Are your buyers still pining for 2021 interest rates? Are they struggling to accept the reality of today’s rates? If so, a history lesson might help.

In this, our annual lending issue, we take a look at historical interest rate data to show rates in the 1990s and 2000s hovered in the sixes, just like today. Go back a little further to the 1980s or ’70s, and today’s rates seem like a bargain. Longtime industry professionals know all this, of course, but that historical context may not be so clear to younger clients.

That’s where lender expertise can help. In our cover story, some of those lenders share their wisdom on how they work with agents to get to closing more quickly, the return of first-time homebuyers to the market and which city neighborhoods and suburbs are hot right now.

Speaking of historical data, in this issue we examine Black homeownership rares nearly 55 years after the Fair Housing Act was enacted. Sadly, the numbers show we still have a long way to go to close the racial gap in homeownership.

In our Top Coach feature, Jenny Sepulveda, executive vice president of sales coaching and development at Guaranteed Rate, explains the importance of creating a lending business plan.

Jeff Lasky, chief executive officer of the North Shore-Barrington Association of REALTORS®, offers insight into transformation, collaboration and changing with the times in our Association News column.

As we flip the calendar to March, we look forward to a shift in seasons, and it means changes at this publication as well. I’m excited to step into a new role as managing editor at Chicago Agent after working as the company’s national editor since the start of 2022.

We always aim to tell stories that inform and help real estate professionals do their jobs better.

Some of our best story ideas come from you, our readers. I welcome your thoughts, suggestions and feedback at patrick.regan@agentpublishing.com. Don’t be a stranger.