How brokers can help take advantage of the current market to help buyers find a home
While the current mortgage market has its challenges, they're entirely different than those seen in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, the market was chaos for mortgage professionals and homebuyers alike, with homes on and off the market in a matter of minutes, and winning bids well over the asking price.
The first half of 2025 looked a lot different than the post-pandemic real estate world. Housing shortages were everywhere, home prices continued to rise, and mortgage rates remained elevated.
In recent weeks, home inventory has surged, creating buyer’s markets in several regions of the country. Home price growth has slowed, and in some markets, has reversed. Rates, while still elevated compared to a couple of years ago, have started to slip a bit this week.
Melissa Cohn (pictured top), regional vice president of William Raveis Mortgage, said the market is starting to normalize slightly. While prices and rates are still a bit elevated, the increase in supply has allowed for a more normal homebuying experience.
“Buyers today have the luxury of being able to look at a house, think about it, and look at another house,” Cohn told Mortgage Professional America. “They know that the house that they like, even though they're not quite sure they want to bid on it, is not going to run away from them. It's a much healthier market than a market where, if you'd like it, you’ve got 10 minutes. If you don't buy it, someone else is.”
Experiencing chaos firsthand
Cohn knows all about the craziness of the post-pandemic housing market. Not just because she’s a veteran of the industry, but because she was trying to buy a home at that chaotic time.
“I remember buying my home during COVID because I actually did relocate,” she said. “I relocated to Florida for business. I signed contracts on three houses because I just had to have a place to live. And then I got down there for the inspection, I'm like, ‘Oh my God, I don't like this house.’ So I remember. I was part of the frenzy, and it's not a good feeling.”
She noted that in certain markets where inventory exceeds buyer demand, it is not uncommon for buyers to secure a contingency from sellers, a scenario that was almost unheard of just a few months ago.
“Buyers can get mortgage contingencies again when they weren't,” Cohn said. “You know, for a long period of time, it was always a seller's market. Unless you made it not subject to a financing offer, you weren't going to get the house.”
Even before rates started to drop a bit, Cohn noted that things are beginning to pick up. Some homebuyers are in a position where they need to make a move regardless of the rate, and others may be accepting the current rates as normal.
“I think that as much as we all would like to see rates come down, people who need to buy are buying,” she said. “Perhaps they have to set their sights a little bit lower to be able to afford a new home, but they will find something that they can afford. It’s been a quiet start to the summer, but I've seen in the past week that it seems like it's gotten a lot busier.
“People that I've been working with for months got to the point where, ‘Okay, I really don't want to be in a one-bedroom apartment with two kids. I don't want to be in a five-bedroom house. My husband died and my kids are gone.’ You know, at some point, people need to move.”
Eventual rate relief
One other challenge on the horizon is increasing debt and a surge in delinquencies. One of the primary areas where delinquencies are surging is student loans. The Federal Reserve of New York released its latest study Tuesday, showing 10.2% of student loan balances being classified as seriously delinquent.
While mortgage delinquencies showed a slight increase, they are still historically low overall. Cohn doesn’t believe there will be major issues in mortgage delinquencies yet, as people usually find a way to make a house payment.
“People will hold on to their house and make that payment,” she said. “Then they’ll make a late payment on a car loan or a credit card. Some of the pinch that people are feeling is that they obviously have overspent on credit cards, and credit card debt can come back to bite them.”
She also cited rising escrow costs in the form of real estate taxes and property insurance as another factor affecting housing affordability.
“People are suffering an increase in real estate taxes and homeowners insurance that perhaps they did not anticipate,” Cohn said. “In some states, like Florida, if you buy a home early in the year, for the balance of the year, you pay at the tax rate that the seller paid. But once you purchase, your real estate taxes are reassessed based on the purchase price of the home, so your real estate taxes in this market are going to go up.
“Even though we qualify them using the higher number, I think they don't put that in their head in terms of cash flow. Or when they buy a home and there's necessary maintenance that needs to be done, which they didn't count on. Home ownership is not just buying a house and making a mortgage payment. You have the cost of maintaining it.”
Selma Hepp, chief economist at Cotality, says factors like the 10-year Treasury rate, federal debt, and economic growth can have a bigger impact on mortgage rates than the Fed's decisions alone.https://t.co/gsUpCj7RAi
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) August 5, 2025
One piece of good news is that Cohn believes that there will eventually be more substantial rate relief, although not down to the pandemic rates. However, like many experts, she’s not sure when that will happen.
“At some point, rates will go down,” she said. “I don't think anyone can actually predict when that will actually happen, because the rate of these tariffs is new and unprecedented. But at some point, there will be pain to the economy, and the Fed will lower rates. But when rates come down, real estate prices will go up again.
“Now is a good time to buy, because prices are coming down, and people are getting better deals. When rates come down, then they have the ability to refinance.”
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