I built a home a year ago in KY and locked in 2.625% for 30 years, pretty much telling me I will never be able to refinance for a lower rate. And if the opportunity arises in the future (most banks require a full point reduction and/or $100 decrease in payment to even humor a REFI) then something is REALLY wrong out there, and I wouldn’t touch it. I would just ride out what I have being my rate is fixed. The printing of money and increasing debt is what gave us the ride we had. Not to mention the Government was purchasing corporate debt. What we are seeing now with inflation/fuel increases is the Governments way of telling us they cant afford to do all of this anymore. If the value of our currency goes down, so does the Governments debt (basically).
Yes! That part I can definitely see. I only do this part time as I would go nuts trying to make sure I can pay my bills. I do hope to be able to keep this as a side gig and continue it after retirement. I enjoy doing this and all that I have learned so far!
…do you think that because of how low rates were on refi’s, this will make people decide to stay put rather than sell/purchase?? Essentially slowing down the resale market??
I do actually, mainly because these were the lowest mortgage rates in mortgage history (Never fell below 3%).
Can someone explain why I received this message:
Topic closed due to cross-posting. Per our Community Guidelines:
Keep it tidy - Make the effort to put things in the right place, so that we can spend more time discussing and less cleaning up. So:
· Don’t cross-post the same thing in multiple topics.
Please feel free to continue this discussion on the original topic here. This will prevent any confusion for other members who wish to read through and/or participate in the discussion.
What did I miss?? Because …discussing interest rates and how they affect us is directly related to our business, not a cross discussion.
Cross-posting simply means that the same content was posted on two separate topics.
This is why I closed the duplicate topic and let everyone know that they can absolutely continue the discussion on this topic. This helps prevent any confusion that may occur if the same discussion was occurring on two separate topics.
But why was a notification sent that someone had responded three 3 times - is the forum structure now limiting responses to 3 or less per person? Just curious
Hi @LindaH-FL,
No, there is no limit to the number of comments members can reply to. The popup was just an auto recommendation to switch the conversation to a Direct Message if the member wanted to.
Sometimes, if a conversation slows down and becomes more personal between only two members, it makes more sense to switch over to DM instead of continuing their convo on a public topic. But members are not required to! Again, just a recommendation made by the system.
Thank you for clarifying, Katelyn
Ahhhh I see. OK. Makes sense now!
Yes, @Katelyn and I had a side bar via message and she clarified. Initially, I thought I was being flagged for “talking too much!” (which does happen from time to time) 
Always had a full-time very flexible job (22 years). And i agree. The days of 5-6 closings a day or gone. Did 4 total last week!
Zoiks!!! I’m curious…Are you in a rural area?? Or urban??
I did 4 as well, but admittedly I declined quite a few and probably could have done 12-15, however I would have actually had to WORK for them, LOL… i.e., drive 20 miles (…I’m in a large metropolitan area, so anything over 10 is alot-20 miles in traffic is a frustrating 45-60 minute drive each way). But I’m trying to tie up loose ends before starting my “real” job, and just didn’t want to work that hard, LOL!
It’s very confusing. I got it too.
Yep, it was the era of Ninja loan!(no income, no job, no assets).
IMO: people will still be buying and selling.
The Refi folks may wait for economy indicators whether to max out their equities in order to get max cash out and pay the current/potential higher interest rates or cut their budgets and try to say afloat with low interest rates that they current hold.
Congratulations!
I know one thing that during this Pandemic a few group or economic sectors got rich. And we all know the dark storm is coming over the horizon where we will have lots of foreclosures, short sales, and people will be desperate to unload properties cheap. Those people who got rich during this pandemic will sit on cash and wait to scoop up those properties low and wait for the next boom to unload for big profits! Remember the movie “The big short”.
Bingo! Exactly…I concur. 
HAHAHAHAHA!!! This made me laugh out loud!!
If you are fortunate and live in a highly desirable market there will still be trailing business in purchases and seller packages. Our area has very low inventory for available housing coupled with several new housing projects. Refi’s have fallen off, what remains seem to be exotic packages that require lots of extra effort and have an increased risk of making errors. The signers themselves are late converters, people who were hesitant or unable to refi early and are now trying to catch the end of the wave before rates go up. They tend to be distrustful or inexperienced and you can rely on spending extra time at those signings. There is also an increase of having multiple signers as families are pooling resources to purchase or refi a home.
The beginning of February when the rate hike was announced meant a few days of shocked silence. That and possibly companies getting their tax documents ready meant nearly no work at all. Lately the volume of my business has been purchases and sales followed by HELOCs. The last few years, HELOCs start popping up in January through tax time.
I don’t have many options at my age to start over in a ‘real’ job but companies were still hiring at full-tilt last time I looked. Inflation may dampen those opportunities and the war in Ukraine will impact inflation as well. If someone is thinking about jumping ship and going the 9 to 5, earlier is better than later.
There will always be general notary work and not everyone wants to go in to a UPS store. Their notaries aren’t always available and due to the low volume of work they experience, many times are baffled and hesitant in providing the service. But there will simply not be the income there used to be unless the Fed lowers the rates again to stimulate the economy. The decision to raise them was pre-Ukraine.
We might still have March to work before we hit the trough. Much better to have something else lined up if you are able.
Best of luck,
J