…because she didn’t want to move us anymore (we’d moved four times in two years prior to that).
So, a single mom, raising two twin boys, bought a home at 12.9%. Do you think that scared her? It probably did.
And, she made it work. We lived there for several years until she sold that home and we moved into the next home in 1986 (rates were better – just under 10%).
I know that, financially, we were better off because she owned a home. I know that she created stability for us. We were neighborhood latchkey kids who walked through good neighborhoods going to and from school, riding our banana-seat bikes (with red sparkly vinyl seats…hey, it was a thing back then) everywhere. And, she left the door unlocked. All the freakin’ time. It was a different world.
It was a great home to grow up in…and I’m sure that’s what she wanted to have happen.
Rates are now above 8.0%. I’m sure my mother would say, “Do you know where the rates were when I bought my first home on my own? 12.9%!”
Rates aren’t forever. Memories are. Your first home price is. Get the right memories knowing that you can refinance the rate. As long as you can AFFORD the home…do it. And, then, be like my Mom, who figured it out.
For now – just brace yourself for rates at 8.0% or higher, and watch my latest TikTok video about why closing costs are what they are.
Oh…waitaminute – you mean you’re not following ME on social media?
Okay – let’s fix that super quick.
– Tiktok: @Markthelender
– Instagram: @Markthelender.
– Threads: @Markthelender (seeing a trend, here?
– Youtube: @Mark.Thelender (someone already had markthelender so I had to add a stupid period to it…
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.d.smith.50 (didn’t know what I didn’t know – so, I wasn’t able to get MarkTheLender)…
And hug your best Pumpkin in life….