Mortgage applications rebound after a year-long slump
Rates dipped enough to wake buyers up.
The shift did not happen overnight. It accumulated in quiet decisions, small wins, and a handful of unglamorous fixes that no one tweeted about.
Still, the conversation has changed. The questions in the room are different from the questions in the room six months ago.
Critics raise familiar objections, and some of them land. The honest answer is that the tradeoffs are real and worth naming.
Expect the next chapter to be quieter than this one, and more consequential. The loud part is usually the prologue.
A small group of practitioners has been arguing for this approach for years. They are doing their best not to look smug.
Whatever happens next, the baseline has moved. The old assumptions no longer describe the room they were built to describe.
