Why rate cuts are just part of the current client conversation
“At the start of the year, we were hoping for another quarter-point rate cut,” Kristin O’Neil (pictured top), senior loan officer at Open Door Lending, told Mortgage Professional America. “Now, with inflation back in the conversation, the industry is talking about potential rate hikes ahead. That’s a real shift, and it’s a good reminder that none of us can predict exactly where rates are headed.”
Rethinking the market outlook
That uncertainty has changed how O’Neil frames the outlook for clients in her home market of Richmond, Virginia, where she says she’s stopped defining her own read on the market by which way rates are heading.
Mortgage rates have been on a wild ride in the year to date, ticking steadily upwards since the beginning of the US-Iran war in February but remaining below their level from 12 months ago.
“Honestly, I try not to tie my optimism or pessimism about the market to rate direction anymore,” O’Neil said.
Rate buydowns back in the spotlight
Rather than betting on the direction of the 10-year Treasury or the result of the next Fed meeting, O’Neil said her focus has shifted toward tools that lower a buyer’s payment today – starting with a reassessment of rate buydowns.
