KellumMortgage

10/28/2026

Property is Power!

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as a guest of A&D Mortgage, alongside a select group of mortgage brokers, to visit their corporate headquarters, tour their facilities, participate in training sessions, and meet the people behind the company.

While learning more about their operations, products, and approach to business was valuable, what stood out to me most was something even more important: the people.

We had the opportunity to hear directly from the CEO, interact with the leadership team, and get a firsthand look at the culture behind the company. I walked away feeling that the people at A&D Mortgage were genuine, authentic, and committed to building meaningful relationships. In an industry where so much of our business is conducted through emails, portals, and phone calls, there is real value in meeting the people on the other side of those communications.

I believe A&D Mortgage is positioning itself to become a major force in the mortgage industry, and my impression is based not only on its products and business model, but also on the people and the culture I experienced firsthand.

As someone whose mission through Property is Power is to help close the homeownership gap. I am particularly interested in working with lending partners whose products can help more families achieve homeownership and give entrepreneurs and real estate investors access to financing.

The right lending partnerships can make a meaningful difference in helping us accomplish that mission.

A big shout-out to the entire A&D Mortgage team for the hospitality, professionalism, and time you invested in bringing us into your world. Thank you for opening your doors, sharing your knowledge, and allowing us to see your organization up close.

I look forward to building stronger relationships and doing more business together!

10/04/2026

Property is Power!

I have spent much of my life believing in the American Dream. My parents taught me that if I worked hard, pursued an education, treated people with respect, cared for my family and contributed to society, America would provide opportunities to succeed. I believed them then, and I still believe them today.

I have been blessed to help families pursue their own American Dream through property ownership. I love this country, but loving America does not mean ignoring the challenges we face or the uncertainty of the times.

As I look at our country today, I find myself thinking more deeply about economic independence, opportunity and what it truly means to build lasting security for ourselves and future generations.

Political administrations change. Government policies shift. Corporate priorities evolve. Public sentiment rises and falls. We cannot control all these forces, nor should our future depend entirely upon them.

But we can make decisions that give us greater control over our own lives. We can save, invest, build businesses, purchase property and create opportunities that extend beyond our own lifetimes.

That is why I have spent years saying Property is Power.

A home is more than shelter. A deed is more than a piece of paper. Ownership represents independence, stability, equity and the ability to pass something meaningful to the next generation. It is not about having power over anyone else. It is about having greater power over our own destiny.

Perhaps the most important question facing Americans today is not simply what is happening around us, but what are we building for ourselves and the generations that will follow?

The American Dream is still worth believing in. But believing in it is not enough. We must also take responsibility for building it, protecting it and passing it forward.

www.kellumortgage.com

09/20/2026

Property is Power!

What Do Higher Interest Rates Mean for American Homebuyers?

Interest rates are numbers, but their consequences are personal.

Higher mortgage rates reduce purchasing power and can make homeownership more expensive. But there is another side to the equation.

When borrowing becomes more expensive, fewer buyers may compete for homes. That can create opportunities to negotiate price, seller-paid closing costs, repairs and interest-rate buydowns.

That’s why buyers should evaluate the entire transaction, not just the mortgage rate.

A lower rate on an overpriced property is not automatically better than a higher rate on a property purchased at the right price with meaningful concessions.

After more than three decades in mortgage lending, I’ve watched rates rise and fall and housing markets accelerate and cool. The goal isn’t to wait for the perfect market. It’s to be financially prepared to recognize the right opportunity when it appears.

www.kellumortgage.com

09/17/2026

Property is Power!

Each week, Bankrate asks a panel of mortgage and housing experts to weigh in on the direction of interest rates and what may be influencing the market.

This week’s Bankrate Mortgage Rate Trend Poll is out, offering perspectives on what homebuyers, homeowners, investors, and real estate professionals should be watching in the days ahead.

I’m pleased to contribute my perspective alongside other industry experts.

Read this week’s expert predictions here:
https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/rate-trends/

Follow weekly mortgage rate trends and expert opinions from the Mortgage Rate Trend Index by Bankrate.

09/16/2026

Property is Power!

The Best Time to Buy May Not Feel Like the Best Time to Buy
Some of the greatest opportunities in real estate arrive disguised as uncertainty.

When rates are low and everyone feels confident, buying feels comfortable but comfort often brings competition, bidding wars, higher prices, and buyers making decisions out of fear of missing out.

Today’s market feels different. Mortgage rates remain elevated, affordability is challenging, and some buyers have moved to the sidelines.

But that can create something buyers haven't had much of in recent years “leverage”

A slower market may provide opportunities to negotiate price, seller-paid closing costs, repairs, interest-rate buydowns, and simply more time to make a sound decision.

That doesn’t mean everyone should buy today. Your income, credit, savings, monthly payment, and long-term goals still matter.

But we should understand the difference between a bad market and an uncomfortable market.

Don’t just ask, “What are interest rates?”

Ask: What is the opportunity? What can I negotiate? Can I comfortably afford the payment? And how could owning this property position my family five, ten, or twenty years from now?

A home is more than where we live. It is an asset. It can build equity, strengthen net worth, and become part of a family's legacy.

www.kelluMortgage.com

09/03/2026

Property is Power!

On August 25, 2026, seven federal agencies withdrew their 2022 guidance supporting Special Purpose Credit Programs commonly known as SPCPs. While the term may sound technical, the consequences are deeply personal for communities still struggling to close the homeownership gap.

SPCPs are legally structured lending programs designed to help people who have historically faced barriers within the traditional credit system. They are not grants, giveaways, or substitutes for financial responsibility. Borrowers must still qualify and demonstrate the ability to repay their loans.

Depending on their design, these programs may provide down-payment or closing-cost assistance, reduced rates and fees, flexible underwriting, homebuyer counseling, or credit support in historically underserved communities.

With the withdrawal of this guidance, lenders now face greater legal uncertainty when creating programs that directly address racial disparities in homeownership.

Supporters of the change argue that lending decisions should be race-neutral. On the surface, that sounds fair.

But there is a difference between equal treatment and equitable access.

A race-neutral rule applied to a market shaped by generations of racial exclusion does not necessarily produce a race-neutral result. If two runners are told the rules are now equal, but one was held back for most of the race, removing the restraint does not erase the distance already created.

We should not pretend that indirect alternatives are always equal to directly confronting the homeownership gap. Equality without historical context can preserve the very disparities it claims to ignore.

A system cannot produce unequal outcomes for generations, declare itself neutral, and then treat every effort to repair those outcomes as another form of discrimination.

08/29/2026

Property is Power!

Renting is often framed as a neutral housing choice and sometimes even the safer one. But in an economy that rewards ownership, renting has long-term economic consequences.

Homeownership remains one of the most powerful ways families transfer wealth across generations not necessarily massive fortunes but momentum.

Without assets, the next generation often inherits the responsibility to start over rather than the advantage of building on what came before.

That’s how inequality can reproduce itself quietly not because of a lack of hard work, ambition, or intelligence, but because of the absence of ownership.

This isn’t an argument against renting. Renting can absolutely make sense depending on someone’s financial situation, lifestyle, or long-term goals. Rather, it’s a challenge to the idea that permanent non- homeowners should simply be accepted as the norm.

www.kelluMortgage.com

08/23/2026

Property is Power!

For generations, we’ve been taught that homeownership begins with money.
Save enough for a down payment.

Improve your credit score.
Find the right lender.
Close the deal.

Those are all important steps but they are not the first step.
The first investment every aspiring homeowner should make is in financial literacy.

Knowledge is the foundation upon which wealth is built. Without it, income is often consumed instead of invested. Credit is misunderstood instead of managed. Opportunities are missed simply because we were never taught how to recognize them.

The gap between those who own assets and those who do not is not always just a gap in income. Often, it is a gap in information.

Financial literacy changes behavior because it changes perspective. When people understand credit, leverage, equity, appreciation, and the power of ownership, they begin to see money and opportunity differently.

That is why homeownership education should never begin when someone is ready to buy a house. By then, we are already late.

It should begin years earlier in our schools, churches, community organizations, and most importantly, around our own kitchen tables.

If we want to build stronger families, stronger communities, and generational wealth, we must teach the principles of ownership long before the closing table.

www.kellumortgage.com

08/16/2026

Property is Power!

Ownership determines who begins each generation with options instead of obligations.

That is why real estate should never be viewed merely as shelter. Ownership is one of the few economic activities that can strengthen both the individual and the surrounding community. It creates equity, leverage, stability, and ultimately, generational wealth.

Political administrations will change, economic cycles will rise and fall, interest rates will increase and decrease markets will experience uncertainty.

But ownership has a way of surviving the headlines.

Ownership expands across a community, the impact becomes collective stronger families, stronger neighborhoods, greater economic participation, and more capital circulating from one generation to the next.

www.kelluMortgage.com

06/26/2026

Property is Power!

America says it believes in homeownership.

We call it the American Dream. We celebrate it as the foundation of strong families, stable communities, economic opportunity, and generational wealth.

But if homeownership is truly that important, why is housing policy so often treated as a political bargaining chip?

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is one of the most significant bipartisan housing affordability efforts in years.

What makes this legislation noteworthy is not just what's in it, but the fact that leaders from both sides of the aisle found common ground on an issue that affects millions of Americans. In today's political climate, that alone is worth recognizing.

As we debate housing policy, we should remember that the goal is simply to create more homeowners.

Because when more families own homes, communities become stronger, local economies grow, and the promise of the American Dream becomes more attainable for future generations.

Homeownership should never be a bargaining chip.

It should be a national priority.