Home Blog

This CEO laid off nearly 80% of his staff because they refused to adopt AI fast enough. 2 years later, he says he’d do it again



Eric Vaughan, CEO of enterprise-software powerhouse IgniteTech, is unwavering as he reflects on the most radical decision of his decades-long career. In early 2023, convinced that generative AI was an “existential” transformation, Vaughan looked at his team and saw a workforce not fully on board. His ultimate response: He ripped the company down to the studs, replacing nearly 80% of staff within a year, according to headcount figures reviewed by Fortune.

Over the course of 2023 and into the first quarter of 2024, Vaughan said IgniteTech replaced hundreds of employees, declining to disclose a specific number. “That was not our goal,” he told Fortune. “It was extremely difficult … But changing minds was harder than adding skills.” It was, by any measure, a brutal reckoning—but Vaughan insists it was necessary, and says he’d do it again.

For Vaughan, the writing on the wall was clear and dramatic. “In early 2023, we saw the light,” he told Fortune in an interview, adding that he believed every tech company was facing a crucial inflection point around adoption of artificial intelligence. “Now I’ve certainly morphed to believe that this is every company, and I mean that literally every company, is facing an existential threat by this transformation.”

Where others saw promise, Vaughan saw urgency—believing that failing to get ahead on AI could doom even the most robust business. He called an all-hands meeting with his global, remote team. Gone were the comfortable routines and quarterly goals. Instead, his message was direct: Everything would now revolve around AI. “We’re going to give a gift to each of you. And that gift is tremendous investment of time, tools, education, projects … to give you a new skill,” he explained. The company began reimbursing for AI tools and prompt engineering classes, and even brought in outside experts to evangelize.

“Every single Monday was called ‘AI Monday,’” Vaughan said, with his mandate for staff that they could only work on AI. “You couldn’t have customer calls, you couldn’t work on budgets, you had to only work on AI projects.” He said this happened across the board, not just for tech workers, but also for sales, marketing, and everybody at IgniteTech. “That culture needed to be built. That was… that was the key.”

This was a major investment, he added: 20% of payroll was dedicated to a mass-learning initiative, and it failed because of mass resistance, even sabotage. Belief, Vaughan discovered, is a hard thing to manufacture. “In those early days, we did get resistance, we got flat-out, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to do this’ resistance. And so we said goodbye to those people.”

The pushback: Why didn’t they get on board?

Vaughan was surprised to find it was often the technical staff, not marketing or sales, who dug in their heels. They were the “most resistant,” he said, voicing various concerns about what the AI couldn’t do, rather than focusing on what it could. The marketing and salespeople were enthused by the possibilities of working with these new tools, he added.

This friction is borne out by broader research. According to the 2025 enterprise AI adoption report by WRITER, an AI platform that specifically helps enterprise clients with AI integration, one in three workers say they’ve “actively sabotaged” their company’s AI rollout—a number that jumps to 41% of millennial and Gen Z employees. This can take the form of refusing to use AI tools, intentionally generating low-quality outputs, or avoiding training altogether. Many act out due to fears that AI will replace their jobs, while others are frustrated by lackluster AI tools or unclear strategy from leadership.

WRITER’s Chief Strategy Officer Kevin Chung told Fortune the “big eye-opening thing” from this survey was the human element of AI resistance. “This sabotage isn’t because they’re afraid of the technology … It’s more like there’s so much pressure to get it right, and then when you’re handed something that doesn’t work, you get frustrated.” He added that WRITER’s research shows that workers often don’t trust where their organizations are headed. “When you’re handed something that isn’t quite what you want, it’s very frustrating, so the sabotage kicks in, because then people are like, ‘Okay, I’m going to run my own thing. I’m going to go figure it out myself.’” You definitely don’t want this kind of “shadow IT” in an organization, he added.

Vaughan says he didn’t want to force anyone. “You can’t compel people to change, especially if they don’t believe.” He added that belief was really the thing he needed to recruit for. Company leadership ultimately realized they’d have to launch a massive recruiting effort for what became known as “AI Innovation Specialists.” This applied across the board, to sales, finance. marketing, everywhere. Vaughan said this time was “really difficult” as things inside the company were “upside down … We didn’t really quite know where we were or who we were yet.”

A couple key hires helped, starting with the person who became IgniteTech’s chief AI officer, Thibault Bridel-Bertomeu. That led to a full reorganization of the company that Vaughan called “somewhat unusual.” Essentially, every division now reports into the AI organization, regardless of domain.

This centralization, Vaughan says, prevented duplication of efforts and maximized knowledge sharing—a common struggle in AI adoption, where WRITER’s survey shows 71% of the C-suite at other companies say AI applications are being created in silos and nearly half report their employees left to “figure generative AI out on their own.”

No pain, no gain?

In exchange for this difficult transformation, IgniteTech reaped extraordinary results. By the end of 2024, the company had launched two patent-pending AI solutions, including a platform for AI-based email automation (Eloquens AI), with a radically rebuilt team.

Financially, IgniteTech remained strong. Vaughan disclosed that the company, which he said is in the nine-figure revenue range, finished 2024 at “near 75% EBITDA”—all while completing a major acquisition, Khoros. “You multiply people … give people the ability to multiply themselves and do things at a pace,” he said, touting the company’s ability to build new customer-ready products in as little as four days—an unthinkable timeline in the old regime.

What does Vaughan’s story say for others? On one level, it’s a case study in the pain and payoff of radical change management. But his ruthless approach arguably addresses many challenges identified in the WRITER survey: lack of strategy and investment, misalignment between IT and business, and the failure to engage champions who can unlock AI’s benefits.

The ‘boy who cried wolf’ problem

To be sure, IgniteTech is far from alone in wrestling with these challenges. Joshua Wöhle is the CEO of Mindstone, a firm similar to WRITER that provides AI upskilling services to workforces, training hundreds of employees monthly at companies including Lufthansa, Hyatt, and NBA teams. He recently discussed the two approaches described by Vaughan—upskilling and mass replacement—in an appearance on BBC Business Today.

Wöhle contrasted the recent examples of Ikea and Klarna, arguing the former’s example shows why it’s better to “reskill” existing employees. Klarna, a Swedish buy-now pay-later firm, drew considerable publicity for a decision to reduce members of its customer support staff in a pivot to AI, only to rehire for the same roles. “We’re near the point where [AI is] more intelligent than most people doing knowledge work. But that’s precisely why augmentation beats automation,” Wöhle wrote on LinkedIn.

A representative for Klarna told Fortune the company did not lay off employees, but has instead adopted several approaches to its customer service, which is managed by outsourced customer-service providers who are paid according to the volume of work required. The launch of an AI customer-service assistant reduced the workload by the equivalent of 700 full-time agents—from roughly 3,000 to 2,300—and the third-party providers redeployed those 700 workers to other clients, according to Klarna. Now that the AI customer service agent is “handling more complex queries than when we launched,” Klarna says, that number has fallen to 2,200. Klarna says its contractor has rehired just two people in a pilot program designed to combine highly trained human support staff with AI to deliver outstanding customer service. 

In an interview with Fortune, Wöhle said one client of his has been very blunt with his workers, ordering them to dedicate all Fridays to AI retraining, and if they didn’t report back on any of their work, they were invited to leave the company. He said it can be “kinder” to dismiss workers who are resistant to AI: “The pace of change is so fast that it’s the kinder thing to force people through it.” He added that he used to think that if he got all workers to really love learning, then that could help Mindstone make a real difference, but he discovered after training literally thousands of people that “most people hate learning. They’d avoid it if they can.”

Wöhle attributed much of the AI resistance in the workforce to a “boy who cried wolf” problem from the tech sector, citing NFTs and blockchain as technologies that were billed as revolutionary but “didn’t have the real effect” that tech leaders promised. “You can’t really blame them” for resisting, he said. Most people “get stuck because they think from their work flow first,” he added, and they conclude AI is overhyped because they want AI to fit into their old way of working. “It takes a lot more thinking and a lot more kind of prodding for you to change the way that you work,” but once you do, you see dramatic increases. A human can’t possibly keep five call transcripts in their head while you’re trying to write a proposal to a client, he offers, but AI can.

Ikea echoed Wöhle when reached for comment, saying that its “people-first AI approach focuses on augmentation, not automation.” A spokesperson said Ikea is using AI to automate tasks, not jobs, freeing up time for value-added, human-centric work.

The WRITER report notes that companies with formal AI strategies are far more likely to succeed, and those who heavily invest in AI outperform their peers by a large margin. But, as Vaughan’s experience shows, investment without belief and buy-in can be wasted energy. “The culture needed to be built. Ultimately, we ended up having to go out and recruit and hire people that were already of the same mind. Changing minds was harder than adding skills.”

For Vaughan, there’s no ambiguity. Would he do it again? He doesn’t hesitate: He’d rather endure months of pain and build a new, AI-driven foundation from scratch than let an organization drift into irrelevance. “This is not a tech change. It is a cultural change, and it is a business change.” He said he doesn’t recommend that others follow his lead and swap out 80% of their staff. “I do not recommend that at all. That was not our goal. It was extremely difficult.” But at the end of the day, he added, everybody’s got to be in the same boat, rowing in the same direction. Otherwise, “we don’t get where we’re going.”

What Colleges Secretly Look For In Students


Colleges have a “type” of student they are secretly looking for when deciding on admissions.

The college admissions process is notoriously competitive. And if the past couple of decades are any indication, getting into college is becoming even harder, overall.

College acceptance rates hover at a national average of 68%, though the rate at some of the nation’s top institutions is a shocking 3%.

So, what are colleges really looking for as they sift through the thousands of annual applications? 

While schools emphasize the importance of an applicant’s academic performance, extracurricular involvement, and personal essay, more covert factors taken into account that are not discussed publicly. Here are seven less obvious yet significant factors that could play a role in your admissions decision.

What Colleges Look For In Students

1. Demonstrated Interest
2. Geographic Diversity
3. Legacy Status
4. Institutional Priorities
5. Special Talents (AKA “Hooks”)
6. Ability To Pay In-Full
7. Application Timing
When Money Can’t Buy You Everything

1. Demonstrated Interest

Schools look for students who have indicated interest in their school by monitoring things such as campus visits, direct outreach, and online activity. That’s right – admissions offices are collecting more data on prospective students than ever before.

This is partly due to necessary adaptations made during and after Covid-19, but it’s also because today’s typical 18-year-old is likely to engage with a prospective college almost entirely online. So, schools had to get creative with how they track student interest, which helps them determine how serious a student is about attending their school if accepted.

But why do colleges care about this anyway? Colleges translate a higher level of demonstrated interest to a greater chance of enrollment. Predicting these numbers helps colleges manage their enrollment rates. And showing sustained interest in a school both signals your commitment and makes you a more attractive applicant.

The good news? This is likely something you’re already doing; you just didn’t know it was being monitored. 

With that in mind – make sure you’re using the same email address to sign up for the school’s updates, register for campus tours, and for your actual application. That way your “demonstrated interest” can be tracked.

Why It Matters: Colleges value demonstrated interest from students, and expressing your interest could benefit your chances of acceptance, in turn.

2. Geographic Diversity

Where you’re from could determine your college prospects. Why? Because colleges use geographic diversity as a way to create a more varied and enriching campus environment. In fact, because most institutions are working to broaden their geographic reach, students from underrepresented states, regions, or countries may have an edge in the admissions process.

Earlier this year, U.S. News & World Report wrote about this exact topic. In it, they say, “Colleges want to build a diverse student body, and geographical information can give context about an applicant’s academic curriculum and the cultural diversity they can bring to the school.

In particular, since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against race-based college admissions, schools have largely turned to geography as the next best reference point of cultural, racial, and socioeconomic identity.

Why It Matters: There are several benefits to having a geographically diverse student body, so colleges typically seek students from underrepresented regions.

3. Legacy Status

This is one of those significant yet often unspoken factors in the college admissions process. Legacy status refers to the priority ranking commonly given to the children or grandchildren of alumni, who are more likely to receive admission to that school.

Is it still used? Some studies suggest that legacy benefits are waning, while other studies indicate the practice is still in use at many academic institutions. On its own, legacy status isn’t likely enough to base an admissions decision on, but it can influence the overall decision when considered with other factors.

In fact, Stanford was recently getting a lot of flack for continuing to use it despite changes to California law.

Legacy status admissions are a mutually beneficial transaction. The incoming student receives admission into a desirable school, and the school is more likely to receive greater alumni engagement and donations. Though legacy is a controversial factor, schools, especially prestigious ones, believe that it contributes to a sense of continuity and tradition that reinforces a college’s community and identity.

Why It Matters: Applying as a legacy student is one more way to demonstrate your interest in a school. An admissions office may take this as a signal that you are more likely to enroll, given your pre-existing ties to the campus.

4. Institutional Priorities

Each year, colleges set specific institutional needs and priorities that shape their admissions decisions. Some of these priorities are long-term and address the overall mission of the school; others are short-term and typically make up for some perceived lack at the institution or address donor issues.

Institutional priorities are unique to each school and are determined by leadership. If you want a better idea of a school’s priorities, locate their Strategic Plan (see a good example here) and read through it to identify the steps they plan to take toward meeting their mission and values. (FYI – a quick internet search returned the Strategic Plan of my alma mater).

Here are a few common institutional priorities:

  • Athletes
  • First-generation college students
  • Students from underrepresented backgrounds (race, gender, geography, etc.)
  • Winners of academic scholarships and competitions
  • Students interested in new or under-enrolled academic programs
  • Fulfilling major donor initiatives 
  • Legacies (plus students of faculty and staff)
  • Having a “hook” (more on this below)

So, for example, a school might prioritize admissions of students seeking STEM fields to help balance gender ratios in specific programs and departments.

Or, a school may have a new initiative that was created by the alumni association or other major donor. For example, Tulane has a relatively new MakerSpace that they spent millions of dollars to build. They would hate to have the space go unused. If you would use this type of space for your education or ideas, you may have a leg up on the competition.

Another example is UC San Diego’s relatively new Music Center. While they’ve always had a robust music and arts program, they recently built a state-of-the-art concert hall and music center. They will likely be adding to their music and arts department as a result – and students can take advantage of this during admissions.

The bottom line is that students should perform some searches of programs, initiatives, donations, and endowments in areas that they want to study.

Why It Matters: Institutional priorities reflect a school’s broader mission and goals. Understanding these priorities will help you position your relevant strengths and experiences in a way that aligns with the school’s current objectives, thereby increasing your chances of admission.

5. Special Talents (AKA “Hooks”)

Perhaps you’ve heard about someone who had a “hook” that helped them through the admissions process. It refers to a personal trait or special achievement that benefits a student in the admissions process because it meets an institutional priority.

Admissions offices commonly see students with a hook in areas like the arts, music, or athletics. Colleges value these exceptional skills or achievements because they complement the school’s reputation and success, enhance campus life, and may even add prestige.

Even better if this special hook aligns with the institutional priorities we discussed above.

Why It Matters: Colleges are always looking for students who can bring something unique to their campus. Highlighting your special talents, passions, and background in an application can give you a slight edge in the admissions process.

6. Ability To Pay In-Full

While most of us are looking for ways to reduce the cost of college, there is another strategy at play: just pay the full sticker price. Why? It might increase your chances of being admitted, especially to private institutions or those with lower financial aid budgets.

Full-pay students (those who don’t receive any institutional financial aid) contribute directly to a school’s revenue, allowing the school to fund more scholarships, programs, and campus improvements. Colleges are constantly seeking new and additional funding, and a full-pay student instantly relieves some of the financial pressure on the institution.

Remember, just because a school is a non-profit does not mean they aren’t trying to maximize revenue.

Why It Matters: Schools sometimes consider a student’s need for financial aid when deciding whether to admit them. Though it’s not the best strategy – and is often faulted for favoring wealthy applicants – being able to pay in-full for four years may help open doors at top-tier institutions.

7. Application Timing

When you apply to a college can influence the admissions decision. Most schools offer an early action or early decision timeframe, and utilizing this opportunity can increase your chances of being accepted. 

If you think back to the first item listed in this article, you’ll remember that colleges want prospective students to clearly demonstrate their interest in and commitment to the school. Applying early does just that – plus it helps the admissions office proactively manage their offers of admission and anticipated enrollment numbers.

Why It Matters: The benefits of applying early include minimizing the stress of decision-making your senior year of high school, finding broader options for financial aid, receiving a decision sooner, and even allowing yourself more time to plan your academic future. Perhaps most importantly, though, demonstrating your interest early on can boost the likelihood you are accepted.

When Money Can’t Buy You Everything

There’s far more to the admissions process than what meets the eye. While academic achievement, extracurricular involvement, and test scores are extremely important, they aren’t the only elements considered in your college admissions decision. 

By no means am I advocating for these hidden factors. In fact, you may even feel that some of them have ethical drawbacks or deepen existing inequities in the college admissions process. However, you should now have a better idea of the multiple aspects that play a role in the admissions process, and can hopefully best position yourself for your academic future because of this new knowledge.

Remember, each of these holds some weight of its own in the decision-making process. So, if you aren’t able to pay your own way through college, get creative with the other options for playing up your strengths and experiences!

More Stories:

@media (min-width: 300px){[data-css=”tve-u-190571bd64f”].tcb-post-list #post-62665 [data-css=”tve-u-190571bd656″]{background-image: url(“https://thecollegeinvestor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/College-Student-Walking-On-Campus-150×150.jpg”) !important;}}

Fidelity Study Reveals Changing Views On Student Debt
Fidelity Study Reveals Changing Views On Student Debt
@media (min-width: 300px){[data-css=”tve-u-190571bd64f”].tcb-post-list #post-47360 [data-css=”tve-u-190571bd656″]{background-image: url(“https://thecollegeinvestor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/What_Is_Demonstrated_Interest_1280x720-150×150.png”) !important;}}

What Is Demonstrated Interest For College Admissions?
What Is Demonstrated Interest For College Admissions?

Editor: Colin Graves

Reviewed by: Robert Farrington

The post What Colleges Secretly Look For In Students appeared first on The College Investor.

10 Remote-Friendly Careers for Working From Home in 2025


PR Image Factory / Shutterstock.com

Tired of soul-crushing commutes, stale office coffee, and awkward small talk by the copier? Welcome to 2025, where work isn’t a place — it’s a Wi-Fi signal. Whether you’re dreaming of answering emails in pajamas, brainstorming from a beachside cafe, or simply reclaiming your time, remote work is rewriting the rules of career success. But before you trade your desk for a hammock, let’s dive into…

Inside one credit union’s search for a CTO


University Federal Credit Union is on the hunt for a chief technology officer.  The $4 billion credit union is prioritizing agility, scalability and resilience as it builds out its digital capabilities, Sumeet Grover, executive vice president and chief strategic growth and digital officer at UFCU, told Bank Automation News.   Grover, who joined the Austin, Texas-based […]



Your Brand Deserves Better Images, So Get Them for $20 with This Photo-Editing App


Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

When you’re running a business, every photo you put out into the world is part of your brand story. Whether it’s a product image on your website, a team photo for LinkedIn, or a behind-the-scenes Instagram shot, visual quality matters—and it can mean the difference between “just scrolling” and “click to buy.”

Luminar Mobile makes pro-level photo editing accessible, affordable, and ridiculously easy. For a one-time $19.99 payment, you’ll have lifetime access to an AI-powered editing toolkit that can replace skies, relight scenes, retouch portraits, and even remove that random coffee cup from your product flat lay. And yes, it works seamlessly on your iOS or Android device—so you can edit from anywhere.

For entrepreneurs, marketers, real estate agents, content creators, and small-business owners, this is the kind of tool that pays for itself fast. Need to polish product shots before uploading them to your eCommerce site? Want to make sure your LinkedIn headshot looks confident and approachable? Launching a social media campaign that requires cohesive, high-quality visuals? Luminar Mobile puts all that power in your pocket.

With features like EnhanceAI to instantly boost color and clarity, SkinAI to refine portraits, and Erase to remove distractions, you can produce client-ready visuals in minutes—without expensive software or outsourcing. In today’s market, where attention spans are short and competition is fierce, looking polished isn’t optional.

Luminar Mobile makes it effortless.

Get lifetime access to one of the following versions:

StackSocial prices subject to change.

When you’re running a business, every photo you put out into the world is part of your brand story. Whether it’s a product image on your website, a team photo for LinkedIn, or a behind-the-scenes Instagram shot, visual quality matters—and it can mean the difference between “just scrolling” and “click to buy.”

Luminar Mobile makes pro-level photo editing accessible, affordable, and ridiculously easy. For a one-time $19.99 payment, you’ll have lifetime access to an AI-powered editing toolkit that can replace skies, relight scenes, retouch portraits, and even remove that random coffee cup from your product flat lay. And yes, it works seamlessly on your iOS or Android device—so you can edit from anywhere.

For entrepreneurs, marketers, real estate agents, content creators, and small-business owners, this is the kind of tool that pays for itself fast. Need to polish product shots before uploading them to your eCommerce site? Want to make sure your LinkedIn headshot looks confident and approachable? Launching a social media campaign that requires cohesive, high-quality visuals? Luminar Mobile puts all that power in your pocket.

The rest of this article is locked.

Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

Barclays GM Business Card: 100,000 Point Bonus


The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • Barclays GM Business card is offering 100,000 points after $5,000 in spend within 5 months. 

Card Details

  • No annual fee
  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • 7x points on GM purchases
    • 3x points on all other purchases
  • 0% introductory APR for 9 months on GM purchases more than $499 (within 30 days of account opening)

Our Verdict

Points are worth 1¢ each towards a vehicle and discount applies after negotiation, you’d also get the 9 month interest free period. Card earns 3x on all purchases as well, not as good as the previous 4x card. I don’t think this is as good as other cards that earn at a high rate as you’re locked into GM. But sign up bonus might be worth considering if you’re sure you’re going to go for a GM car. We will add this to our list of the best business credit cards. 

Hat tip to reader person

Buffett Bought Home Builders Again. Is It a Play on Lower Mortgage Rates?


You may have heard that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought shares in a pair of home builders last quarter.

The company released its latest 13-F yesterday, revealing the buys during the second (and first) quarter.

This has led to a lot of speculation about why they’d be buying stock in home builders, which have struggled of late due to a lack of affordability.

Is something expected to change sometime soon? And if so, what exactly would make these companies all of a sudden attractive?

Perhaps the thought of lower mortgage rates is behind the recent purchases.

What Does Berkshire See in the Home Builders?

During the second quarter, Berkshire Hathaway purchased a whopping 5.3 million shares of Lennar (NYSE:LEN).

A quarter earlier, the company loaded up on 1.8 million shares to add to the 200,000 shares it bought back in 2023, bringing their total above seven million shares.

It was also revealed that Berkshire acquired 1.5 million shares of D.R. Horton (NYSE:DHI) in the first quarter before selling 27,000 of those shares a quarter later.

Berkshire had previously owned DHI stock, acquiring six million shares in Q2 2023 and unloading them by the fourth quarter of that year.

Now they appear to be back on the builders, but why? Why at a time when the housing market seems shaky, and affordability remains poor?

Oh, and new home inventory keeps ticking higher and is now approaching 10 months of supply.

Outside of the spike in the second half of 2022, when mortgage rates surged from sub-3% levels to 7%, newly-built inventory hasn’t been higher since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC).

It’s possible they just saw a bargain, with Lennar shares trading as high as $178 last September before falling to nearly $100 in April.

Similarly, D.R. Horton shares nearly touched $200 late last year and then tumbled to around $125 per share in the first quarter.

So it’s perfectly feasible that they just saw a big drop in share price and felt it was a value play, perhaps around Liberation Day.

But you still need to have a belief that they’ll perform well in the near future.

And in order to that, they’ll need to keep selling homes for a profit, despite poor buying conditions today.

How Lower Mortgage Rates Could Reignite the Housing Market and Help the Big Builders

D.R. Horton and Lennar are the two largest home builders in the country, which has its advantages.

One of them is being able to offer mortgages via their own in-house lending units, DHI Mortgage and Lennar Mortgage.

When you look at housing affordability, it eroded quickly due to the unprecedented shift in mortgage rates, as seen in the chart above from ICE.

This is mainly why home builders now offer massive mortgage rate buydowns, to keep affordability in range, even without lowering prices.

However, that also costs them a lot of money, and if they can get more buyers in the door without that cost, their margins would improve once again.

Lower mortgage rates could turn things around in a hurry. For example, a 1% decline in mortgage rate is akin to an 11% price drop.

So if mortgage rates were able to come down some, the builders would have an easier time unloading inventory.

A lot of people seem convinced all of a sudden that mortgage rates are coming down, largely because they think the Fed is going to become more accommodative once Chair Jerome Powell exits in May.

While that’s not necessarily how it works (the Fed doesn’t set mortgage rates), they can lower the fed funds rate.

That would lead to lower rates on HELOCs without question (since prime and the FFR move in lockstep), and could arguably lead to lower rates on adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) as well.

At the same time, a cooling economy could bring long-term mortgage rates like the 30-year fixed down too if the data continues to support that narrative.

The latest jobs report was what pushed mortgage rates back toward the lower-6% range, and if it continues into coming months, rates will likely drift even lower.

Of course, you’ve got the trade-off of a weaker economy, which means home buyer demand could take a hit too.

But lower rates could certainly provide a tailwind for the home builders and allow them to clear their inventory much easier.

Perhaps Berkshire is banking on another leg up for the housing market on this theory. Or, as alluded to earlier, they just saw a value play, and could be holding for only a short period. Time will well.

Read on: Home Builders Are Advertising Monthly Payments Instead of Home Prices to Clear Inventory

Colin Robertson
Latest posts by Colin Robertson (see all)

Why is Mantle (MNT) Price Up 30% in 2 Days, and What Happens Next? – Investorempires.com








Why is Mantle (MNT) Price Up 30% in 2 Days, and What Happens Next? – Investorempires.com







































You cannot print contents of this website.

The Basics of Investing (Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, and Types of Interest)



In order to generate significant wealth, one must invest their money. But how does investment work? What does one invest in? What are stocks, bonds, and mutual funds? If you are earning money on an investment, what type of interest in being earned? What’s the difference between simple and compound interest? Let’s find out!

Script by Matt Beat:
Animation by Ignacio Triana:

Watch the whole Economics playlist:

Mathematics Tutorials:
American History Tutorials:
History of Drugs Videos:
General Chemistry Tutorials:
Classical Physics Tutorials:

EMAIL► ProfessorDaveExplains@gmail.com
PATREON►

Check out “Is This Wi-Fi Organic?”, my book on disarming pseudoscience!
Amazon:
Bookshop:
Barnes and Noble:
Book Depository:

source