Podcast appearances and mentions of kathy fettke

President Trump has signed new executive orders aimed at improving housing affordability by addressing both supply and mortgage lending. Federal agencies are being directed to review regulatory barriers that may be slowing home construction and limiting access to credit for qualified buyers. In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down what these housing executive orders actually do—and what they don't. Plus, how changes to permitting, development costs, and mortgage access could impact real estate investors if implemented.

A new federal reporting rule could impact how real estate investors buy and transfer property. In this episode, Kathy Fettke sits down with asset protection attorney Clint Coons to break down the new FinCEN real estate reporting requirements that took effect March 1. The rule targets certain residential real estate transactions involving business entities and cash purchases, requiring detailed reporting to the U.S. Treasury. Clint explains which transactions are now reportable, what exemptions exist, and why many investors are reconsidering how they structure property ownership. He also discusses strategies investors are using to maintain privacy and asset protection, including the role of land trusts and LLCs. If you buy investment property, transfer property into an LLC, or purchase real estate with cash, this is an important update you won't want to miss.

Spring housing demand is arriving earlier than expected — and some of the fastest-moving markets in the country are in the Midwest. In this episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke breaks down new data from HousingWire showing buyers are absorbing homes faster than new listings are hitting the market. Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois are leading the nation in housing demand, with homes selling quickly as inventory remains tight. Kathy also explains why absorption rates are becoming one of the most important indicators of housing market momentum — and what these trends could mean for real estate investors heading into the spring buying season.

Economic growth is slowing, but inflation is still running above the Federal Reserve's target. In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down the latest data from the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, along with a sharp downward revision to U.S. GDP growth. Stocks rallied after the report came in largely as expected, but economists say the mixed signals create a complicated outlook for the Federal Reserve and interest rates. We'll also look at how rising oil prices and geopolitical tensions could impact inflation in the months ahead—and what it could mean for mortgage rates and real estate investors.

The U.S. Senate has passed a major bipartisan housing bill aimed at boosting housing supply and improving affordability. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act includes incentives for new construction, efforts to reduce regulatory delays, and restrictions on large institutional investors buying single-family homes. But one provision is raising concerns across the housing industry. Critics warn a seven-year sell requirement for large investors could impact build-to-rent communities and future rental housing supply. In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down what the bill does, why it's controversial, and what real estate investors should be watching next as the legislation moves to the House.

A Michigan mortgage lender is facing a federal class action lawsuit over alleged robo-calls that used artificial voice technology. The case claims the company contacted consumers without permission, potentially violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. In this episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke explains what the lawsuit could mean for mortgage lenders, real estate professionals, and investors as artificial intelligence becomes more common in marketing.

Are short-term rentals still a good investment in today's market? In this episode of The Real Wealth Show, Kathy Fettke talks with real estate investor and Short-Term Shop founder Avery Carl about what's really happening in the short-term rental market in 2026. Despite headlines claiming "Airbnb is dead," Avery says the market is stabilizing after the post-COVID boom. Inventory is higher, deals are easier to negotiate, and experienced investors are still finding profitable opportunities. They discuss how vacation markets like Destin, the Smoky Mountains, and Myrtle Beach are performing, what kind of income investors should realistically expect today, and why buying the right property in the right location still matters most. Avery also shares common mistakes new investors make, how to evaluate short-term rental numbers, and why amenities and over-leveraging can quickly destroy cash flow. If you're thinking about investing in a vacation rental—or wondering if the short-term rental boom is really over—this episode breaks down what investors need to know now.

New Census data shows where Americans are moving — and how those migration trends could reshape housing markets across the country. U.S. population growth slowed to about 0.5% between 2024 and 2025, largely due to a drop in international migration. But domestic migration is still shifting demand toward states in the South and Sun Belt, including North Carolina, Texas, South Carolina, and Tennessee. In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down the latest population trends and what they could mean for housing demand and real estate investors.

The global economy is facing new uncertainty — from the Iran conflict to tariffs and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. What could it all mean for real estate investors? In this episode of The Real Wealth Show, Kathy Fettke talks with investor J Scott about the biggest economic risks right now. They discuss how the Iran conflict could affect oil prices, inflation, and interest rates, why tariffs and policy uncertainty are impacting business decisions, and how AI could reshape jobs, rents, and property values over the next decade. Despite these risks, J Scott explains why he remains bullish on real estate and why hard assets have historically held up well during periods of economic uncertainty.

Keith is joined by housing market intelligence authority Rick Sharga—a frequent guest on outlets like CNBC and Bloomberg who "quietly gets it right" rather than chasing clickbait crashes. Together, they dig into whether America really has a housing shortage and how that lines up with what you're seeing in prices and inventory.  They explore why entry-level homes are so constrained and what that means for both investors and homebuyers.  They also examine how mortgage rates, builder behavior, and demographic shifts could shape housing demand and investment opportunities over the next several years. Episode Page: GetRichEducation.com/596 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  For predictable 10-12% quarterly returns, visit FreedomFamilyInvestments.com/GRE or text  1-937-795-8989 to speak with a freedom coach Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search "how to leave an Apple Podcasts review"  For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— GREletter.com  Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript:   Keith Weinhold  0:01   Keith, welcome to GRE I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, does America really have a housing shortage? And if so, how long will it last? Those answers and more, with an expert guest and I today on get rich education.   Speaker 1  0:19   Since 2014 the powerful get rich education podcast has created more passive income for people than nearly any other show in the world. This show teaches you how to earn strong returns from passive real estate investing in the best markets without losing your time being a flipper or landlord. Show Host Keith Weinhold writes for both Forbes and Rich Dad advisors and delivers a new show every week since 2014 there's been millions of listener downloads of 188 world nations. He has a list show guests include top selling personal finance author Robert Kiyosaki. Get rich education can be heard on every podcast platform, plus it has its own dedicated Apple and Android listener phone apps build wealth on the go with the get rich education podcast. Sign up now for the get rich education podcast, or visit get rich education.com   Keith Weinhold  1:03   the same place where I get my own mortgage loans is where you can get yours. Ridge lending group and MLS, 42056, they provided our listeners with more loans than anyone because they specialize in income properties. They help you build a long term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage. Start your prequel and even chat with President chailey Ridge personally while it's on your mind, start at Ridge lending group.com that's Ridge lending group.com   Speaker 2  1:36   You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is get rich education.   Keith Weinhold  1:46   Welcome to GRE from Nantucket, Massachusetts to Pawtucket, Rhode Island and across 188 nations worldwide. America's favorite shaved mammal on a microphone has got his slack jawed act back on track for another wealth building week with you. I'm Keith Weinhold. This is get rich education. I'm still not wearing a pair of knockers, and I've returned here to bring you more value than your HOA dues. It's kind of crazy that America First put a man on the moon, and we're the first nation to put a man on the moon in 1969 and yet today, we have trouble housing our own people here on Earth. Shortly, we're going deep on does America really have a housing shortage first? Sometimes real estate investors can learn lessons from the stock market about the future direction of housing prices and demand and just simply what assets people have demand for, how AI is disrupting some stock sectors. Has been rather germane lately. One CEO made this perfect example. It's about how two different stocks travel search engine Expedia and Delta Airlines, those two stocks were once closely tied together. Their share prices used to be correlated, but they've gone in separate directions. See, Expedia offers you a service that can be replicated by bots, but delta has actual planes that take you somewhere, and it's hard for AI to replace that. This is why there's been a recent push toward more tangible stocks and tangible assets, a divergence, an attraction to assets that give you a share of either a tangible good, or, in the case of something like an airline, a service that's directly tied to something tangible. And similarly, commodities like gold, silver and copper cannot be replaced by AI. Neither can real estate. There is a growing sense to own things that can't be disrupted, dematerialized and demonetized by AI, like so much software can. In fact, as overall stock market valuations are lofty. You know, some people have become rather wary of an AI speculative bubble that perceptive to this demand. Just a few weeks ago, Goldman Sachs introduced an everything but AI index, yeah, where you can invest in a basket of companies that are sheltered from Ai disruption, this everything but AI index that's attracting investors. In fact, there's another trend that interfaces with real estate that just launched recently too today, you can wager on future homes. Prices through the platform, poly market, yes, place bets for profit or loss on the future direction of the median home price. In fact, one recent college graduate joked, I was born too late to afford a house, and born just in time to gamble on people who can buy a house? Yeah, you're probably familiar with poly market by now. It's the prediction market that lets you speculate on things like elections and Fed rate decisions and various geopolitical events and other real world outcomes. Well, they have launched a set of real estate markets that allow users to bet on future home values. The way it works is that you can wager on future home values in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and Austin, Texas, as well as US national home values. So that's six different markets. Now I haven't gambled on Poly market, I had checked it at times to get an idea of where people really think markets are headed or what's going to happen next. Because, rather than major media, where sometimes as a hype machine, they create headlines that scare you in order to try to get clicks, well, instead of all that, regular people are placing their money on polymarket, and you can look at what that action is like, because that can be a more reliable harbinger of future price direction at last check with a national median home price of about 420k with the numbers, poly market is using one month from now, 66% of people think that home prices will rise. And it's more nuanced than that. You can bet on just what price range you believe home prices will fall into one month from now. And this is nothing that I recommend wagering on, but besides an interesting trend, yeah, you can get that idea of where real people actually believe markets are headed. As we're about to talk to national housing expert Rick sharga on whether or not we really have a housing shortage, we've got new data about the level of housing permits. Of course, housing permits are a gage of the level of future housing inventory, because after a permit is issued, it's typically six to 12 months until a single family home is built. But I'll share that with you near the end of the show, because it makes sense to cover this with you in chronological order. We'll discuss housing supply first, and then I'll tell you about the future supply direction based on housing permits. Now, you know from the inception of this show in 2014 I talked about the why of real estate investing before the how with anything in life, it's only when you truly know why you're doing something that you'll profoundly care about the how and you'll want to do it well. In fact, when I do an in person real estate presentation, one of the modules that I teach most often is simply called Why real estate. The biggest Why is not altruistic, although that matters, and that's part of it. But instead it's that real estate pays five ways. That's the biggest why any GRE devotee knows that the five ways are simultaneously paid, are appreciation, cash flow, ROA tax benefits, and not inflation hedging. But specifically inflation profiting. Yet I have found multi decade real estate investors that don't understand this, the most valuable hour that you can spend is knowing all the ways that you're paid and seeing and believing how your total rate of return of 20% 30% or even 40% is not far fetched or risky, but it's actually common and even estimated conservatively. If you're initiated on this, you already know, but if you aren't, it can sound a little hard to believe what I just said right there, I recently reshot the entire real estate pays five ways video course, and it's the most valuable hour of investing video content that you're likely ever to see. It's premium, masterclass level content. I'm just giving it away for free because people need to know this. And actually, on the newest shoot, I've condensed it down into just 40 minutes of content across the five videos, one instructional video for each of the five ways you're paid. The videos average eight minutes. So that's about 40 minutes total, and they build on. Each other. So at the end of each one, you get to see your cumulative rate of return. It just keeps adding up, and you know exactly where all of the numbers come from. That's why it's more conducive to video form than audio form. I know that many of you have seen it, but if not, it is foundational, and I cannot recommend it enough. It's free and available to you now. At get richeducation.com/course, get that now, while it's on your mind. At get rich education.com/course, more next, I'm Keith Weinhold, this is get rich education.   Keith Weinhold  10:39   Flock homes helps you retire from real estate and landlording, whether it's one problem property or your whole portfolio, through a 721 exchange, deferring your capital gains tax and depreciation recapture, it's a strategy long used by the ultra wealthy now Mom and Pop landlords can 721, the residential real estate request your initial valuation, see if your properties qualify@flockhomes.com slash GRE, that's F, l, O, C, K, homes.com/gre.   Keith Weinhold  11:16   You know, most people think they're playing it safe with their liquid money, but they're actually losing savings accounts and bonds don't keep up when true inflation eats six or 7% of your wealth. Every single year, I invest my liquidity with FFI freedom family investments in their flagship program. Why fixed 10 to 12% returns have been predictable and paid quarterly. There's real world security backed by needs based real estate like affordable housing, Senior Living and health care. Ask about the freedom flagship program. When you speak to a freedom coach there, and that's just one part of their family of products, they've got workshops, webinars and seminars designed to educate you before you invest. Start with as little as 25k and finally, get your money working as hard as you do. Get started at Freedom, family investments.com/gre, or send a text. Now it's 1-937-795-8989 Yep. Text their freedom coach directly. Again, 1-937-795-8989,   Kathy Fettke  12:27   this is the real wealth network's Kathy betke, and you are listening to the always valuable get rich education with Keith Weinhold. You   Keith Weinhold  12:46   Is America really short millions of homes? If so, that doesn't mean every market is undersupplied, and prices can only go up because of it. If there's a housing shortage, why are prices falling in some cities? So the shortage? Is that something that's real, or is it just misunderstood, and you're gonna learn what it means to you? I'm get rich education's Keith Weinhold along with an intelligence authority today that usually gets it right. In fact, I found an old clip of him on Bloomberg where he suggested home prices bottoming in 2011 and as it turns out, they sure did today, together, we're answering the question, does America really have a housing shortage? And my guest has often appeared in major media, CNBC, Fox NPR. He's the founder of the CJ Patrick company. Hey, welcome back to the show. Rick sharga,   Rick Sharga  13:39   good to see you again. Keith, thanks for inviting me.   Keith Weinhold  13:41   You know, it's funny. Four years ago, Rick and I found each other, and we sort of checked each other out. I found him to be an authority that just doesn't go on saying this bombastic and absurd stuff just to get attention. Instead, he quietly gets it right, and when he knew I had a real estate YouTube channel, similarly, I resonated, because I'm not one of these people that's constantly saying that housing prices are going to crash just to get views and then those crash. People never follow up when they're wrong, and they've been wrong for about 14 years now. But Rick, rather than prices, we're here to understand if there's really a housing shortage today, most agencies believe we have a shortage. Moody's will tell you 2 million. Zillow, four to 5 million. Congressional Republicans have gone on to say 20 million. I sure don't know about that. And then yet, Rick sometimes at the same time, you do see these conflicting stats, where it says that sellers outnumber buyers today, which sort of flies in the face of a housing shortage. So what is your take amidst all this?   Rick Sharga  14:46   Well, Keith, I think what we're seeing is a fairly obvious example that if you torture data enough, you can make it say anything in the right you wanted to say. And there is a lot of confusion about how much. A housing shortage we really do have. It's not like we have 20% of the population unable to find anywhere to live. Most people still prefer to live indoors, and they've been able to do so, but the fact of the matter is that all of the math suggests that we are underserved in terms of the number of housing units available across the country, and we can go through some of the math. The big question, of course, is, how many houses are we short? How many housing units are we short? And the reason the numbers are all over the place, and as you suggested, let's set aside the Republican estimate of 20 million, because there's, there's certainly something political going on there, but the estimates range from around a million to as high as five or 6 million. And the reality is all of those estimates are counting something different. Some are counting housing growth versus population growth. Some are counting vacancy rates compared to historic levels, some are counting inventory available for sale today versus inventory available to sale in prior years. So each of these organizations, and they're all pretty reliable organizations, Moody's is certainly good. Zillow's research team is top notch. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac the National Association of Realtors. None of these people are hiring dime store economists. They're all good folks, but they're all measuring something slightly different, which is why these numbers come out all over the place, and the one of the fundamental challenges is trying to figure out housing shortages compared to what, or compared to when. All of these estimates assume that there was some point in history when we had exactly the right number of housing units to suit the needs of the population. So they start with some point in time, and I think if you did enough research, you find they all start at slightly different points in time, and then kind of work their way forward from that and come to very different conclusions, again, based on where they started and where they ended up, and what they count. The one thing I would push back on a little bit from some of your comments in the intro is that I am highly, highly skeptical, extraordinarily skeptical of the reports that talk about how many more sellers we have than buyers, because that makes some wild assumptions about the number of people that are actually interested in buying a house. And I've never seen any research methodology that's really nailed that number accurately. Because nobody knows if you're thinking about buying a house right now, until you go to an open house until you do a search on on Zillow, or realtor.com or homes.com until you actually are applying for a loan or making a deposit. So the notion of being able to mind read three 40 million Americans to figure out how many of them are interested in buying, I think, is a neat trick, but I do think it's at least in part one of those methods that people use to get a lot of clicks to their website   Keith Weinhold  18:05   right? This whole thing of and I think when we talk about sellers versus buyers, that's shorthand. What we really mean are, there are some stats out there that show that prospective sellers outnumber prospective buyers, in some cases, which, yeah, I think I agree with you there. I doubt that as well. And yeah, of course, I think you're getting on some of the nuance here. We're trying to predict how some people would behave. For example, how much pent up demand is there when we're talking about sellers versus buyers, and we're talking about a shortage, for example, say, the 28 year old living with their parents that could move out and afford to buy a home if mortgage rates hit 5% like for example, how do you count that? Or, how would you even know to   Rick Sharga  18:53   it's a valid point. Keith, and I think that fundamentally, is my question. With that particular report, you really can't count that person. We do have some metrics that we follow, and it's funny, you mentioned that 5% mortgage, because as we record this, mortgages have broken that 6% threshold for the first time in a number of years. And just about every kind of mortgage you could buy right now is below 6% so that's a good thing. And every time we've gotten close to that 6% mark. In recent years, since mortgage rates doubled back in 2022 we've seen a huge influx of people applying for purchase loans, for those mortgage loans to buy a house, those numbers are up somewhere between 13 and 15% year over year right now, and that's before we've really had these mortgage rates dip below 6% so to me, that suggests there really is pent up demand out there, and I judge that just based on what I see in terms of a number of people actively applying for a loan.   Keith Weinhold  19:54   Yeah, there's a lot of nuance here. HUD tells us that we have more. Homeless people than we've ever had in this nation. So that's sort of an extreme affordability problem. To your point earlier about how most people want to live indoors, and I'm sure not making light of homelessness. It's a sad situation, but we're always going to have homeless people regardless of whether we have excess housing or a housing shortage. We have about 146 million housing units in the United States. The census shows and suggests that 8 million of those 146 million are housing units where people have doubled up and are sharing space with non relatives. That's one way to think about the level of pent up demand within the shortage,   Rick Sharga  20:44   I don't know if that's a result of shortage necessarily, or if that's a result of having the weakest affordability for people looking to buy homes that we've had in over 40 years. The last time affordability was as bad was the 1980s and the reason affordability was bad back then was because mortgage rates were at 1819, 20% and it made it very difficult for people to afford homes. But we're coming out of a very unusual cycle, and this is a little bit off topic from our inventory question, but it's the only time in US history when two conditions have hit the housing market back to back, if you go back to covid, coming out of covid, we saw home prices go up nationally by over 50% in about 18 months. It was a huge, huge, unprecedented increase. Yeah, and right on the heels of that, as inflation started to get out of control, the Federal Reserve had to take pretty extreme measures to get that back down. So they started playing with the Fed funds rate, and we saw mortgage rates double in 2022 in the history of the country, according to Freddie Mac we've never seen mortgage rates double in a calendar year. And in 2022 They not only doubled in a calendar year, they doubled in the space of a few weeks. So we're coming out of a period where home prices went up by over 50% and then mortgage rates doubled, and it just crushed affordability. So the people that have been looking to buy a $400,000 house suddenly realized they could only afford a $200,000 house, and there were none of those around. It's really why home sales have gone down as rapidly as they had volume of sales. In 2021 we sold 6 million existing homes. In 2022 it dropped to 5 million. And for the last three years, we've been sitting at around about 4 million annual sales of existing homes. And again, that doesn't suggest a lack of inventory, a lack of homes, because there are fewer people buying, and there's more properties staying on the market longer. But the underlying numbers, the underlying metrics we would look at, are where we can start to kind of deduce that there aren't enough homes. For example, you mentioned that there are about 146 million housing units across the country. Most recent census data I have from the end of 2024 says it's about 140 748, 40 748 million. So it's up just slightly from your number. That represents a growth of about 6.7% in housing units between 2010 and 2024 during the same period of time, the population went from about 309 million to about 340 1 million, and that represents a growth rate of about 7.4% so if everything else stayed equal, your population grew at a faster rate than your housing units did. And that suggests that even if the number of housing units was ideal back in 2000 it's somewhere less than ideal by the time we got to the end of last year,    Keith Weinhold  23:42   we're talking with Rick sharga. He's the founder and owner of the housing market intelligence firm, the CJ Patrick company. We're answering the question, does America really have a housing shortage? We're getting a yes there. And before we're done, we're going to talk about, how long could the shortage persist? But Rick, you spoke to affordability, and I think that has a lot to do with the nuances within the shortage, and that brings up shortages within the luxury tier versus shortages in the entry tier. And the entry tier is really what a lot of our listeners and viewers are interested in, because we're used to buying those as rental properties. So can you tell us about that?   Rick Sharga  24:23   It's a great point, Keith. And what we've been talking about so far is kind of a structural shortage in the overall number of housing units that could be purchased, could be owner occupied, could be rented. And one of the culprits there, and I will answer your question, I promise, one of the culprits there is that builders simply haven't built that much. If you look at the long term average, like 2025 years, the average number of housing starts was somewhere between 1.3 and 1.4 million a year coming out of the Great Recession in 2010 so you look at that last 15 year period or so, 12. Of those years, they've started less homes than that long term average. So builders simply haven't been keeping pace, not only with population growth, but also with just the ability to create enough homes in general, to offset the number of homes that are obsoleted every year, that get bulldozed every year. So there is a structural shortage. To your point, if you look at inventory available for sale, we are up about 9% year over year, but we're still down about 15% from where we were prior to the pandemic. So there are fewer homes for sale than there were back when the market was functioning more efficiently. The most drastic shortage is at the entry level builders simply have not been making a lot of entry level properties. There's a reason for that. There's some independent research out there, including some research from Fannie Mae that suggests that the pre construction cost a builder has to absorb before they break ground is over $100,000 across the country, on average, higher than that, where I'm calling you from today, in California, it's about 120,000 there. If your table stakes are 100,000 $120,000 it's really difficult to make a profit on an entry level property. So the builders, I think understandably, have been focusing on higher dollar, higher value properties and not replenishing that supply that we need for first time buyers and the kind of properties that real estate investors tend to like. The other problem we've had, Keith, is that when those mortgage rates doubled, the people who had purchased those entry level homes refinanced into a two and a half 3% mortgage and are now sitting on a $300,000 property, let's say or $250,000 property with a two and a half percent mortgage. And if they wanted to trade up, they'd be trading up to a four or $500,000 house with a 6% mortgage. And they simply can't afford to do that. So the combination of entry level owners staying put at much larger numbers and builders creating new entry level homes at much smaller numbers has really created kind of a crisis of inventory at the entry level segment of the housing market.    Keith Weinhold  27:18   Yeah, when we talk about that crisis of inventory in what's available. I'm not talking about shortage numbers now. I'm talking about the active listing count. This means more or less available homes to buy. This includes single family homes and condos. We have an active listing count of around 1 million today. The historic average is around 2.2 million, and that peaked near 4 million during the global financial crisis. So today, only about one quarter as many active listings, available homes as at the peak,    Rick Sharga  27:54   yeah, only about half as many as, let's call it a normal market, and that's one of the reasons. I think the first time you and I spoke on your podcast, we were talking about all the online snake oil salesmen who were predicting a home price crash. But that's one of the reasons why home prices haven't crashed, and why they've kind of continued to grow, at least at a modest pace, and in some cases now are starting to decline a little bit. But that lack of inventory on the market. When you don't have enough inventory to meet demand, or just barely enough to meet demand, that means that seller doesn't really have to negotiate all that much. That means that buyers are kind of at a disadvantage, and so as long as that's the case, you'll see home price stability. That doesn't mean that every market is going to see prices go up. But if you look across the country right now, if you look at markets where home prices are down even marginally year over year, you're looking at the Gulf Coast states, you're looking at some other southern markets, Las Vegas, Phoenix, you're looking at some outlying markets like Boise, Florida, certainly, and Texas. And those are markets where inventory is actually considerably higher than it was a year ago, and in some cases, considerably higher than it was back in 2019, if you look at markets where prices are still going up a lot, Midwest, Northeast, those are still markets where there's not enough inventory to meet demand. So that relationship between available inventory for sale and demand is really what drives pricing    Keith Weinhold  29:23   this whole discussion, which is really about the supply, just in the economics one on one. Adam Smith of supply versus demand. A lot of people, just like including my dad, when I was telling him about housing, something he doesn't follow. And I told him that prices are up the most in the Northeast and Midwest. That surprised him. He was like, No, well, population growth is lower here and lower than Pennsylvania, where he lives. And that's when I brought up, well, they're under building there. So in parsing this by geography, Rick, I think another way that we can do it is parsing the housing shortage by the single family homes versus apartments, because it's. Pretty well documented that nationally, apartments could be seen as overbuilt, and single family is under built. Do you have any details with respect to that?    Rick Sharga  30:08   We talk a little bit about that, and quick shout out to both of our home state, Pennsylvania, yeah, Phil, Philadelphia actually had some of the highest annual price increases right in their home sales last year. But part of that isn't just because they haven't been building a lot in Philadelphia or the suburbs. It's because we see people moving from higher priced markets into lower priced markets. So we have people actually commuting to New York who have bought homes in Philadelphia or the Philadelphia area. They can get much more house for their money there. They're not subject to some of the wage taxes that happen in New York State. They just get on that Amtrak and train into the city every day. So there is some of that going on across the country too, as we still see net migration of people moving out of states like California, New York and Illinois into nearby states where the cost of living is much lower. That slowed down since covid, since a lot of companies have been requiring people to come work back at the office. But it is still happening. It is still happening in generally the same direction you raise the issue of inventory for rental units versus inventory for, let's say, owner occupied properties, we have seen a plateau in the number of single family rental homes. So the stuff you're hearing out of DC, that you're seeing the media about the really important ban on institutional investor buying is really much more sizzle than substance. Oh, right. Institutional investors are owned and are buying a fraction, but we've seen over a million apartment units come online in the last 18 months. It's about the largest number of apartments that have that have sprung up and in that shorter period of time on record. And we've gotten to a point where in some markets, there's actually a little bit of an oversupply of those apartment units now that will balance itself out over the next couple of years, because multifamily building starts are way down too so we're not seeing a lot of activity there as builders hold off, waiting for this new inventory to get absorbed. But to put it in perspective, vacancy rates went from near zero back during covid in those apartments to over 6% last year. Rental rates have gone down from 15% year over year, increases back in 2020, 2021, to negative numbers nationally in the last year, just talking apartments, just apartments. So we have a short term mini glut, if you will, of apartments. It will be absorbed rapidly. We have 92 million people between the ages of 26 and 54 who are have either formed households or are about to a lot of them would like to be homebuyers can't afford today's prices, so they're renting instead. And about 5 million people a year are turning 35 which is when, you know, we parents start literally kicking them out of the house. So I think that rental overage will resolve itself, really, in the next 12 to 18 months. And if the builders don't start building new inventory by that point, we'll wind up with another shortage on the housing front, I'm of the opinion that we're at least a million homes short compared to what demand should be. I think the number is probably somewhere between one and 2 million. And again, I'm doing that simply based on a slight decrease in vacancy rates, population growth and the aging of the population. What could throw all of our numbers off? Keith is one of the X factors in demographics and population, which is immigration. Population growth, if it's organic, if it's by birth, does have an effect on housing, to an extent, but it's it's more nuanced, and it takes longer to really show itself if you're dealing with adult immigrants coming into the country, particularly immigrants who are coming in for jobs and have income that they can spend on housing, your housing demand goes up quickly, and that can have some local market repercussions depending on where the immigrants are going.   Keith Weinhold  34:18   In Philadelphia is not a coastal city. Its cost of housing is surprisingly low to a lot of people, but it's not on a coast. Just look at a map. Well, Rick, as we're winding down here, how long could the housing shortage persist overall?   Rick Sharga  34:33   I think we're in a period of time right now where builders are reluctant to overbuild. They got caught in the great recession with about a 13 month supply of homes available for sale, and then as home prices crashed, they were competing with their own inventory from the prior year, and many of them took a real beating financially during that period of time. So I don't expect we'll see builders overbuild anytime soon. And that tells me that we're probably looking at at least another three to five years before we can have a rational conversation about housing numbers kind of leveling off to be where they should be. We mentioned immigration. That is an X factor that could extend the housing shortage. If we start to see more immigration coming into the country, it could mean that we don't need as many houses as I suspect, if we have fewer people coming into the country. And the other x factor here is the boomers, the baby boomers of any generational cohort, probably have the highest home ownership rates right now and ultimately will age out of their properties. They've stayed there longer than any prior generation has, and that's also contributed to the inventory shortage, as opposed to the housing shortage. But as a friend of mine said, and it's a little macabre, but as he says, boomers will eventually leave their homes, either vertically or horizontally, so that will bring some inventory back to the market as well   Keith Weinhold  35:58   housing supply. It is rather inelastic, and we're probably going to be in this shortage for a number of years. Well, Rick, tell us how and why people consult with you and then just how they can do that.   Rick Sharga  36:12   Yeah, I work with mostly companies that are in the real estate or mortgage industries. Keith, I typically prepare a lot of market intelligence reports to them. It's real estate data, economic data, mortgage data. For some clients, I do foreclosure reports. They know what's going on in terms of delinquencies and defaults. For others, I do research on investor purchase activity, what they're buying, what they're selling, what they're paying, where they're doing all this. So anything that's data related to real estate data, mortgage data, economic data, I'm kind of neck deep in and I'm very easy to find on either LinkedIn or x. So if anybody's listening today and wants to connect on those platforms, just reach out and tell me you saw me on the GRE podcast, and I'll know you're legit.   Keith Weinhold  36:56   Housing supply is coming up short, but Rick never does. It's been great having you back on the show.   Rick Sharga  37:02   We'll do it again soon, Keith, It's great talking to you.   Keith Weinhold  37:10   Do we really have a housing shortage? The answer is yes, and the number of units short is one to 2 million. The shortage is worst in the entry level home segment, which matters so much to us as investors, we are owning an asset that's going to have sustainable demand for quite a while into the future. Rick indicated that it could take perhaps three to five years just to get back into balance. Now, we recently learned that there were fewer housing permits issued last year than there were in any year since 2019 and housing permits are an indicator of the future home supply. They had their recent peak five years ago with 1.7 5 million, and last year, there were just about 1.4 million. So home permits issued are 19% lower today than they were back in 2021 this is a harbinger of supply, because from the time that a permit is issued, it takes six to 12 months to complete a single family home. It's about six months to build a tract home, and closer to 12 months for a custom home. For apartments, it can take in excess of 24 months to deliver that period of time from permitting to completion. So nationally, we should continue to see scarce supply in the one to four unit space, keeping upward pressure on prices again for the most valuable 40 minutes of educational real estate investing material around you can access my premium real estate pays five ways, master class of five videos, totally free. And you know how I operate. I don't try to upsell you to some paid course. Either. It's just truly free. I'll send it to you. You can access it at get rich education.com/course coming up on future episodes here on the get rich education podcast, we're about to go on a run. The next stretch of GRE is loaded. We've got fresh topics with some game changing monolog content that I'm going to share with you new guests, distinguished guests. Next week, the youngest guest to ever appear on the show is going to be with us. He's a 19 year old college student with a real estate investing related major. How does he see Gen Z's financial world? Is there any hope at all? The following week, we're going to break down an innovative way to sell properties that could completely change how you think about your exit strategy when it's all done, when it's time for you to retire from real estate, rather than a 1031, Exchange, which would just keep you in the real estate game and with more of it, do a seven. 21 exchange into a real estate fund. Have no more assets to manage, no more property managers to manage total capital gains tax deferral and still get financial upside. And then just four weeks from now, it's get rich education podcast episode number 600 debt is the American dream. So if you're serious about building wealth, be sure to follow or subscribe to the show. If you've already done that, I would really appreciate it if you told a friend about this show until next week. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, don't quit your Daydream.   Speaker 3  40:39   Nothing on this show should be considered specific personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of get rich Education LLC, exclusively.    Keith Weinhold  40:58   The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth, building, get richeducation.com

Retirement account balances are rising — but so are withdrawals. New data from Fidelity shows the average 401(k) balance climbed more than 11% in 2025 as the stock market posted another strong year. But at the same time, a growing number of Americans are tapping their retirement savings early. Hardship withdrawals and 401(k) loans both increased last year, signaling that many households are still feeling financial pressure despite market gains. In this episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke breaks down the latest retirement savings data and what it reveals about the financial health of American workers. She also explains why relying on stock market retirement accounts alone may leave investors vulnerable during periods of economic stress. For many investors, income-producing real estate offers a different approach to building long-term wealth — providing potential cash flow, inflation protection, and the ability to hold a hard asset that can appreciate over time. Learn what the latest 401(k) trends mean for retirement security — and why diversification may matter more than ever.

The latest jobs report delivered a surprise. The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.4%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In this episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke breaks down what the weaker labor market could mean for the economy, mortgage rates, and housing demand. A slowing job market can cool housing demand, but it could also increase the chances that the Federal Reserve eventually lowers interest rates — something that could help bring buyers back into the market. Here's what real estate investors should be watching next.

Many real estate agents spend their careers helping others build wealth—but never build their own. In this episode, Kathy Fettke talks with Bay Area real estate agent Olivia McNally about why agents should also become investors. Olivia shares her journey from a six-figure government job to real estate sales, how she learned the business from the ground up, and why she's now focused on flipping homes, buying rentals, and building long-term wealth. They also discuss the realities of today's San Francisco housing market and why agents need both income and investments to succeed long term.

Tensions between the United States and Iran are adding new uncertainty to the global economy — and that could have real implications for real estate investors. In this episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke breaks down how escalating conflict in the Middle East could impact oil prices, inflation, and the Federal Reserve's path for interest rates. Kathy explains the key economic signals investors should be watching right now — including oil prices, mortgage rates, and consumer confidence — and what different economic scenarios could mean for the housing market. While geopolitical events can create volatility, long-term real estate fundamentals still come down to smart market selection, strong cash flow, and conservative financing. This episode will help investors understand the bigger economic picture and how global events can shape the housing market here in the United States. Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-conflict-poses-new-risk-us-economic-resilience-2026-03-02/ 

What happens when you invest through the dot-com crash, 9/11, the Great Financial Crisis, COVID — and today's uncertainty? In this episode of The Real Wealth Show, Kathy Fettke sits down with Dwight Dunton to unpack 25 years of multifamily investing experience and the lessons that helped him survive every major market cycle. They break down why long-term, fixed-rate debt matters more than ever, how non-recourse loans can protect your personal asset, and why so many investors get wiped out at the bottom of the cycle. Dwight also explains what really happened to multifamily cap rates, which markets were hit hardest by oversupply, and where opportunity may be emerging now. If you're an investor who wants to build wealth slowly and avoid costly debt mistakes, this episode is a must-listen.

As the 2026 rental season approaches, demand is already building — and it's happening earlier than usual. In this episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke breaks down new data from RentCafe showing which U.S. cities are seeing the biggest surge in renter activity. From Cincinnati taking the top spot to strong momentum in Atlanta, Minneapolis, and several Midwest markets, this early engagement offers clues about where competition — and opportunity — may heat up next. You'll hear which regions are leading the country, why the Midwest and South are gaining strength, and what rising search and "saved listing" activity could signal for rental property investors.

Tax season doesn't have to be stressful — but for real estate investors, it can be complicated. In this episode of The Real Wealth Show, Kathy Fettke sits down with CPA Brandon Hall to break down what investors need to know for 2026. They cover why filing an extension may actually be the smarter move, how to avoid surprise tax bills, and who really needs to be paying quarterly taxes. Brandon explains the passive activity loss rules, why some K-1 losses can't be used right away, and the costly mistakes investors make when they don't call their CPA before investing. They also discuss 100% bonus depreciation, cost segregation, opportunity zones, and new tax provisions that could create major write-offs for investors. If you want to avoid IRS surprises, maximize deductions, and make smarter investment decisions before sending money into a deal — this episode is for you. Learn how to turn tax season from a panic moment into a strategic advantage.

Artificial intelligence is starting to rattle another major industry — commercial real estate. In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down why shares of major brokerage firms like CBRE, JLL, Cushman & Wakefield, and Newmark recently fell despite strong earnings. Investors are questioning whether AI could shrink brokerage commissions, automate appraisal work, and compress margins across the industry. But the bigger concern may be office demand. If AI allows companies to operate with fewer employees, will they need less office space in the future? Kathy explains what executives are saying, where AI may have the biggest impact first, and what real estate investors should be watching next. Is this short-term market fear — or the beginning of a structural shift in commercial real estate?

When you turn a home into a rental, your standard homeowner's policy may not protect you. In this episode, Kathy Fettke talks with Seth Markum of NREIG about the insurance mistakes that can lead to denied claims and major financial loss. They break down landlord vs. homeowner policies, liability limits, flood vs. water damage, named storm coverage, vacancy rules, and how deductibles affect your risk. For investors building portfolios across different states, insurance isn't just paperwork — it's protection for your assets and your income. As a long-time RealWealth partner, NREIG specializes exclusively in rental property insurance, helping investors close costly coverage gaps and protect what they've worked hard to build.

Builder confidence in the single-family housing market slipped again in February, according to the latest Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders. The index fell to 36, marking the second straight monthly decline and signaling continued weakness in builder sentiment. Affordability remains the biggest challenge. High home price-to-income ratios, elevated land costs, and stubborn construction expenses are keeping many buyers on the sidelines. Even with incentives widely available, buyer traffic remains low. In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down what falling builder confidence means for housing supply, pricing power, remodeling demand, and real estate investors in 2026. If inflation eases and mortgage rates follow, conditions could improve — but for now, affordability continues to shape the market.

The Supreme Court has struck down many of President Trump's tariffs, ruling that the emergency law used to impose them does not authorize broad trade taxes. In this breaking news update, Kathy Fettke explains what the decision means for inflation, construction costs, and the housing market. Some tariffs remain in place, but others may be reversed — and billions in potential refunds could follow. How could this impact builders, mortgage rates, and real estate investors? We break it down in simple terms and explain what to watch next.

Affordable housing is one of the biggest buzzwords in real estate — but can it actually be profitable? In this episode of The Real Wealth Show, Kathy Fettke sits down with developer Evan Holladay to explain how affordable housing deals really work. With more than 1,200 units developed, Evan breaks down tax credits, incentives, and why more developers are pivoting in this direction. They discuss what "affordable" truly means, how the numbers pencil, and why new housing reforms could create major opportunity in 2026. If you're an investor looking for both impact and returns, this episode connects the dots.

What's really happening in real estate lending right now? In this episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke sits down with lending expert Caeli Ridge to break down the latest shifts in mortgage rates, credit conditions, and investor financing. Are lenders tightening? Is capital becoming more expensive? And what should real estate investors expect in 2026? Caeli shares insights on underwriting standards, liquidity in the lending markets, and how today's rate environment is impacting both short-term and long-term investment strategies. If you're planning to buy, refinance, or scale your portfolio this year, understanding where credit markets stand is critical. Tune in to get clarity on interest rate trends, lending availability, and how to position yourself for opportunity in today's evolving market.

A new study is challenging one of the biggest narratives around tariffs — and the implications could directly affect inflation, interest rates, and your real estate portfolio. Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York finds that Americans are paying nearly 90% of recent tariffs, not foreign exporters. In other words, higher import taxes are largely flowing through to U.S. consumers and businesses. Why does that matter? Because when prices rise, inflation stays elevated. And when inflation runs hot, the Federal Reserve may delay rate cuts — keeping mortgage rates higher for longer. In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down what the data actually says, how tariffs influence Fed policy, and what it means for borrowing costs, housing demand, and real estate investors in 2026.

Are you trying to do everything yourself? In this episode of The Real Wealth Show, Kathy Fettke talks with Kyle Willis, VP of Growth at Belay, about why delegation is the key to scaling your business faster. From managing email and calendars to bookkeeping and investor communication, the right executive assistant can free up 10+ hours a week — and help you stay in your genius zone. If you're a real estate investor or entrepreneur juggling a W-2 job, family, and growing portfolio, this conversation will show you how fractional support can turn 5–10 year goals into reality much sooner. Sometimes the smartest investment you can make is in help.

New data from the Federal Reserve shows U.S. household real estate wealth dipped slightly in the third quarter of 2025 — but the bigger story is homeowner equity. In this episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke breaks down the latest Fed Z.1 Financial Accounts report, including the decline in total housing asset values to $48 trillion, rising mortgage balances, and why owners' equity remains above 70% for the 15th straight quarter. Is the housing market cooling? Are homeowners still in a strong financial position? And what does this mean for real estate investors heading into 2026? Tune in for a concise update on housing market trends, real estate wealth, mortgage debt, and the overall strength of U.S. household balance sheets.

Commercial real estate could be a major story in 2026. In this episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke breaks down CBRE's 2026 Commercial Real Estate Outlook and why investment activity is expected to rise 16% — even as GDP growth slows. We cover what's ahead for cap rates, income-driven returns, and key sectors including office, industrial, retail, multifamily, and data centers. With two expected Fed rate cuts and easing inflation, how could financing conditions impact commercial property performance? If you're looking for data-backed insight into where commercial real estate is headed in 2026, this episode outlines the risks, opportunities, and what investors should watch next. Want to learn more? Listen to our other podcast: www.Realwealthshow.com  Source: https://www.cbre.com/insights/books/us-real-estate-market-outlook-2026

The U.S. House has overwhelmingly passed the Housing for the 21st Century Act in a 390–9 vote, advancing a bipartisan effort aimed at addressing America's housing affordability crisis. The sweeping package focuses on boosting housing supply, streamlining development regulations, expanding financing for manufactured and multifamily housing, and modernizing federal housing programs. Now, the bill heads to the Senate, where lawmakers must reconcile differences with the previously proposed ROAD to Housing Act. Will Congress deliver meaningful housing reform — or will negotiations stall? In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down what's in the bill, what happens next, and what it could mean for housing supply and affordability nationwide. Want to learn more? Visit www.Newsforinvestors.com. Sources:  https://www.realtor.com/news/real-estate-news/housing-for-the-21st-century-act-bill-affordability/ https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/02/09/congress/house-approves-housing-bill-setting-stage-for-tough-senate-negotiations-00772552 

Is commercial real estate setting up for a comeback in 2026? In this episode of The Real Wealth Show, Kathy Fettke sits down with Henry Chin, Global Head of Research at CBRE, to break down the latest outlook for U.S. and global property markets. Despite ongoing economic uncertainty, investor demand for U.S. commercial real estate is strengthening. Henry shares why multifamily remains the top asset class, how Sunbelt oversupply compares to gateway city recovery, what "flight to quality" really means, and why office and retail could become surprising contrarian opportunities. He also explains what investors should expect from cap rates, Treasury yields, and potential Fed rate cuts in 2026. If you're underwriting deals or deciding when to buy or sell, this episode offers data-driven insights to help you invest smarter in the year ahead.

The January jobs report is in — and it came in stronger than expected. The U.S. economy added 130,000 jobs to start 2026, while the unemployment rate edged down to 4.3%. Hiring was concentrated in health care, social assistance, and construction, even as some sectors saw losses. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also released updated benchmark revisions confirming that 2025 job growth was softer than previously reported. In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down what the latest employment data signals about the strength of the labor market, wage growth, and what it could mean for Federal Reserve policy and interest rates moving forward. Want to learn more? Visit www.Newsforinvestors.com  Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/11/jobs-report-january-2026-.html 

What does it really mean to invest like a billionaire? Kathy Fettke sits down with Bob Fraser, author of Invest Like a Billionaire, to explain how ultra-wealthy investors build long-term wealth — and why public markets often fail everyday investors. After losing everything twice in the public markets, Bob breaks down why billionaires focus on private markets, including real estate, private credit, and alternative investments that offer lower volatility and stronger returns. You'll learn why diversification strategies can fail, how private investments reduce risk, and what today's market conditions mean for multifamily and commercial real estate investors.

Apartment demand cooled across much of the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2025, marking a return to more typical seasonal patterns after several years of unusually strong growth. But the slowdown wasn't universal. In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down which U.S. apartment markets continued to see positive demand in Q4 and why those metros stood out as others experienced net move-outs. We look at absorption trends in major markets like New York, Phoenix, Fort Worth, and Newark, and what tight occupancy levels in select regions may signal for multifamily investors heading into 2026. You'll learn how shifting demand patterns reflect a broader normalization in the apartment market—and why local fundamentals matter more than ever for investors evaluating multifamily opportunities in today's changing real estate environment.

In this episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke breaks down the proposed "Trump Homes" concept that's gaining attention across the housing industry. The idea centers on a new pathway-to-ownership model designed to help first-time buyers afford homes—without driving down existing home prices. We explore how the proposal could work, why major homebuilders and investors are paying attention, and how this approach differs from traditional affordability solutions like rate cuts, subsidies, or price corrections. We'll also look at the potential risks, unanswered questions, and what this could mean for housing supply, renters, and long-term market stability. If you're watching housing affordability, policy trends, or the future of homeownership, this is a story worth understanding.

Tariffs are reshaping global supply chains—and the effects are starting to reach the real estate market. In this episode of The Real Wealth Show, Kathy Fettke speaks with supply chain expert Andrei Quinn-Barabanov of Moody's Analytics about how tariffs are increasing construction costs, straining supplier relationships, and adding uncertainty to the economy. They discuss who is absorbing tariff costs, why reshoring hasn't accelerated, and what ongoing trade and policy uncertainty could mean for real estate investors, builders, and developers navigating today's market.

Immigration policy changes are emerging as a new risk factor for multifamily investors, especially in immigrant-heavy markets like Florida and Texas. Recent surveys show rising vacancies, slower leasing activity, and shifting tenant behavior tied to enforcement actions, creating operational challenges for apartment owners. In this episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke breaks down the latest data, explains which submarkets are feeling the most pressure, and why slower immigration growth could impact rental demand going forward. Investors will learn what to watch, how incentives are being used to offset vacancies, and why understanding submarket exposure matters more than ever.

The January jobs report has been delayed after a partial government shutdown forced the Bureau of Labor Statistics to suspend its scheduled data releases. In this episode, Kathy Fettke explains why the closely watched employment report won't be released on time, what other economic data may also be delayed, and why the missing labor market numbers matter for investors watching interest rates, housing demand, and overall economic momentum.

What does the U.S. housing market really look like heading into 2026? In this episode, Kathy Fettke is joined by Zillow's Senior Economist Orphe Divounguy to break down Zillow's latest 2026 housing market forecast. They discuss where affordability is improving, which U.S. markets offer the most opportunity for buyers, and why 2026 may be a year of "small wins" as inventory grows and price growth flattens. Orphe explains how mortgage rates, rising incomes, and shifting demographics are reshaping both the for-sale and rental markets — and what that means for homebuyers, renters, landlords, and real estate investors. You'll also hear insights on the best markets for buyers in 2026, where prices may rebound, which regions remain competitive, and how changing renter behavior and population trends could impact housing demand going forward. Whether you're buying a home, investing in real estate, or simply watching the market, this episode offers a clear, data-driven outlook on where housing is headed in 2026. Want to learn more? Go to www.Realwealthshow.com  DISCLAIMER The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as an offer to buy or sell any securities or to make or consider any investment or course of action. For more information, go to www.RealWealthShow.com. 

A new survey reveals growing pessimism among Americans about the future of homeownership. According to data from IPX1031, 62% of Americans say buying a home in 2026 feels unrealistic, up sharply from last year. Rising home prices, affordability challenges, and limited inventory are pushing many would-be buyers to the sidelines, while confidence in the real estate market continues to weaken. Nearly half of respondents say homeownership no longer represents the American Dream, and only a small share expect conditions to improve this year. In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down what's driving the affordability crisis, why demand for rental housing remains strong, and why responsible landlords play a critical role in providing safe, affordable, and stable housing in today's market.

Inflation pressures are resurfacing—and the Federal Reserve may be headed for a major shakeup. In today's episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down the latest Producer Price Index report, which shows wholesale prices rising faster than expected in December, driven entirely by persistent services inflation. While goods prices remain flat, the data suggests underlying inflation pressures are proving stubborn—complicating expectations for near-term interest rate cuts. Then, in breaking news, President Donald Trump announces his plan to nominate former Fed governor Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, replacing Jerome Powell when his term expires. Markets react swiftly, raising new questions about interest rates, Fed independence, and what this leadership change could mean for investors. This episode connects the dots between inflation data, monetary policy, and real-world impacts on mortgage rates, borrowing costs, and real estate investing strategy—so you can stay informed in an increasingly uncertain economic environment.

A new nationwide class action lawsuit is accusing Rocket Companies of illegally steering homebuyers toward its mortgage and closing products — even when better rates may have been available elsewhere. The lawsuit alleges Rocket and its affiliates pressured real estate agents, including those at Redfin, to funnel clients to Rocket Mortgage and its title company, potentially violating the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, or RESPA. Rocket denies the allegations and says it will vigorously defend itself. In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down what the lawsuit claims, how the alleged referral arrangements worked, why the case references a prior Consumer Financial Protection Bureau investigation, and what this could mean for mortgage competition, agent referrals, and consumer choice going forward. Want to learn more? Visit www.Newsforinvestors.com  Source: https://www.scotsmanguide.com/news/class-action-lawsuit-accuses-rocket-of-illegal-steering-scheme/

The Federal Reserve is hitting pause. The Fed held interest rates steady this week after cutting rates three times since September, as policymakers weigh signs of a stabilizing job market against inflation that remains above target. Despite pressure from President Trump for more aggressive rate cuts, most Fed officials said now is the time to wait and watch the data. In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down what the Fed's decision means, why two governors dissented, how political pressure is colliding with central bank independence, and what investors should watch next as inflation, employment, and future rate cuts hang in the balance.

In this episode of The Real Wealth Show, Kathy Fettke sits down with real estate investor and educator Rod Khleif, who shares the unfiltered story behind losing more than $50 million during the housing market crash — and how he rebuilt even bigger by mastering mindset, focus, and disciplined investing. Rod breaks down the psychology behind real estate success, why fear and limiting beliefs stop most investors, and how market cycles actually create opportunity for those prepared to act. They also discuss lessons from the 2008 crash, mistakes investors made during the recent multifamily boom, and where Rod sees opportunity today — including senior housing and distressed assets.

New population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show that U.S. population growth slowed sharply in 2025, largely due to a steep drop in immigration. After one of the fastest growth years in decades in 2024, the nation's growth rate fell to about 0.5%, raising important questions about future housing demand. In this episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke breaks down the latest Census data, including where population growth is slowing, which states are still gaining residents, and why even the fast-growing South is beginning to cool. We also look at how lower migration, an aging population, and affordability pressures could reshape housing markets in the years ahead. If population growth has been a key driver of your investment strategy, this is data you'll want to understand.

In this special episode of The Real Wealth Show, Kathy Fettke shares her 2026 housing market forecast and what it means for real estate investors. Recorded from a recent RealWealth webinar, Kathy breaks down where home prices may be headed, what's happening with mortgage rates, inventory, affordability, and why today's housing market is very different from past downturns. She explains how to cut through fear-based headlines, understand the data that really matters, and position yourself for long-term wealth in a changing market. Whether you're actively buying, waiting on the sidelines, or trying to make sense of conflicting housing predictions, this episode offers a data-driven outlook to help investors make smarter decisions in 2026 and beyond.

Home prices remain high, mortgage rates are volatile, and for many buyers the biggest hurdle isn't the payment — it's the down payment. A new housing affordability idea reportedly being discussed by President Trump's administration could change that. The proposal would allow Americans to tap their 401(k) retirement accounts to help fund a home purchase or down payment, potentially without the usual 10% early-withdrawal penalty. In this episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke breaks down what's being proposed, how 401(k) loans and withdrawals work today, and why financial planners and retirement experts are raising serious concerns. From retirement short falls and lost compounding to questions around taxes, repayment, and home equity, this idea may carry far more risk than it appears on the surface. Is this a smart path to homeownership — or a costly trade-off for long-term wealth? Stay informed before policy turns into reality.

Gen X and Millennials are set to inherit nearly $2.4 trillion in U.S. real estate over the next decade, and the impact is already being felt—especially in luxury housing markets. A new report from Coldwell Banker Global Luxury reveals that Americans aged 60 and older now control nearly two-thirds of U.S. wealth, fueling what's being called the "Silver Tsunami." As this massive wealth transfer accelerates, high-end real estate markets are seeing shifting demand, rising price points, and more legacy properties coming to market. According to reporting first highlighted by The Wall Street Journal, wealthy families are buying properties earlier, restructuring ownership through LLCs, and favoring flexible luxury condominiums over traditional co-ops—particularly in markets like New York City and South Florida. In this episode, Kathy Fettke breaks down what this generational wealth transfer means for luxury housing, real estate investors, and long-term market trends as Millennials prepare to inherit the largest share over the next 25 years. Want to learn more? Visit www.NewsforInvestors.com  Source: https://nypost.com/2026/01/20/real-estate/gen-xers-and-millennials-will-inherit-trillions-of-dollars-in-real-estate/

In this episode of The Real Wealth Show, Kathy Fettke is joined by Xander Snyder, Senior Commercial Real Estate Economist at First American, to break down where we are in the commercial real estate cycle and what it means for investors. Xander explains why prices have stabilized, why transaction volume is slowly returning, and why he believes we're at the beginning of the next commercial real estate cycle. They discuss multifamily oversupply in key Sunbelt markets, vacancy and rent trends across Class A, B, and C properties, and why some regions may recover faster than others. The conversation also covers refinancing risk as billions in commercial loans reset, rising insurance costs, and why disciplined underwriting and strong operations matter more than ever in this cycle.

One year into Donald Trump's second term, what does the U.S. economy really look like? In this episode of Real Estate News for Investors, Kathy Fettke breaks down new economic data examining Trump's first year back in office — from the slowest job growth outside a recession in decades to resilient GDP growth, elevated tariffs, and inflation that remains above the Fed's target. You'll hear how policy uncertainty, trade tariffs, and federal workforce reductions are shaping the labor market, why consumer spending remains strong despite economic headwinds, and what a "jobless expansion" could mean for investors moving forward. This data-driven update helps real estate investors understand where the economy stands today — and how jobs, inflation, GDP, and consumer behavior may impact housing, interest rates, and investment strategy in the year ahead.

In this episode of The Real Wealth Show, Kathy Fettke sits down with her husband  Rich Fettke to explore why real estate success starts in the brain, not the deal. Rich shares insights from over 20 years of teaching The Focused Investor, explaining how negativity bias and fear can derail investors — and how retraining your thinking can lead to better decisions across market cycles. You'll learn why asking better questions matters more than chasing advice, how future-focused thinking shapes smarter investing today, and why mindset is the foundation of long-term real estate success. Rich will be teaching The Focused Investor live at RealWealth's upcoming in-person event, where you can also hear Kathy's housing market forecast and meet property teams with turn key passive investments from around the country.

2026 is finally here! And if you can still read this sentence without seeing double, you've made it!  But this year, things are going to be a little… different. We usually talk about the best places or strategies for buying rentals, but we're going on a bit of a detour to start the year by discussing our real estate resolutions, all of which will actively help us retire early. Want to retire with rentals, too? This is the episode for you, and we're sharing the strategies we're using in 2026 to get there.  Kathy Fettke shares a new way she's optimizing her real estate portfolio, with the goal to increase cash flow by 10% on her current portfolio (not buying more rentals!). Henry takes an opposite approach to most investors, opting not to scale his portfolio and instead doing something much safer. Dave details his “End Game”—the ultimate real estate portfolio for early retirement.  You can copy these experts' strategies in 2026 to retire with rentals, too! In This Episode We Cover How to use AI to optimize your portfolio and find the cash flow blind spots where you're losing potential profits  Stop scaling? Why Henry is making moves to pay off some rentals instead (and whether you should, too) Building your “End Game” portfolio to retire with rentals you actually enjoy owning  The three “buckets” of investing and a sign you've already outgrown yours (it could cost you) Henry and Dave's real goal that has nothing to do with real estate (can you help them out?) And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-1221 Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertise@biggerpockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices