First-time buyers are the marketing story this weekend. National Mortgage Professional reports that NAR's 2026 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers puts first-time buyers at 22% of purchases, up from last year's record low of 21%, with a median age of 40. The same report says first-time buyers put a median 9% down against 19% for repeat buyers, that 25% of first-time buyers making a down payment received gifts or loans from family and friends, and that 30% tapped financial assets such as retirement accounts or stocks. A buyer group that is assembling its down payment from several sources is a buyer group that needs a loan officer before it needs a house.
The rate context points at government loans. Bankrate's 30-year fixed reads 7.20% this morning, 2 bps above the low of its 30-day range and in the middle of its 90-day range of 6.67% to 7.57%. Bankrate's FHA 30-year sits at 6.94%, 26 bps under conventional. On a $300K loan that is about $1,984 a month in principal and interest for FHA against about $2,036 conventional, before FHA mortgage insurance, so the comparison only means something when the borrower sees both with every cost included. That is a conversation for renters in your database and for any active FHA purchase file still gathering down payment funds.
The tactical move is a short first-time buyer series built around one question: where can my down payment come from? Cover gifts from family, using retirement or investment accounts, and local down payment assistance, one per post or email, and give each one the documentation it takes so the borrower gathers paperwork before the offer rather than during underwriting. The same three pieces work as an email sequence to renter leads and as three social posts.
write the first post in that series on gift funds, covering who can give, what a gift letter is and why the money trail matters, and schedule it for Monday morning.