Don’t Let Mortgage Rates Dictate Your Success in 2025
Even after the Federal Reserve made three rate cuts in the second half of 2024, mortgage rates still climbed to nearly 7% by New Year’s Eve. That’s not the result anyone hoped for and has understandably left many lenders and loan officers asking, “What the Fed?”
We covered the reasons why mortgage rates don’t immediately fall along with the Fed rate in our recent blog: How to Engage Your Customers About the Fed Rate Cuts, but sitting back and waiting for mortgage rates to come down won’t help you build pipeline or generate loans.
Being proactive and focusing on building your relationships with borrowers, homeowners, and real estate partners will position you for success no matter what happens with the market in 2025.
Four out of five economists agree: They don’t know what’s going to happen
Depending on your news source (and the date of publication), 2025 was going to be a rebound year for the housing market. Rates would continue to fall, inventory would increase, and refi opportunities would be kicking down your door! That was then. Now? Not so fast.
Inflation refuses to play nice, and employment data isn’t inspiring confidence, causing the Fed to backpedal on any proposed rate cuts in 2025 and pull the rug out from under everyone.
This uncertainty makes it difficult for lenders and loan officers to implement and execute long-term strategies. But focusing entirely on chasing short-term opportunities means sacrificing stability, loyalty, and continued success beyond 2025.
Expect continued market volatility throughout 2025
The general consensus as of publication (January 6, 2025) is that the housing market will follow a similar pattern of short-term mortgage rate drops followed by short-term hikes.
“Heightened mortgage rate volatility may present opportunities for would-be homebuyers to take advantage of temporary lows,” wrote Fannie Mae Chief Economist Mark Palim, who foresees rates falling to about 6% by the end of 2025. “We may see stretches where housing activity is boosted by lower rates.”
This volatility presents lenders and loan officers with opportunities to educate customers about the state of the market and provide advice based on their needs and goals.
Loan opportunities are out there. We’ll help you find them.
Your customers may not have the option to sit back and wait for mortgage rates to fall. Relocating for work, growing their family, downsizing for retirement, and plenty of other life events can force them to make mortgage-related decisions sooner than they’d hoped.
Customer retention in the mortgage industry continues to lag behind other financial fields, with just one in five borrowers returning to the same lender when they have a new mortgage need. Having the right tools and strategies in place to nurture relationships with past customers will make it easier to recapture their business when they need to make their next mortgage-related decision.
But finding and engaging those opportunities doesn’t have to take hours of digging through your database. Total Expert Customer Intelligence monitors your entire database and alerts you when a contact has their credit pulled, lists a property, qualifies for a better rate, or reaches an equity threshold. And with our latest Life Event insights, your contact records are continuously updated with the latest available data to help you engage every customer in authentic, meaningful conversations as their life—and financial situation—evolves.
ON-DEMAND WEBINAR
Turn Data into a Strategy to Win Customers for Life
Join Total Expert’s James White and Fifth Third Bank’s Ann Marie Wallace for a discussion about how to harness your data and use it to drive more meaningful engagements with your customers in 2025 and beyond.
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