Market Molasses

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Splits and Caps Daily: Action for Agents

November 24, 2025

📈 Market Move:

Buyers Bewildered

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went on CNN and basically said the quiet part out loud: the U.S. housing market is in a recession, and the culprit is the Fed slow-rolling mortgage rates.

His take:

• The overall economy? “In good shape.”

• Housing? “Recession.”

• Why? High rates → frozen activity → biggest pain hits lower-income buyers who carry more debt and can’t dodge high borrowing costs.

Here’s the twist: even though the Fed has cut rates twice this year, mortgage rates don’t follow the Fed—they follow long-term bond yields. The result? A weird in-between world where rates have dropped four weeks straight (down to 6.17%, lowest in a year)… but the market is still stuck in molasses.

NAR’s Jessica Lautz summed it up perfectly:
Home sales have been stuck at ~4M a year for two and a half years (pre-pandemic normal = ~5M). Prices still rising. People moving way less often (11 years between moves instead of 6–7). And the divide is widening:

• Cash buyers & luxury? Booming.

• First-timers? Lowest share ever. Average age: 40.

• Homeowners? Sitting on equity thrones.

• Lower-income buyers? Locked out entirely.

The punchline: The Fed can end this “housing recession” if rates come down enough to unfreeze movement. Until then, expect more price cuts on stale listings… and more bidding wars on anything remotely affordable.

🌟Quote of the Day:

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” — George Eliot

📊🤔 Agent Poll Results

On 11/21, we asked: With mortgage rates hanging near one-year lows and buyer demand bouncing back, what’s your move this month?

The results are in!

• 1️⃣ Double down on marketing to capture every lead: 0%

• 2️⃣ Focus on quality over quantity—handpick your clients: 80%

• 3️⃣ Chill a bit and wait for December clarity from the Fed: 20%

• 4️⃣ Other (drop your genius strategy in the comments): 0%

Time to keep those relationships alive!

🎉 Fun Fact of the Day: 

Hollow Homes: 🏡 Some U.S. counties have more vacant homes than residents. In these areas, you could literally buy a whole neighborhood and still have leftover houses.

📚 Book Recommendation:

“Buy Then Build” by Walker Deibel — Stop grinding from scratch. Stop hoping your idea will go viral. Walker Deibel flips the script: why start from zero when you can buy something that already works and scale it?

This book isn’t just theory—it’s a playbook for entrepreneurs who want to skip the idea lottery and go straight to building real value. It walks you through finding a business, vetting it, financing it, and actually making it grow.

If you’re an agent, broker, or side hustler thinking: “I want growth, but I don’t have time to reinvent the wheel,” this one’s for you. Buy smart, scale fast, and stop pretending hustle alone will get you to the finish line.

Takeaway: Entrepreneurship isn’t always about ideas—it’s about execution. And sometimes, the fastest way to execute is to start with someone else’s proven blueprint.

Progress is earned, not given — and you earned it today.

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