Morning! This is MF Lending - we’re the fool-proof way to serve up mortgage and real estate market knowledge without any of the guesswork. So you’ll be the smartest agent in the room.

Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

1. Zillow Creates ChatGPT Plugin 💾: What This Means for Agents

2. 5 Clever Ways to Use Extra Seller Concessions 💵

3. April Housing Trends Report 🏡

By the way, this article on Date The Rate is a Nightmare is the most clicked link in this newsletter, you should check it out if you are interested.

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Nuwave Rates Today 📉📈

Zillow Creates ChatGPT Plugin 💾 : What This Means for Agents

Zillow has built a ChatGPT Plugin that lets users discover real estate listings by having a simple conversation.

Users can ask about specific property listings or share the types of homes you’re interested in — for example, “Show me townhouses with two bedrooms and two bathrooms under $600,000 in Nashville…” — and ChatGPT will return relevant information from Zillow’s database.

See a video demo here:

What can this plugin do?

• Execute searches for property listings that are “for sale” or “for rent” — or even “recently sold” if users are looking for comparable listings.

  • Users specify their search criteria, and the plugin returns relevant results.

• Retrieves property data for individual properties.

  • Users can inquire about a particular property, and the plugin will provide relevant information from Zillow (such as property taxes, HOA info, home built date, etc.)

What can’t it do?

• Provide 3D Home tours and immersive floor plans

• Act on the user’s behalf - (ex. scheduling an in-person tour and connecting with an agent or loan officer, etc.).

Takeaways for agents?

As real estate technology continues to advance, agents need to view themselves as consultants for their clients more than property hunters.

Be a knowledge-first agent. You should not only be familiar with this technology - but use it every single day. Use this tech to be ahead of their clients at all times.

Imagine your client sends you a property and you have the ability to say -

“Yes I saw this one come on the market - here are 3 reasons why it may be right for you OR 5 reasons why I didn’t send it to you initially.”

The top real estate agents will have a pulse on what their clients are really looking for. Not just price, square footage, or nearby schools, but the true intangibles of an individual property.

This plugin should not be viewed as a “replacement” for a great real estate agent. It should be viewed as a tool agents can use to adapt and refocus on what is most important to each individual client.

The great real estate agents see these tools as leverage, not competition to their business.

5 Clever Ways to Use Extra Seller Concessions 💵

Seller concessions have become more popular than ever in the market today.

What some agents don’t know is that concessions can’t pay for everything. They can NEVER be used to cut into the minimum down payment required on the loan.

• For example - if you have a client buying a home for 400k with 5% down - they have to bring at least $20,000 (5%)…nothing less.

• If a client’s total closing costs and prepaid items are $7,500 and the seller accepts an offer with $10,000 in concessions, you cannot use the overage ($2,500) and apply it to the down payment.

Obviously - we do not want that $2,500 to go to waste…so here are 5 ways you can apply the additional funds:

1. Pay additional discount points

   Discount points do not need to be paid in full increments (1,2, etc.). You can actually pay portions of discount points (.25, .47, etc.) for the same effect.

   If you have additional concessions you can ask your LO to apply the remainder to discount points and it could reduce your interest rate by .125% - .25%

2. Have repairs done on the home on the invoice

   If you have repairs you know that need done on the home, you can ask to have the contractor do the repairs and issue you an invoice. If you provide the mortgage & title company the invoice, they can have it added to the CD and paid at closing with the additional concessions

3. Reduce the purchase price

   A simple way is to request the seller reduce the purchase price by the overage amount with an amendment to the contact.

4. Upgrade Appliances or fixtures

   Similar to #2 - you could have appliances or fixtures purchased on invoice. You can have those paid at closing with the additional concessions.

5. Add home warranty coverage

   You could add a home warranty coverage for multiple years to be paid at closing with the additional concessions.

All of these allow you to use seller concessions that may be cutting into your down payment. Be sure to communicate with your lending partner early so that they can make a plan and be sure nothing is wasted when you get to closing.

April Housing Trends Report 🏡

Here are the highlights from the Realtor.com report:

• Active Inventory up 35% from a year ago. This pace of increase is beginning to slow.

• New Listings down 22% from a year ago.

• Time on Market - 18 days slower than a year ago.

• Median List Price is up 2.4% from a year ago.

Here is a graph of YOY Inventory Change:

The recent trend suggests active inventory could be down YoY in Q3! This means real estate prices should remain strong - there is no indication that prices will come down.

The Cul-de-Sac

Mark your GCal 📆

1. May 10th - April CPI Print

Thanks for reading - that is all we have for today 😎

Please forward this to your friends and colleagues if you found it valuable.

— Michael F DiLucchio