Fed cut rates, cool house for a cult & I played golf 29 years ago ⛳️

Big news, the Federal Reserve finally made a cut to its ‘federal funds rate.’ Will it have a big impact on mortgage rates?

In this newsletter:

Thanks for being here, have an amazing weekend.

Are you handy or looking for a house to remodel to your own tastes? This home in Phase 2 of Arrowhead Ranch is a great opportunity to add some sweat equity.

Located near 75th Ave & Union Hills, this home backs to one of the many small community lakes. 3 bed, 2 bath, with just over 2,000 square feet, for just $430k.

See all of the pics & details here.

Listed by Jim Caciola with Compass

Are you an aspiring life enter operator and/or cult leader, in search of your own compound in Sedona? Well are you in luck!!!

Priced at $29.88 million, you will want to have an established congregation for your cult before taking on such an expense.😎

This property is actually very cool. It was operated as a Life Center at one point, has the feel of a church, but could make for a cool family compound or a resort. The property includes 24 acres and two free-standing homes besides the large main home.

See all the details here.

Property listed by Jasson Dellacroce with My Home Group

Last week’s trivia question was ‘To call a person a “Hassayamper” is a polite way of saying that person is a ______?’ The answer was, a liar.

The Hassayampa legend is a classic Arizona tale!

The Hassayampa River, which flows through central Arizona near Wickenburg, is often dry on the surface but has water running underground. According to local lore, the river got its name from a Yavapai word meaning “the river that loses itself.”

But the real legend is this: 👉 Anyone who drinks from the waters of the Hassayampa is doomed to never again tell the truth.

This “liar’s curse” became part of cowboy folklore in the late 1800s and stuck around as a piece of Arizona storytelling. It was even popularized in poems and tall tales, especially among prospectors and settlers who liked to embellish stories around campfires.

Fed Cuts Rates: What It Means for You

The Federal Reserve recently announced a cut to the federal funds rate, the interest rate banks charge one another for overnight loans. While this rate doesn’t directly set mortgage rates, it heavily influences them.

Here’s why: when the Fed lowers its rate, borrowing generally becomes cheaper across the economy. Banks and lenders pass along some of those savings, which can lead to lower mortgage interest rates for homebuyers and those considering a refinance. That said, mortgage rates also move with inflation expectations, bond markets, and overall investor confidence, so they don’t always drop in lockstep with Fed decisions.

For homeowners and buyers in our area, this move could mean more favorable financing opportunities in the weeks ahead. If you’ve been thinking about refinancing, upsizing, or finally making that first purchase, now’s a good time to keep an eye on the mortgage market.

This move by the Fed was highly anticipated, and was already factored into current rates. Thus, I don’t anticipate seeing a significant reduction in mortgage rates.

Here are today’s national averages for Conventional 30 year fixed rate, FHA 30 year fixed rate & VA 30 year fixed rate loan programs.

My lending partner, Aaron Alvarez with West American Mortgage is throwing a TACO PARTY!! 🌮 If you’re free on Tuesday 9/23, come by and have some tacos, I’ll be there too.

Hey Friends, I just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU for all your support of me and my business — it honestly means so much.

To celebrate, I’m throwing a FREE Taco Party for my friends & clients. Come on out and bring your family!

Location: Calitacos at 5940 N. 75th Ave, Glendale, AZ Date: Tuesday, Sept 23 Time: 5:30–7:30 PM

Just show up and say “Aaron is my loan officer,” and dinner is on me. Bring the whole family — let’s hang out, eat some tacos, and have a good time together!

My friend Terence Daniels has an awesome golf newsletter here in Phoenix, called The Cactus Club, and he was gracious enough to let me share the story of my experience at the 1996 US Amateur golf tournament.

You can read Part 1 of the three part series below.

It’s the first round of stroke play at the 1996 U.S. Amateur at Pumpkin Ridge, and I’m lining up a putt for par on the 17th hole on the Witch Hollow course.

As I am crouching down to put my ball in front of my ball marker, it slips from my hand and falls towards my coin on the ground.

In what seemed like slow motion, but also felt like a nanosecond, it landed flush on my quarter, which then flipped into the air, turned over, and returned to the same spot it had been.

My mind raced as my ball rolled away…

Oh fuck!

The summer of 1996 was a whirlwind of golf for me, in what turned out to be the best stretch of golf I would ever play.

It was the summer before my senior year at Colorado State University, and I had won the CGA State Match Play tournament, had a solid showing in the Colorado Open, and finished second in the Pacific Coast Amateur at Poppy Hills.

I felt good about my game heading into the US AM. Tiger was the big story, having won three US Junior Ams & two US AMs in a row heading into this week, and we all talked about how we’d love our shot at interrupting history.

Honestly, I just wanted to get into match play and see what I could do.

That was my thing.

I had already won a 64-match play event that summer, right?

Back on 17, I’m frozen in fear.

WTF just happened?

Will I be penalized for this? I had no clue. 

There happened to be a rules official on the hole, as I had asked for a ruling on my lie before chipping onto the green.

He didn’t have a clue either, as he radioed in, they decided we should finish as it was getting dark, and we’d sort it out before I signed my card. 

I made the putt, finished my round, and shot 74, not an ideal start if I want to make the match play.

I met with the rules officials, and they decided I was “not in the act of replacing my ball” and assessed me a 1 shot penalty. Wait, I was crouching down to put my ball in front of my ball marker.

If I wasn’t replacing my ball, what was I doing?

No one had an answer to that question, and the head of the USGA refused to speak to me. There may have been loud, bad words as I made my way to turn in my scorecard. 

My 74 turned into a 75… it was a punch to the gut. 

Damn, making the match play seemed light-years away. I put myself behind the 8-ball heading to the second day on the Witch Hollow course, which was a more difficult challenge. 

After a long night of what-ifs, I grinded out a 69 on Witch Hollow, which may have been one of the best rounds of golf I played that whole summer.

We were the second group that day, and the lady in the scorers’ tent made me feel good about myself, assuring me, ‘You’re well below the cut line right now, you’ll be fine.’

I spent the entire afternoon watching the scores come in, and the cut started creeping, getting closer and closer, until I was right on the number and found myself in a playoff.

Okay, I can do this; that isn’t that bad. I made it through a playoff at the local qualifier. 

10 guys for 8 spots as we headed to #12 on Witch Hollow, a 143-yard par 3. They drew names to determine which of the three groups would play the hole.

I was in the second group and I watched the first three guys make 3, 4 & 6. Sweet, all I have to do is make a par. What do I do? I hit the green and three-putted. 

Three guys for two spots as we head to #13, and I butchered it.

I hit it in a fairway bunker, but it was still in the grass, and I had to baseball swing at it, and it went into another bunker by the green.

I blast it out to about 30 feet, and it is looking grim. One guy hit is stiff, the other guy has 20 feet downhill for a birdie.

I miss my putt, tap in for bogey, and the penalty stroke comes to mind like a lightning bolt to the skull. I shouldn’t even be here.

How is this happening?

As I watched in a state of numbness, replaying the day and how I had fought so hard to get to the match, only to fall one spot short. The guy with the 20-footer ran it 5 feet past the hole, and OMG, he missed it. 

Two guys are competing for one spot as we head to #14, with one of us going home and the other earning the medalist & #1 seed tomorrow.

I hit the fairway and knocked a 5-iron on the green in two, and my opponent attempted to reach the green from the rough, but he hit it in the water short of the green.

By the time I hit my putt for eagle, the other guy had tapped in for 6. I two-putted, and holy shit, I was in the match play after riding the most amazing rollercoaster of a day. 

There was a decent number of people watching the playoff, and as we walked back to the clubhouse, someone yelled out, ‘You’re Tiger meat!!’

Once at the clubhouse, I made the phone call home to my family and friends, “I have good news & bad news.”

The good news is, I made the match play.

The bad news is, my match tomorrow is against a guy named Eldrick…

Part 2 was just published yesterday, you can read it at TheCactusClubAZ.com

Are you a hiker? My son Tyler and I love to hit the trails, when it’s not 147 degrees out. I started a hiking newsletter called HikePhoenix.

You made it this far, got 2 minutes to take a survey? It would help me to make this a better newsletter. 🙏