“I’m sorry, but you can’t always be ‘experiencing a higher volume of calls than average.’ That’s not how averages work.” The “average” person has a student loan, or a car loan, or credit card debt, or all three. Throw in mortgage interest rates around 7 percent, homeowner’s insurance of possibly thousands of dollars, utilities, property taxes, maintenance, mortgage insurance…you get the picture. Home affordability has deteriorated due to all those reasons, not the least of which is mortgage rates, sidelining many prospective buyers from entering the housing market. But even with tight credit standards and high interest rates continuing to constrain lending growth, most homeowners (67 percent) feel that purchasing a home is still attainable, especially as consumers become less downbeat about the effect of inflation on their household finances. Expert advice can help ease the stress of buying: about 40 percent of homeowners are unfamiliar with mortgage affordability/loan programs. Certainly that’s something that good originators can help with. (Today’s podcast is found here and this week’s is sponsored by nCino, makers of the nCino Mortgage Suite for the modern mortgage lender, uniting the people, systems, and stages of the mortgage process. Hear an interview with Loan Atlas’ Tim Braheem on the best formal education platform for individuals in the mortgage space, covering sales, time management, customer service systems, marketing, leadership, and much more.) Lender and Broker Software, Services, and Products