Sounds like a rather dismal picture of things to come, Deborah. It is true that the rise of interest rates could impact severely on the volume of refis and sales. I suppose that depends on the type of mortgage involved. Not all are tied to the Federal Reserve. If I am not mistaken some are tied to the bond market that thrives on interest rate hykes. Right now the national average rate for a 30 fixed rate mortgage is lower than a year ago, notwithstanding seven interest rate hykes by the Federal Reserve since last summer. Keep in mind that those are short term lending rate hykes which banks charge each other. The national housing figures were just published this morning. New housing sales were up 11% nationally and 20% in the Northeast. Existing home sales were down slightly from the previous month, but still at near record levels.
As for competition among the abstractors becoming fierce...what is new about that? Most of the time it is fueled by title companies playing one off against the other to get the cheapest search possible. Rob Grandon has expounded a positive approach that most abstractors should take some time to consider. In stead of undercutting each others prices, perhaps the time would be better spent organizing into a cohesive group to maket their skills.
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