Why Omaha, NE Is Different From the National Housing Market

Hey guys, welcome back to another week of Mortgage Matters in Minutes. This is the 196th episode that we have had through the last many years and wanted to say again, thanks for coming in each week checking us out. We know this video gets out to lots and lots of individuals because we track and trace obviously the viewership and the comments and try to respond to people as quick as possible. But if you are that real estate agent that's checking us out each and every week, we'd love to chat with you. Love to hear from you. Leave a comment below. Ask a question below. reach out if you have any questions about any of your prospective borrowers. any situations like that. But today, let me back up a little bit and talk about mortgage matters in minutes. Because when we started these episodes, our goal was to give you simple information. A lot of individuals were starting blogs and podcasts and a lot of you know material for hours. We wanted to be direct to the point and get you answers as quick as we can within 5 to seven minutes without having to spend 10 20 minutes to an hour going through a video about everything that's happening. So we come to you each and every week. We try to bring something that's relative to the market, but also just giving you education as much as we can think of to answer anything before it could happen in the market. So today, what we're going to talk about is the real estate market is always local and why Omaha, Nebraska is where I am located at is different from the rest of the national housing market. And why are we talking about Omaha versus the national market? because I've talked to a lot of clients that have moved away that one client we had a conversation with that's refinancing their property. they are in the military and became relocated to Texas and we're working on a refinance here and they were concerned with why is their payment continue to go up because property values are going down and I worked to explain to them that many of the articles that you are reading are a national average and when we look at real estate real estate is local it's down to the smallest little area that we possibly can consider because even Omaha if we look at the whole square foot is a much big spread out area. Even if we look at a subdivision, there might be a 100 to 300 houses in that subdivision. We might look at certain pockets of that subdivision being even different on a certain street or backing to a certain amenity as in a park or a wooded area or a golf course being different than the whole subdivision itself. So when news stories are written, they are written on these national averages of markets that are on the ocean in Florida and then also are in the urban parts of Las Vegas or are in California where home prices go up and down and same way with Arizona. So when we have all these averages, it's hard to explain to individuals that that might that average that you're seeing in some news story might not be the same real estate market that's happening here in Omaha, Nebraska. So again, we've learned through SEO and through marketing and media, the goal of many of these articles is to get individuals to read, to pay attention to the article, and just to get clicks and viewership for them to gain more advertising space. So what I can share with many clients is Omaha area is a very stable area. We see this through our clients' income, through their credit, through their financial, through their payments. We see it in many many ways and I can tell you realtors talk with clients emotionally and what they want and other people will talk with clients what they want but they don't break down and get really in depth with their financial and their income situation. Many individuals are going to say they want something they can afford something but they might not be able to. And that's where we step in and we can see from the other side of it what's actually occurring and what actually is going on. While I can't tell you what the pulse is in, you know, some particular neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska, I can tell you the opposite of the personality or the individual's financials that are looking at that type of property because of what we do as mortgage professionals. So, let's talk a little bit more about why Omaha is a little bit different than the rest of the country. So Omaha as a general has been a very stable financial market because people here have been educated as a young child from their families generally speaking of financial stability meaning spend I'm sorry spend less than you make obviously save money put money to the side and plan for a rainy day and this is proven through individuals credit scores through net worth through disposable incomes these are all statistics that we can look up across the country and show different situations of Omaha. And if you look at just a simple chart as in credit score averages per state, the Midwest is much stronger than the rest of the country is. And that's been proven for many, many, many years. but the biggest thing people are paying attention to right now is interest rates and home prices. And I can tell you here still locally, interest rate is going to be the same here in Omaha, Nebraska as it will be in California, Florida, and New York. We might be off by an eighth or a quarter percent, but generally speaking, we are going to have the same interest rate. So, if our home prices average at 350 or 400,000, but Las Vegas averages at 700,000, it still can be cheaper to purchase here in the Omaha area. One thing I always like to bring up is that we have an abundance of nonprofits that are supported by many very wealthy individuals, i.e. Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, other individuals that have come together and have donated money back to nonprofits to allow them to keep running. And that's a market that won't go bankrupt, won't go under because they're living off of the interest of those individuals investments. So those markets always continue. Omaha area is not one that thrives when economy does well because of vacation or travel or hospitality. It's always moving forward with corporations, with business, with nonprofits. That always continue to happen. And the reason why I bring that up is because individuals want to purchase homes regardless of what's going on. It doesn't matter if rates are at 20% or 2%. individuals in Omaha want a place to live, want to put money into the housing market to reinvest their monies versus when you paid rent, you gain no asset at the end of it. So, it's still a good investment and it's not for everyone, but it is in situations a good timing for individuals that are working that feel comfortable with the level and situation of financially they are at at that time. So, why do I bring this up? Again, you're going to continue to see a lot of articles this next year about how bad the real estate market is, how bad, you know, unemployment's going to get, how bad inflation could change up or down. Obviously, we know this now through media that there's a lot of negativity that gains click and viewership. We're here to help give you information, education, non-biased as much as we possibly can be of what's going on with the situation in the market. And Omaha is a different market. We can go on and on through time and show you all the years of home appreciation versus home depreciation. There's much more facts out there than reading one article saying housing has gone down 10, 20, 30%. Has Omaha corrupted itself? Sure. Has every market across the country correct itself? Yes. But I can also tell you there's pockets across the country that probably are thriving bigger than ever. I mean, for example, if we look back at the North Dakota oil boom a few years back when there was zero housing, people had to live in their cars and trailers because the oil drilling was going so crazy and so good, there wasn't enough housing for those people to live. I don't know this for a fact, but I've heard that significantly dropped and lowered and a lot less drilling is happening. So, real estate markets are going to change. They're going to go up. They're going to go down. But I can share here that Omaha real estate statistics are still some of the best in the country. So, don't be scared off by particular national news articles that are talking about real estate. They are a national average and not a local average and not even a real estate average where it's down to the smallest area in town of maybe five houses on the street. Those are the scenarios of what we talk and why you're using a real estate professional here in the local Omaha area. So, I'm Brent Rasmussen, owner of Mortgage Specialists, here to provide you information each and every week. Love to chat with you. We're only a phone call away at 402-991-5153 or you can check us out on our website at mtg-specialists.com. Have a great rest of your week and we'll see you here soon.

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