Job Market is Booming For ....

Michael Zuber (0:01)

Did you know that the job market is actually booming for one segment of the population? Yes, reading an article yesterday about the booming job market for non-college-degreed folks from the age between 22 and 34 Yes, no college education required. The unemployment rate for this cohort of individuals currently sits at a two-decade low. This is something I have long since believed was coming. Sort of the Gen X slash millennials were the last to believe the lie that college is required. It is absolutely not a requirement for most of us. Sure, you want to be a doctor, an architect, engineer, something of that nature, college is required, but let's just be honest with each other. College tuition has gotten stupid. The government has got involved, and prices have tripled, quadrupled, and in some cases gone up 6, 7, 800 percent. College is simply not worth it. The ROI is not there for everyone. And again, the job market is booming for 22 to 34 year olds with no college degree. Some of this obviously having to do with trades. But also, there are plenty of folks without college education who have dived deep into technology, and there is no need for a college education, certainly as AI advances. The other thing I read, I'm currently reading, so more on this tomorrow. The Economist just published an article talking about AI. And the fact the Economist believes, and again, I'm only partially through the article, that AI, Artificial Intelligence, has actually created one million jobs already. This too is something I have long believed, although I did fear we may have a timing issue. AI is undoubtedly going to reduce certain types of work, think customer service perhaps, but it will also create lots of new jobs. And again, I will have more on this article from the Economist tomorrow during the daily financial news, but I found that interesting.

Claudia Somme. Claudia Somme is a wonderful economist, somebody who's obviously known for the Somme rule. She's been on the channel, I think, twice over the last several years. She came out with a huge call yesterday. Claudia Somme, for the longest time, has believed that the Fed would hold rates steady. She no longer believes that. She has joined the dark side. She has changed her mind and a hike, I should say, a series of hikes is coming. She is not confident that without hiking, inflation will get back to 2%.

There is upside risks in energy, tariffs, and the AI bail buildout. She thinks that two, and quite possibly three, rate hikes are coming, with the first being next week. Again, I welcome Claudia to the dark side, because as you all know, I have been there for a long time. When I was calling for a September rate hike, I was the only one. Now, frankly, the island's getting crowded. Don't know if you've seen oil in the tenure this morning, but both are up. The tenure hit 4.8 again. That is the top of the band. If we break through that, people are calling for 5% on the tenure, which would get very, very spicy. Also, oil seems to be on a death march to 100 The conflict in Iran is seemingly escalating nearly every day.

Mike Simonson out there talking about active inventory growth in the MLS across the country, highlighting the south and the east as the parts of the country seeing the most inventory growth. New home listings up 2.1% to 383,795.

That is the highest reading since August of 2022 Guess what, folks? Buyer demand has diminished, disappeared. They are rates seemingly marching to 7%, and mom and dad are not shopping for real estate, hence listings are building. realtor.com comes out with a statement of fact. Homebuyer fall record, say it again. Number of homebuyers falls to a record low.

Now, when I say things like this, I hope you hear them, and frankly, I hope you smile.

The fact that I've told you that listings are up and demand is down, should make you smile.

I have told you plenty of times that I believe the second half of 2026 is going to be an amazing time to create amazing deals. Don't know if you caught the conversation with Cody yesterday, but he just picked up a 45-unit building. He only had to put 9% down. The bank came in for, I want to say 65 or 66%.

The seller took back, yes, the seller second, 90% CLTV. We talk about it all the time with Stephen Dow, took back 25%.

Zero interest, folks. Again, when you understand seller financing, you can do amazing things. Cody and I, in that video that I think released yesterday, found out that his blended interest rate on a 45-unit building is sub 5%.