Navigating the Mortgage Maze: Rates, Real Estate, and Rookies

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Hey everyone and welcome to the Always On Point podcast with Kristin Ambos here with 97.9 FM, 1590 AM.

at WGBW Studios with the Civic Media app.

Today we're going to get started with our interest rate update.

So remember we use the national averages on the interest rate.

So you always know where to look.

You can go to mortgage news daily.

It's what I follow.

It's tried and true.

Today the 30 year fixed is starting at 6.27% on the national average, 5.76% on the 15 year.

One thing I want to bring up on this right now, and you guys know that, I tell you this week after week, but I've seen so much of it is where interest rates and consumers out there are being quoted 4.75, 4.5% interest rates.

So that's why whenever I have a client that says, well, Kristen, can you match this rate?

I send them the mortgage news daily rate because it's not to point mortgage my company or any other company, it's the actual average out there.

The reason why I do that is because it's important to know two things.

One, if it is a rate that you're getting in the fours right now, let's just say it's either a risky adjustable rate mortgage, which means it's not.

Fixed for the full 30 years or 15 years it can adjust and change or two You're paying a ton of money and points for it and that's a lot of bait and switch out there right now especially with online lenders if you go online and They're just gonna give you a pre-approved without talking to anybody and they're gonna give you a rate quote You're gonna see those really low interest rates, but they're not gonna give you

the fee sheet to go with it.

And so when the fee sheet comes in with it, all of a sudden you see $10,000 of closing costs, $15,000 of closing costs, and that's crazy.

So remember you're in that case buying the rate down whenever you're paying points.

Your origination points that you're paying are buying the rate down, which means you can either get a different interest rate without paying for the points or

I mean, sometimes it's a combination of both where you're paying points for the rate, but I've always said, and one of the things I do for my clients when we're looking at paying points is find that return on investment.

What is your break even point for buying that interest rate down?

five, six, seven years, remember that an average mortgage is five to seven years.

People are either selling to move, refinancing, whether they're cashing out equity or, you know, maybe they're just selling to upgrade, maybe they're selling to downgrade, you know, they want a smaller house, larger house, different things.

So even though you might be in a 15 or 30 year fix, the average timeline of a mortgage is five to seven years.

So if your break even point is any more than that,

you're paying, you're spending more money for a lower interest rate.

It's not conducive to you, it's not gonna work well for you, and you're actually not benefiting yourself.

It's costing you more money to do that.

With that being said, you know, I always like to start out with the rates because they are volatile right now.

And the big question out there is what's gonna happen in 2026?

What's gonna happen next week with the Federal Reserve right now is a big one because the Federal Reserve is going to be speaking next week.

And about seven or eight weeks ago, they had about an 87% chance of dropping rates a quarter percent.

Then all of a sudden about three weeks ago, that went away and it dropped to about 40 to 45%, which told us they most likely were not going to lower interest rates.

Well, last week came in and came in hot and inflationary news, jobless claims, and we are back to the 87% chance that Federal Reserve is going to drop rates next week.

So it is a week.

by week, watch that we're doing.

They're anticipated to drop about a quarter of a percent.

I'm already seeing that in rates this week, which is very typical.

We see investors start to go in at lower mortgage coupons, meaning that they're investing in lower rates.

And then that allows people like myself, who's a mortgage loan officer, to sell a lower interest rate.

So we are seeing some adjustments.

The average rate right now between some of the large mortgage-backed security options that are out there, so predictions, if you will.

Fannie Mae is a predictor.

Mortgage-backed securities is, Mortgage News Daily is one.

Freddie Mac, there's just a lot of...

you know, different areas within the mortgage sector that do predictions on where rates are going to be.

And right now, the rates look like next year, anywhere we're seeing from around 5.875 to 6.4%.

That's the predictions for next year.

So what does that say?

I think it's going to be a really, you know, a very similar year in 2026.

as the last six months have been of 2025.

So we're really excited today because we have Jill Dixon-Kessler from Jill & Company at Coldwell Banker.

She's going to be with us in our next segment.

She's here in the studio to break it down.

What does it look like for buyers?

What does it look like for sellers?

And what is she seeing?

She is newly going to be installed as a president of RA&W.

So that's the Realtors Association Wisconsin.

So we're really excited to see

what that comes of it.

She's going to be in that seat next year.

And we're excited to have her.

So without further ado, Jill is sitting with me here in studio today and just really excited to have you here.

Congratulations on your new role in the Realtors Association.

Thanks.

Kind of scary, but exciting at

the same time.

So.

Yes.

Yeah.

So I'm sitting here listening to you talk about all of these rights.

Yeah.

And I'm going, okay, I'm in real estate.

I've been in it for 35 years or whatever it's been.

And it's confusing to even us as realtors.

And I would tell you 90% of the realtors don't even have a sniff of, like they don't understand rates, but they get their information from the lenders,

right?

We

specialize in the real estate side, you guys specialize in the mortgage side.

So when I hear you say all this stuff is like, holy crap, you know your stuff so well.

And that's why it's so important for realtors to have a lender where if our buyer says, I don't care about all the things you just said, just break it down for me.

Is it worth it?

Should I?

Should I pay a point?

Do I pay the higher interest rate?

Like, what's the, you know, what's the best bottom line for me?

Like, that's what you guys are for.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, thank you.

And that, that's what I, I know me personally, I try really hard to keep that research intact and I read different trusted sources.

that I know are doing the background research that is far over my pay grade when it comes to what mortgage coupons are being sold this week and things like that.

But yeah, having that insight so that you can best prepare the consumer without them because there are so many predatory lenders out there right now.

You know, I just had a real estate agent this week say, I asked him to talk to you because they're talking to three or four different people and I can't believe how different every one of them is.

So on your side as an

agent, I can imagine what you guys see.

And how do you cut through it?

I mean, the only thing that you can really do, especially when, I mean, a lot of people feel like realtors are used car salesmen, right?

We're

just going to try to sell you anything that we show you.

And I think one of the things that we always pride ourselves on is I don't want to be, I'm going to talk you out of more houses than I'm ever going to talk you into.

And by the way, I don't talk you into them.

I will say, yeah, this is a good option for you.

Here's your

comps, your resale.

But I think we want to be advisors, just like you as a lender.

I want

you to come

back to us.

I want your kids to come back to us.

I want to say you're selling grandma's house and how much is it worth?

And I'm probably not going to get paid from that.

I do a lot of work for free until I can make a commission, but it's because I want people to trust me as their advisors.

And I mean, a lot of times people will probably say you and I research a lot.

We

know the ins and outs of our industries.

Really well, probably too.

Right, to a fault.

Yeah, because we spend a lot of time doing things that we don't get paid for, but it's because I feel that's what makes us the experts.

That's what's different.

And I think when you sit down and you have those consultations and I'm telling a buyer, if you are interviewing with me and three other agents, here, I'm going to be the president of the association.

I'm not going to cut any other realtors down.

I'm going to say, here's what you're looking for an agent.

Find the best fit for you.

Yes.

I might not be the right fit for everybody, but let's get you two or three people and you hopefully come back and think that we're the right advisor for you.

Right.

I love that you put it that way because that's, it is so true.

And you know me, like it's a double-edged sword.

I've said the same thing, shop.

Shop for your mortgage, right?

Of course I don't, I

don't want your business.

I don't want you to shop, but the right thing for me to do is to advise you to look around a little bit, but.

it's so much more than the lowest interest rate or finding an agent who's the lowest commission, right?

Because- And that's a whole different.

It is.

People don't even understand they have options with that anymore.

I mean,

so much has changed in the last, and so when we even talk about market right now, we're talking about things like inspections and home sale contingencies and all, I mean, that's a whole conversation we can get into next, but those are the things that really make a difference.

And you

better

hope that the person who's advising you knows what the heck.

They're

doing 100% because people in

the last five, six years have gotten in the industry have not had to deal with any of that stuff.

And that's scary because, I mean, you can be homeless.

Right.

You're not wrong.

What Jill is saying is absolutely right.

It's accurate.

And there's so much more than writing the offer right and looking at the house and getting the offer, except it is exciting and a lot of hard work.

There's no

doubt about it.

But I would

And I think you'll agree, the really difficult work is done from accepted offer to closing table and making sure that everything is aligned and that you're dealing with people's a lot of money.

a lot of emotion.

Where are they gonna live?

What are they gonna do?

What if something falls through?

You gotta be on top of all that.

Well, and the home inspections are coming back right now.

And if you don't know how to deal with those, your

deals can

fall apart.

The biggest one, the hardest one right now is a benefit for sellers right now that are for buyers that had a house to sell that in the last six years, they couldn't make an offer.

If you had a

house to sell,

Nobody

could

find someone who could do a bridge loan

or you know,

I don't know what you call them anymore.

I know some people flex that yes term But now you can sometimes

but every price point is different right now.

So literally depending on if you're a West Appear for 400 or if you're a different area and price point, you need to know how fast will that person's house sell?

Am I going to be able to make sure that I can get them in accepted offer on something, get their house listed in seven days, otherwise they can get bumped?

In the meantime, are you telling them they can be bumped off of that property, go through all of this stuff, get professional photography videos, whatever their realtor's going to do?

get them up and then day one, they can lose the house.

And then even if you get the accepted offer on your house, if your agent doesn't give notice properly and another offer comes in, you could get bumped and that's why time is of the essence.

But on top of that, if your agent didn't write the contract properly or

if they just

did the standard, it says that they have to prove they're a cash offer.

So an offer on their house doesn't even, depending

on how it's

written.

but most of the offers say that it doesn't matter if you have an offer, it has to be contingency free and proof of

cash flow.

So all you have to do is strike those lines realtor and then you protect your buyers, but there's a whole

bunch of secret.

So many don't know

that.

They do not know.

So when people have a house to sell in order to buy, very important that they're looking for an experienced agent who has experienced specifically with home sale contingencies, not to discredit younger or newer agents, they

can do

it

too.

They just need to make sure that they have a broker, a team leader or somebody who can walk them through the process because that is our next generation.

to be teaching them how to do this too.

I 1000% agree and I heard something the other day from a speaker and it's so true.

Real estate agents really should sell at least 100 houses before they can consider themselves an expert because there's so many things that can go awry in those 100 houses.

And with the, with the mortgage people, they said mortgage people need to be do at least a thousand mortgages before they're considered an expert because there's so many nuances in that.

And that again, not a discredit to the, to the newbies out there, but if they're a newbie, gosh, I hope they're working with the right mentor.

Hope they're working with somebody like you on your team, somebody where they have somebody so experienced, they can ask those questions too.

So they're not.

playing with people's livelihoods, really, in this, because they are legal contracts, and this can be a very litigious industry.

And so that's why I always, whenever I have a client that's like, oh no, I'm good, I'm gonna do it for sale by owner, I was,

please.

The contracts, when I started with three pages there, 48, I think is it the one that we did today?

It wasn't something, it's

48, if you were,

now, if you're doing it properly and you do all the disclosures, and even still then, you can still get

sued.

It's crazy.

It's just so much.

Well, I can't wait to continue to pick your brain.

There's a couple of things you said I want to break down a little bit in the next segment.

So stick around today.

We have Jill Dixon Kessler with Jill and company of Coldwell Banker.

Uh, she has been in the industry for gosh, 30, 30

years,

35

years.

So, uh, true tried and true expert locally in Northeastern Wisconsin here.

Stick around here on the civic media app 97.9 15 90 AM always on point podcast.

We'll be right back.

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started.

to the Always On Point podcast here with Kristen Ambos from Point Mortgage, 97.9 FM, 15.90 AM on the Civic Media app.

And we are so excited to have Jill Dixon-Kessler from the Jill & Company team over at Coldwell Banker with us today.

And if you missed the last segment and you're just tuning in, she is with us.

She's a 35-year veteran in the Northeastern Wisconsin market.

extremely successful real estate agent.

I've gotten the opportunity to work with over the course of my career many times and

just somebody I truly, truly trust in the industry.

She was so kind to come on today and give us, she's gonna give us some of her, some of her knowledge and share with us.

She's recently just a president-elect, right?

Is that the right term?

Yeah, president-elect, I get installed in January

for my two-year

term.

So she'll be a two-year term president of the Real Estate Association of Northeastern Wisconsin, R-A-N-W.

So we're so excited to have you in studio today.

Thank you so much for being with us.

Pleasure.

Yeah, so we were breaking down

right before the break on how important it is to work with a real estate agent who you know, who you trust, who can advise you.

And like you said, it's not so much a real estate agent.

You want a real estate advisor.

Yes, they're licensed.

Yes, you can help them with all that.

But having an advisor to help you really make the decisions you need to make

for your, you're protecting your investment when you hire somebody who knows what they're, really truly knows what they're doing.

This is a big deal and it should be taken as a big deal and I think, would you agree the last few years and the last few years, they say probably from like 2000 to 2004, especially, it just seemed kind of willy-nilly.

There weren't as many agents that were licensed that really understood or people just weren't seeking out true,

True advisors to help them with that.

Yeah.

Well, I think what happened though is I mean that market.

Yes, so crazy

crazy

and I'll say this in the nicest possible way But a lot of people think I mean so when I interview other agents I interview agents all the time as yeah, so like just for as an agent in the market Okay,

love that

will come to me and say hey I want to get you know Are you hiring on your team and at the company?

I'm like no, but I'll tell you what to look for with other companies.

Yeah, you know that type of thing but

I always think it's funny when I'm like, why do you want to be a realtor?

Well, you know, it just looks like you make a lot of money in commissions and I love Zillow and I love, love, love looking at houses and I love watching reality, you know.

I

always liked

HG.

I was like, none of that is accurate, by the way.

I mean, I've been on some of these TV shows.

In fact, I have something else happening behind the scenes right now next week.

And so it's, a lot of it is not true, right?

So, and this,

Like you said, what

really

happens, showing houses, open houses, that's the easy part.

It is the

contracts.

It is, by the way, you know, you're selling your soul to the devil and you have to, you don't get to work around your kids' soccer schedule, because guess what?

That offer is due and you better be dropping everything to do it

or you're not gonna

work with you.

So there's just a lot more that goes in, but the legalities, that's the big part, is so many changes last year.

And if people don't know what they're doing, I mean, you check the wrong box and an offer, it could be a big deal for your buyer.

Okay, while you said that, I just wanna point out why she just said, if you check the wrong box, I had a closing last week.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Are

you talking about taxes?

Yes.

So taxes, you guys, this is legit.

It wasn't even last week, it feels like a week ago.

I had a closing last week Monday, this past week.

And the wrong box for the taxes was checked.

So just to tie it up and quick,

because that wrong box was checked, and it wasn't done intentionally.

It was an absolute human-

Honest

mistake.

Honest mistake.

It really, really was.

But it changed the buyer's final numbers by $6,000 within two hours of closing.

Tell me that that didn't change the way those buyers came to the table.

So you had it on the buyer's end?

It was on the buyer's end.

So I've had, it wasn't even my deal.

I had another agent call me just looking for advice.

They were panicking.

Yes.

A different agent was like, hey, I didn't realize that for my seller.

They were a builder.

And I checked this box and whatever, I didn't realize it was an $8,000 difference in the taxes.

So that builder now, same thing, three days before closing goes, well, I'm always the only should be paying on the land only.

Not paying the whole year.

They're only gonna get a tax bill.

They're only gonna get tax bill.

It's December closing.

The tax bill really is only for $1,500.

That buyer is getting out of credit for over $8,500.

So which pretty much pays for next year's taxes.

And the builders like, well,

Who's mistake was that

who right was paying for that?

So it's so funny that her and I are just bringing this up You guys neither one of us spoke about it in advance.

No, this was a new build and and the builder was a same exact thing the builder was like, well, wait a minute I'll give him what is fair, but they're not making money on me and the buyer went in going but it's not my fault

I assumed I was coming in with $14,000 clothes and now I have to come in with $21,000.

And again, it's a human error, simple.

The team, you know, they came together, but it was two hours before closing.

Hey, what happens when they don't have over $1,000?

Well, that's luckily our client understood and had the money and was able to bring it in.

But if they didn't, now what happens?

Breach of contract.

And now it's a disaster.

at the closing table an hour before.

So these are legit things.

That's why it's so important to understand the contract, every single box.

Well, and even there's those three scenarios, like we always use last year's taxes.

That is the basic of almost everybody uses

that.

Yes, very

standard.

And new construction.

Right.

And there's two, yeah, I mean,

Please, if you don't know the differences and some of these things ask your broker, ask a different realtor.

I

mean, like I said, that other realtor called me asking for help after the fact, but I can't fix what was already

done.

And

I think a lot of agents who are experienced.

should always be willing to help all the other agents around them, regardless of they're the same team, same company, I think we all work together.

So it's like, if you're not sure, just ask.

It's the industry, right?

There's a lot of predatory lenders out there, but there's a lot of really good loan officers too, and I want to help however I can, because it just helps us all.

It does.

It helps the whole industry, and we want to be known for people who are helping and wanting to do the job right.

And it's the few that don't, which give all the rest of us

the used car salesman yeah 80%

don't you know the 80-20 rule yes 80% of the business is done by 20% of the agents

yes

same in same in mortgage yep same

so

but the whole goal is that we lift everybody up and make everybody like we want everyone in our industry to be professionals right

and if you want to make it in this industry you absolutely can

ask the questions.

I don't, even if you've been in the industry for eight or nine years, ask the question.

Because the rest of us who've been in 20 years know that 20 years in, you're still asking questions.

I'm still bouncing stuff off of my team.

Like did I

miss something?

I did it really fast.

Can you just review it and make sure?

And sometimes

I still make mistakes.

Yep.

Absolutely.

So we're going to come back in just a moment.

Stick with us here at 97.9 15 90 AM.

Civic media app with the always on point podcast.

See you in

a

moment.

Civic Media app.

Today we are here with Jill Dixon-Kessler from Jill & Company with Coldwell Banker.

She is a longtime real estate agent, even though she does not look like she's been in the business for 35 years.

She has been.

She started very young and she's a plethora of knowledge sharing it with us today.

So thank you so much for being here with us.

You're welcome.

Does that mean the Botox is working?

Botox is at point.

No pun intent or pun intended, right?

So we're talking a lot today.

We, we talk a lot about just the industry in general, but we're going to zero in a little bit on Northeastern Wisconsin right now because I want to pick Jill's brain on.

where the market has shifted here at the end of 2025 and where she foresees it being in 2026 because there are a lot of people that are interested in getting in the market.

We've talked on the show about timing the market and waiting for that lowest interest rate or waiting for home prices to come down.

And you all know that timing the market, if you've listened to me, if you're brand new to the show, you know that timing the market doesn't typically fare well.

And because if you're waiting for the lowest interest rate,

That just drives prices up, lower rates drive prices up because of the demand.

Remember, we went about 13 years with a very low inventory of new build, which changed the inventory trajectory nationwide, really, but also in Northeast Wisconsin.

And so we're still, you know, the inventory is still an issue.

However, right now, since the market is, we've just kind of said slowed down a little bit.

There's a lot of opportunity for buyers out there right now.

So tell us what you're seeing, Jill.

So I think the confusing part is that you see everything and we all talk about the national inventory crisis

for real

estate.

So everybody thinks that there isn't.

But then they're going, why isn't my house selling?

I've been on the market now for 90 days and everything used to get an offer, five offers in the first day.

So if you look at the history of real estate in the last 40 years, the typical real estate market will be, it'll be slow through December, January, start picking up in a little bit in February, but most likely the majority of sales happen in March, April.

in May.

People get confused because if you look at real estate stats, the stats show closings being June and July, but that's the sale.

Everything happens 60 days previous for the offers.

I was going to say your writing offers a lot March, April, May.

They're closing in May, June, July.

Correct.

So then you get into June.

Things start to slow down.

Kids are out of school.

There's holidays, cottages, weddings.

And then by July, it really slows down.

August is pretty much

second to December, and then it picks back up September, October, and then dies, you know, right after Thanksgiving, early December.

That's the typical real estate market when people are looking at it, but this year, through a complete wrench in that, I mean, I think it never really came back after August,

so.

I was gonna say, it seemed like it was different up until July, and then August came around, and then it was just entirely a different market.

Well, we have a lot of things going on right now.

One, you have people who,

don't know how to read the real estate market for prices.

They're looking

at last

year's prices for comps, and we're not that market anymore.

Right.

100%.

Two, we have more inventory than we've ever had.

So now you have to be more aggressive.

Those price points don't work all the time.

Average market time used to be less than 45 days list to sale.

I mean, you're moved out, right?

From the moment you listed the house to the day you were moved

out was between 48 and 52 days.

That's not a lot of time.

No.

Before that, before when we hit like, you know,

like we were talking six, seven years ago, it'd be a lot longer, but now we're going back to 90, 120, 140 days

on

market before you get an offer.

So if you're not pricing right, I mean, every area, every price point is different.

So you need to know how to price, but yeah, there's more inventory than people have had the opportunity for in a long time, but it's the affordable housing that 250, 300.

I mean, if we can get some developers out there that can start building some of those townhomes and

things that are more

affordable, that's what we're looking for.

It's the higher stuff that's

Starting to take longer.

Yes, and I we've talked about it on the show and I'm an avid believer that it's gonna have to come from the developing side There's gonna have to be either tax breaks on the developing side or something where the government comes in and does help the builders Because if we can make it more affordable for them.

Yep, and not so much red tape on building

That's going to bring inventory and hopefully more affordable inventory for people to come in.

Well, you need the ones for the first time home buyers.

Those

are the

ones who are really have the issues

because they're on the

down payment and they have lower income.

Two, you have the people who are stepping out of the market.

We need grandma and grandpa to move so that people can buy those houses in those school districts that they've been living in in a Schwab non for.

35 years,

people

want to move into those properties.

But they have nowhere to go.

They

can

sell for 500, but they can only afford 250 because they don't have any more income.

So we need lower income condos.

a lot of things going on.

There's a lot of things going on.

And I feel like I see some really good new developing happening and talks of it from our local home builders association and things like that.

So I'm really hopeful that that comes in the next couple of years.

I guess we'll see what's going on.

Like for instance, there's finally those condos out in Swamco that right by Rustique, this is a shout out to our friends, Joe and Katie who own Rustique, but right next door to Rustique is that plot has been there for probably 20 years.

and it hasn't been developed and now they put them up.

So that gave me excitement.

So I was like, okay, now there's some developments that we've been waiting a long time for.

popping up and starting to be built.

Yeah.

And those are going pretty quickly cause they're affordable.

So it is

private entrances.

People around here also get confused about condos.

Condos can be single family with an HOA

condo

can be a town home.

It can be an apartment flat.

It can be half of a duplex.

Yes.

It's we're, we're that little city that's trying to learn how to be big and bring some of those big city, you know, residences to us.

So that's exciting.

So now on a seller side, cause we have sellers that listen to this as well on a seller side, how am I,

How am I one of those that's gonna close in 45 to 90 days?

Well, what do I have to do as

a

seller?

Some of

them, it doesn't matter what you do,

you're

not, right?

So if you are, sometimes we call it like functional obsolescence and whatever, like houses that are just really unique.

Those

are gonna take the right buyer, right time.

You might get lucky with the right person, but those will just generally have longer time frame.

Like maybe something with like a horse, were they horse stables or?

That or like...

You know, I had one where it was the property, the two bedrooms are upstairs,

like

upstairs, and you drive under a garage and there's only one bedroom in the main, but the living room kitchen, everything is upstairs.

Oh, so stairs, so people don't always want stairs.

But yeah, so if you have kids, who goes, and so if you have one bedroom in the basement.

or on that main level, if you have kids, are you putting your kid where your garage

is?

Are you going up?

Not

your

teenage kid, probably.

Right?

So those things will play in a strategy, but it's your realtor who really needs to tell you, because like I said, area to area, price point, street to street will differ.

You

need to know what strategy, if you're gonna price high, you're not gonna sell fast.

I was just gonna say, so if you can, talk a little bit about pricing right right now, because you had just said a little bit ago,

this market is different than it was six months

ago.

So if I'm a seller and, you know, I'm thinking I'm going to get last year's prices, I'm probably really.

Well, it depends because when I do a market analysis on a property, I wish I brought one in because I literally have one in my car.

It's this thick and it's basically.

like every all the comps I don't just type it into computer system and spit out like a report.

Yes.

So for you who are listening and aren't watching the this thick she did a visual with it's like an inch, inch thick and documents.

Yes.

And I

literally like last night I spent an hour and a half and I wrote through like how long that property is on the market and what the price was originally that they started in half of these houses in this $800,000 price

point

in East Apir right

now.

Yep.

dropped almost $100,000 from their list prices by the time they sold.

People aren't

realizing that.

So that's one of two things that agent advise or this.

Thought it was the agent.

The agent might have advised them and they said, well, I don't care, all everybody else around me is sold at this price point.

Okay, I'll try it and we can see, but don't be disappointed if it doesn't sell.

So we have

when I have to come back,

choose your

agent and tell you we

got to lower the price.

And that's okay.

Sometimes as long as we're prepared and we tell people the other part is sometimes the agent doesn't know when they're looking at that last year's comp.

So when I do a market analysis, I give you three price points.

I give you a low.

a median and a high.

The high is best case scenario, best market, best timing.

You've got

everything going for you.

You're going to be here.

The median's like, hey, according to the comps, you're probably going to end up here.

So however we want it, what strategy are we going to use to get there?

And the low is you're going to go like, hey, you're going to list right now, December.

So

December is pretty slow.

December.

So, and I want to go back to that because people don't think about our industry being seasonal, but it really is.

And I agree with the timeline you gave.

That's exactly it.

And I already have clients.

This year's different on the mortgage side, where I've got clients right now more than I have in years saying, Kristin, can I come in and meet, get my pre-approval and everything ready?

Because my lease comes due in June of next year.

And I want to make sure my credit's right.

And I want to make sure, which that's the part of the internet I love because it's educating these, you know, I shouldn't say kids, but these young adults.

into making sure they're prepared versus what we've been through in the last five years where it's like, oh, I found a house, I really want to go look at it, but my real estate agent said I need a pre-approval.

Can you get that done in the next 10 minutes?

And it's Saturday at two o'clock and you're like, oh, don't worry, I don't have a life.

Right.

And Jill and I would look at each other and say we don't have lives now.

We would drop it.

would drop everything and get it done.

And we have her and I have before on weekends and nights and things like that.

So, but it is cool to be able to see that people are starting to try to be prepared a little more in advance.

Are you seeing that between buyers and sellers?

For sure.

And for the last several years, I think a lot of people stepped away.

Like most realtors should be doing a buyer consultation with their buyers to tell them what to do in the process.

Are you

prepared?

You have

a

lender, all those type of things.

That market moves so fast, people

they weren't doing it

right now we're

going back to that but what I think is interesting is I've had several buyers say well I want to get pretty approved because I am not buying till June yep and we always go back to and they're like I don't want it to affect my credit score

or

it's going to expire right

it might, but don't you want to be prepared?

And once you guys have, and correct me if I'm wrong, but once you have everything but a blood sample, and really they do, you want everything

but a blood sample.

That's why this housing market, don't listen to the media, it's not crashing.

Because we still take so much documentation on the mortgage side, it's crazy.

So

like last year's taxes and your W-2s and all that.

So all that, you can at least get the pre-approval.

And then all you have to do is update it.

But even if we have an expired one when we write an offer, we can say at least they worked with Kristen or they have a pre-approval from whatever other bank.

Great, we'll submit it with the offer.

I can't get a hold of that lender.

Right.

That lender

doesn't work.

but we can prove that they already had one,

and

then we'll get an updated one.

Or at least I know I'm not spending my wheels, and you guys have been prepared, because if they don't even know what the price is, what their payment is, I

mean, we're... You're 100% accurate, and I wanna go back on that, because what she said, yes, we pull a credit, and I just wanna go on that quick, because so many people think, oh my gosh, if I pull a credit, my score's gonna drop 100 points.

You guys, that is not accurate.

when you pull a mortgage credit report.

So we do a mortgage and it is a tri-emerge.

It's all three bureaus, trans-union, Equifax, Experian.

If you pull it, it is not going to hurt you because the mortgage or the credit bureaus know that mortgage lenders cannot do a pre-approval without it.

So unless you're pulling a credit and then maxing out a credit card and buying a car loan and everything in the same day, that's where the credit score drops.

It's an old myth.

these days you can pull credit even in advance, you can do your loan and let's say it does expire.

We pull another one, your score is not going to drop because you haven't done anything, you haven't.

Yes, there's an inquiry hit but again in a mortgage world, you could have even three to four mortgage people in 30 days pull your credit and your score will not drop.

That's a protection.

on the mortgage side of things.

And the reason why the bureaus know that is because when we pull the credit, you'll see an M. It's categorized.

So we're an M for mortgage.

Then if it's like a car loan, it'll have an I for installment, and credit cards are an R for revolving.

So that's how the bureaus know what type you're pulling.

And so it's not just willy nilly, but yes, if you had your credit pulled and you did 12 increase between mortgage

installment and credit cards all in one month, you're probably gonna see a reduction in your score.

Don't

do that, but- Don't buy a car, also,

in the

middle of your transaction, please.

We closed one on Friday, and on Thursday we found out there was a new car loan.

Not even joking, Jill's jaw picking up off the floor.

No matter how many times we say this, you guys, and my processor, like, legitimately, the debt-to-income ratio is 49.1%.

Yeah,

that's really

high.

We were able to get it approved.

Thank the good Lord above.

but had she not, she'd be living in her car today.

So that's so important.

So even, Jill brings it up, we joke about it, but it's still alive and true.

It's crazy.

Well, even, I mean, I've had one, this goes back like

25

years.

I had a transaction once, same thing, we don't buy anything.

They went to like an Ashley furniture, you

know,

furniture store and bought like $15,000 in furniture.

and

then financed it.

And financed it, but it was okay because they didn't spend the money.

They financed

it, right?

So it's okay.

Yes, at 0% interest.

So they had

a lower debt to income ratio.

They ended up not being able to get the house.

Oh my

gosh.

Now they have all the furniture being delivered to a house that they are not going

to get.

They are not going to have that living in the car.

So let's touch back on that when we come back here at 97.9 FM, 1590 AM with Jill Dixon here on the Always On Point podcast.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

Hey everyone, this is Kristen Amboz here with the Always On Point podcast.

partnered with 97.9 FM, 15.98 AM on the Civic Media app.

You can always find us on all the podcast platforms to Spotify, Apple Podcast, YouTube, go over to my Instagram page.

Would love to have you guys follow if you're looking for more mortgage information.

And if you're just looking to get.

be more educated on it.

That's part of my, that's my why is educating on mortgage.

I want my consumers.

I want my borrowers to know and understand when they're going into this process.

What exactly their mortgages?

Now, I don't expect that they can be able to go to a family dinner and recite and educate somebody else, but you know, there's a lot to do with this.

And if you've heard me say it before, mortgages are as clear as mud.

They really are.

There's not a ton of common sense to them, but my goal is always to make sure when you walk away from

the table, you feel like you made the best decision that you could with the information that you had and that we educated you with because this really is home buying in general or selling whatever you're doing in the housing industry is a huge investment.

And I want to make sure you wouldn't go to a willy-nilly financial advisor with all your money.

Don't go to a willy-nilly real estate agent or mortgage person either.

There's so much that goes into that work with a team Research at interview.

I love the way you said it before I like interviewing more than shopping Right, so stop shopping around interview because it is it's so important one that they're educating you on what you're gonna do

Two, that you have a really good click.

You have a camaraderie about you that you know that you can trust these people because this is the team of people you hire to get the job done for you.

and you want to make sure that you're hiring the right team on your behalf.

So really spend some time in it, thinking about it, learning about it.

So we have Jill Dixon-Kessler with us today from Jill & Company at Coldwell Banker.

Jill is also the incoming president of the RA&W, which is the Realtors Association in the state of Wisconsin.

So we are picking her brain about all of this.

We just got done talking about how one of the cardinal sins, one of many, is do not buy a vehicle, do not buy furniture,

I mean, hey, listen, if you've got, if you need $20,000 clothes and you've got $50,000 cash on the bank and you want to go buy furniture with your cash, more power to you, go do it.

What I should say is don't finance anything.

Don't spend your down payment money and don't finance anything because that really could make or break you.

getting this loan or not getting this loan?

Well, and I don't think it's even that you can't do it.

Please don't do it without asking.

Better put, you're 100% right.

There are some people out there who have all the debt to income ratio space in the world and then have reserves and are very financially responsible can do that.

There are others who, I don't want to say you're not financially responsible, but your debt to income ratio is a little bit tighter.

your budgeting is a little bit tighter.

And those things happen, it doesn't mean that you're not financially responsible or you can't buy a house, but we wanna make sure that you're not jeopardizing the move that you're making into buying that house so that you can get the financing that you need for that.

And that, again, goes with great communication between not only you and your lender, you and your real estate agent, but also your real estate agent and your lender.

Your team of people have to be communicative.

communicate, communicate, over communicate everything.

I love it when a client is like, Hey, Kristin, can I, you know, it's Christmas.

Do you mind if I go shopping for my, for my daughter this weekend and, you know, get her Christmas present?

Like, yes, absolutely.

You have more than enough money.

Go do it.

But.

if they didn't and I don't mean ask me like for permission but

let's phone a blow up all the time

yes but let's talk about it to make sure you're not jeopardizing your situation only during that time that you are in contract and in financing

but don't you think I mean maybe you already do this too I think you probably know the people who are more at risk

yes so I

think there's some people you probably don't have to have this conversation with

and other

people where you're like this is going to be tight no matter what

Look at

me when I'm talking, just do not do anything

without talking to

us, right?

Versus other people you're like, I don't even need to, you're good.

Listen

to me, Linda, that little guy.

Listen to me, please, please, please listen to me.

And you know, we run into it all the time and that's a cardinal sin from, I mean, Jill's been in the business 35 years, I've gone on 25 years and we're still deal with it, I just dealt with it this week.

Just have that open, honest communication.

Don't try to pull one over on your lender.

Because

they're going to find

out.

We have alerts.

We have to have alerts.

The regulations show that we have to have alerts on your credit bureaus.

So the second you even apply for new credit during your loan process till your loan is funded at the closing table, we're going to know about it.

So just call us first.

Don't have us make that weird phone call to you to be like, hey.

Yeah, so you had this alert on your credit, what's going on?

But outside of that, really just finishing picking Jill's brain about what's going on in the market, what do you foresee 2026 to look like for all of our listeners out there right now who are thinking about getting in and is 2026 mired by?

Well, I think, like you've mentioned, try not to wait because, like I said,

from prices that have continued gone up, new construction prices continue to go up, that little bit of a difference in interest rate holding out for that, not gonna make up the difference.

And you can always, what is it, Mary, the, no.

You

date the rate.

Yeah, date the rate, Mary, that was, and what she's saying there, you guys, listen, for the people who two years ago said, I'm gonna wait for rates to come down, are now probably spending 10 to 12% more on the price of the house.

Because we're still appreciating.

Yep.

So you could adjust refinance.

Yep, absolutely.

I'm gotten the lower rate.

So I think I,

kind of surprised how slow it has been the last couple months.

I mean, it's still a good market, but

just a

lot slower things are taking a lot longer.

I do kind of anticipate that come spring, we are going to get our normal influx of inventory, which usually happens probably in that February, March, April market.

So what you'll find is more inventory comes up, which is great for everybody.

And then more buyers come out too.

So that

competition for that.

So those certain areas and price points will start

coming out as well.

So if I'm a buyer right now,

I want to get my ducks in a row, and if I'm looking to buy sooner than later, it's probably the right time, because there's more inventory.

This is a really good time.

Not

right now.

There's not a

lot of inventory now.

They'll be

coming up in the next

couple.

In the next

couple.

Yeah, January, February, they'll be more coming.

But I'd start looking now.

So get prepared.

Yeah, I mean, start looking now.

What the heck?

If you can look at 10 houses, and then by the time something comes around, otherwise, if you find the first house you like,

are you

ready to write an offer?

Yeah.

Well, we can't thank you enough.

Thanks for filling us in, Jill, so much.

And for being here, we're going to have all of Jill's contact information in our description below.

So reach out to her.

If you have any questions on buying or selling, she's your girl.

Definitely reach out.

Her and her team are amazing and will help you.

Thank you so much.

297.9 FM 1590 AM.

Sorry for that.

They're always on Point Podcast with Kristen Ambrose.

We'll see you next week.

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