DARYL FAIRWEATHER: I think you're right, political can mean all sorts of things. Anecdotally, we've heard that people were at first moving for economic reasons. They were moving for affordability when they left places like California for states like Texas and Florida. But when they got there, they realized that there were other trade offs that they were making related to the political climate, the laws that have been passed in recent years.

So I think that sometimes politics aligns with economics, and sometimes it doesn't.

- Daryl, I also wonder how much of that could be the big trend we've seen of more people can now work from home, and that just gives a lot more Americans a lot more flexibility. If you so choose, you have that-- I guess, more flexibility now to move to an area better aligned with your own personal politics.

DARYL FAIRWEATHER: Yes. People have been able to move for all sorts of reasons because of remote work. It used to be that the job that you had was the first reason you would move. But now people are factoring in other things, whereas job location is less important, especially for people who have the option to work remotely.

- Let's just talk about mortgage rates for a minute because we haven't had a chance to check in with you in a little while about that. Man, they are not coming down much, are they Daryl? I mean, is this level still sort of around 7% or close to 7%, is that enough to make a dent here in the weakness that we've seen?

DARYL FAIRWEATHER: It seems to be making a dent. Compared to the fall rates have come down and that has boosted demand in recent weeks. We've seen that in our data, we've seen prices come in higher than we were expecting, we've seen more growth in sales in places like California that were hit hard by high rates because of how expensive homes are there.

So even this little movement in rates seems to be encouraging buyers, and buyers are considering all kinds of factors like the strength of the economy, their job security, and that is motivating them to make a big purchase.

- So here's my big question, Daryl. So Mortgage News Daily says the 30-year fixed here 6.9%, 7%, where do you think, Daryl, that is six months from now or 12 months from now?

DARYL FAIRWEATHER: I think that it will come down perhaps 200 300 basis points. But it's going to be a lot of volatility. It will bounce up and down. It will take some big news for it to come down substantially, something that shows that we really are winning this inflation fight. And as we've heard time and time again from the Federal Reserve, they don't see the fight as being over yet.

- Daryl, thank you so much for joining us. Always appreciate your time and insight.

DARYL FAIRWEATHER: Thank you.