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Marketing Pulse Jul 24

Rates are quiet — build the future-refi list while it's cheap to

With pricing parked near a yearly high and no rate story to chase, the highest-leverage move this week is database work: tag the growing 6-to-7% cohort now and reframe first-time-buyer content around who actually owns.

Friday, July 24, 2026 30Y 6.75%15Y 6.10%5/1 ARM 6.39%

This is a quiet week for rate-reactive marketing, and that's the opening. Pricing is holding near a yearly high with no fresh catalyst, so there's no urgent number to blast — which is exactly when the disciplined LOs do the unglamorous work that pays off later. The signal to build around is structural: Realtor.com's Q1 data shows nearly 22% of outstanding mortgages now carry a 6%-plus rate, up almost four points year-over-year. That's a slowly swelling pool of borrowers sitting close to — but not yet below — current pricing. They're not a refi pitch today. They're the list you want fully tagged and nurtured so that the day rates ease even half a point, your outreach is a warm "here's your number" instead of a cold scramble.

There's a second, softer angle worth a content beat this week. A HousingWire piece reframed the homeownership statistic everyone cites: the familiar ~65% is an owner-occupancy rate, while a proposed adult-ownership measure puts closer to 53% of U.S. adults actually owning a home. For your marketing, that's a first-time-buyer story — the addressable "not yet an owner" market is bigger than the headline implies, and education content that meets renters where they are (what today's payment really looks like, what programs exist) is evergreen and doesn't depend on rates cooperating.

The tactical move is a two-track week: one, run a report and tag every past client and lead whose current rate is between 6% and 7% into a dedicated "future-refi" segment, then set a light monthly value touch for that list. Two, publish one plain-English first-time-buyer explainer that treats renting-to-owning as a math question, not a rate bet. Neither needs rates to move to be worth doing, and both compound.

Do this today

build the 6-to-7% "future-refi" segment in your CRM and schedule its first monthly check-in email.

Borrower segments to act on today

Future-refi watchlist: closed loans between 6% and 7%

This is the fastest-growing cohort in the market (nearly 22% of mortgages are now 6%-plus). They are not in-the-money at today's 6.74% pricing, but a half-point move flips the whole segment. Tagging and nurturing them now means your refi outreach is warm the day rates ease.

closed loans · rate 6.00–7.00%

Today’s content angles

Social post

First-time-buyer explainer: renting vs. owning as math

Short post or reel aimed at renters: "You have probably heard 65% of Americans own their home — but only about half of adults actually do. If you are renting, here is the real question: what would owning cost you monthly, today, at today's rates? On a typical starter price in our area that number might surprise you. Message me and I will run it — no pressure, just the math." [Borrower-facing — payments and plain language only.]

Email

Monthly value drip for the future-refi segment

A once-a-month, one-line email to the 6-to-7% list that never hard-sells: "Hi {client} — your rate check for the month: today's pricing is still a touch above your number, so nothing to do yet, but I am watching it for you. The day it makes sense to move, you will hear from me first." Keeps you top-of-mind without pitching a refi that does not pencil.

Tactics worth stealing

Segment before you nurture — a tagged list beats a bigger one

A small, correctly-tagged segment (rate band, purpose, closing date) out-performs a large undifferentiated database because it lets every message be specific. Build the rate-band tag once, and future rate moves become a two-click campaign instead of a manual pull. Set the segment now, in the quiet week, not the day rates drop.

Salesforce State of Marketing 2024