In a market overrun by out-of-state buyers, one longtime broker is trying to help locals
One of the side effects of the significant accumulation of equity is that it has allowed people to cash out some of that equity and buy homes in more affordable areas. This has impacted local buyers who now have to compete with out-of-state buyers.
Brian Mozley (pictured top), chief growth officer at Choice Mortgage Group, has seen this happen in his home state of New Mexico. He said the Land of Enchantment provides a housing market much different than other states.
“I think we're a unique state in that we tend to lag behind the curve a little bit,” Mozley told Mortgage Professional America. “We've been maybe a little bit more economically isolated than other parts of the country. What I found here is that we're a lower-income state. If you look at us compared to other parts of the country, we're still relatively affordable from a housing standpoint.”
The relative affordability has brought buyers from neighboring states and large cities looking for more bang for their buck.”
“Because we are a lower-income state, what I tend to find is that people who appear from California, Denver, higher-income areas, they come here and they think they're getting a steal,” Mozley said. “They sold their three-bed, two-bath, $1 million home in Southern California. It was 1500 square feet, and then they bought a $650,000 mansion in the Albuquerque area and paid for it cash.”
First-time homebuyer challenges
As out-of-state buyers have entered the market, it has exacerbated the already challenging situation for first-time homebuyers. Not only are they facing affordability challenges due to rising inflation, but now they’re watching housing inventory disappear from their home market.
“It creates a very unique situation for the local population here, particularly your first-time homebuyers, who weren't able to take advantage of all the appreciation that's happened in the last five years,” Mozley said. “There's an income crunch right now where their income has not gone up. Appreciation and inflation have gone up, so it's a lot more difficult for them to buy a home.”
Mozley said this presents an interesting challenge in the market, but he noted that the New Mexico market has some solutions to help first-time buyers still find a home.
“The things that we really have to rely on are down payment programs,” he said. “I think we tend to look at things like manufactured housing, manufactured home construction loans, down payment assistance, and helping borrowers get into a home without any down payment. The NMFA state bond program, which we have access to, and some other tools like that, are very helpful here in New Mexico.”
Removing the golden handcuffs
The New Mexico market is starting to see inventory return, but, like in other parts of the country, the increase is slow. Mozley notes that a lot of people are still hanging on to their low-rate mortgage and aren’t willing to give it up.
“We're starting to see more inventory in our market,” he said. “Obviously, this is a nationwide issue, but you got the gold handcuffs. ‘Why am I selling my home? It has a 2.5% rate on it.’ When we have a buyer come to us who already owns another property, their mind is already thinking, ‘I want to rent my current home. It’s decreased the supply.”
Buyers and sellers are trying to determine what will happen to both the housing market and the economy in general. A softening jobs market helped cause the recent rate declines and convinced the Fed to slash its rate by 25 basis points.
After months of holding steady even in the face of intense political pressure from the Trump administration, a weakening jobs market was finally the fuel needed to drive the Federal Reserve to cut.https://t.co/ugx4JBsPYB
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) September 17, 2025
Mozley reminds customers that the current mortgage rates are more in line with historical rate levels than what was seen during the pandemic.
“I think we've already seen that people had to wrap their brains around the higher rates and allow for that to happen,” he said. “With 2022 and 2023 rates, people really were holding off at that point. This year, I think I've seen an increase even at the higher rates, just because the reality is that people are used to these rates now.”
The question everyone wants to know is if there is a mortgage rate that will make people remove those handcuffs and dive back into the market.
“If you entered the housing market back when rates were in the 2s and 3s, a 7% rate sounds ridiculously high,” Mozley said. “If you've been around long enough, you know that's actually not that crazy of a rate. It's right around the averages historically, I think 5.5% is a rate where we really start to see potential of people starting to sell their houses again and jump into the market and start buying.”
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