Dang, is there any good news out there? Japanese ex-Prime Minister Abe was tragically assassinated. Rates stink, especially compare to 2020 and 2021, but are you really rooting for a recession to drive them back down? In Florida we have the rise of giant snails spewing parasites that invade the human brain. What happened to the days when my only worry was if the tide was going to reach my chair while enjoying an adult beverage? We have flooding in parts of the nation, wildfires in the West. The press seems consumed with house price appreciation slowing down, and is putting out sensationalist headlines predicting a crash. Everyone has an opinion. The demand is still strong: I can think of five people I know who are “waiting for the right time” to buy a house. Does “crash” mean instead of going up 20 percent a year we “only” go up 5 percent a year? I think we can all agree that double digit appreciation is unhealthy, even if you’ve recently bought a place. Can a client, or should a client, use a 401K to buy a house? Houwzer, a “next-generation real estate brokerage,” just published a blog on the topic here. Everyone, and their brother, knows that LOs are out there adding value and wealth, and being able to advise clients is what good LOs do, right? (Today’s podcast is available here and this week’s is sponsored by Real Estate Connection (REC), a boutique real estate brokerage that acts as a centralized and organized, fully-managed real estate fulfillment service, connecting buyers with local qualified Real Estate Agents and walking them through the entire home purchase and selling process with the lender partner.)