Last Friday we saw mortgage rates hit some of the lowest levels we’ve seen in quite a while. Unfortunately, the global news cycle had other plans.

Over the weekend tensions in the Middle East escalated, and the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane where about 20% of the world’s oil supply normally passes through, was temporarily closed to traffic.

When oil prices jump, markets immediately start worrying about inflation. And when inflation concerns rise, mortgage rates tend to move higher.

That’s exactly what we’ve seen this week.

Rates have inched up each day, mostly reacting to rising oil prices and the uncertainty surrounding global supply.

The good news is this:

Even after the increase, rates are still in a very solid range historically. They’re just not quite as good as they were last Friday.

More importantly, buyer activity is still strong. Many buyers who were sitting on the sidelines earlier this year are starting to move now that rates are about a full percent lower than they were at the beginning of 2025.

So while global headlines may move markets week to week, the bigger picture hasn’t changed:

Homes are still selling, buyers are still active, and financing is still very workable in today’s environment.

— Brooks

But if I’m being honest, I’m not really seeing that in our world.

Our team is still issuing approvals consistently. Conversations with buyers are happening every day. Deals are getting structured and moving forward.

It’s not because the market suddenly got easier.

It’s because we stopped trying to win the same game everyone else is playing.

Most people in real estate are chasing business in the exact same places. The same online leads. The same open houses. The same referral circles that have been tapped a hundred times over.

When everyone stands in the same spot fishing, the pond starts to feel empty.

So instead of asking where the next buyer might appear, I started thinking about who already has relationships with the kinds of clients we like working with.

That changes the conversation.

CPAs
Financial advisors
Bookkeepers
Business managers
Divorce attorneys
Immigration attorneys
Commercial brokers
Investor communities
Entrepreneur groups

Those environments are full of people making real financial decisions long before they ever call a real estate agent.

Many of them are business owners or investors, which means their finances don’t always fit neatly inside a traditional mortgage box. When that happens, they often get told “no” somewhere along the way.

That’s where we’ve been focusing our time.

When you understand how to structure loans for self-employed borrowers, investors, or clients with more complex financial pictures, an entirely different set of relationships opens up. Instead of competing with everyone else for the same pool of buyers, you start building new sources of opportunity.

And the interesting part is most agents don’t even try to pursue these relationships because they assume the financing side will be too complicated.

So they stay in the same crowded lanes.

The market may not be as easy as it was a few years ago, but the opportunity hasn’t disappeared. It’s just shifted.

If your business feels quiet right now, it might not be the market.

It might just be time to widen the circle of where you’re looking.

Because there are still plenty of buyers out there.

They just aren’t all standing at the same open house everyone else is working.