09/03/2026
Friday the Fed chair gave a speech everyone was watching, hoping to hear that rate cuts were coming. Instead he said the opposite. Rates should not be promised in advance. Within hours the 10 year treasury yield jumped and the market’s odds of a rate hike in September went from 35% to almost 60%, overnight.
If you’ve been waiting for rates to drop before you start looking, I need you to see this.
Right now there are 1.126 million active listings nationally. Pending sales are up just 2% year over year, which means competition for each home is lower than it’s been in a long time. That combination, high inventory and low buyer competition, does not last. It shows up for a season and then it’s gone, usually the moment rates actually do drop and everyone who was waiting jumps back in at once.
Here’s what I’m telling my buyers this week instead of “wait and see”:
1. Get preapproved at today’s rate, not the rate you’re hoping for. Know your real number so you can move the second the right house shows up.
2. Run the actual monthly payment math with me. The headline rate matters less than what lands in your budget every month, and there are ways to soften that number now.
3. Ask about a temporary rate buydown. In this market, more sellers are willing to help cover it than they were a year ago, because they know inventory is working against them too.
4. Use the leverage you have right now. Repairs, closing costs, rate buydowns. Sellers are more open to all of it while inventory sits high. That leverage shrinks the second competition picks back up.
Waiting for a rate cut that may not come means gambling away the leverage you already have. I’d rather you buy the right house at today’s rate and refinance later than lose the house waiting for a maybe.
DM me and let’s map out what your actual numbers look like right now, no pressure, just the math.