Ed Parcaut and Mike Kelly cover pending home sales dropping in every region with the West the worst, a housing starts miss, oil at a five-month high and a pirate ship house in Utah.

In this episode:

• Local check: Stanislaus County listings, pendings and closings up from yesterday (the MLS screen shown on air)

• Why compliance watches what we say about sellers helping buy down a rate, and why a disclosure makes it better

• Markets: bonds caught a flight to safety on AI jitters, and the 10-year was lower near 5.09% (CNBC, Oct 20, 2026: https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/US10Y)

• Oil: Brent hit a five-month high (CNBC, Oct 20, 2026), with December Brent about $111.10 (WSJ, Oct 20, 2026)

• AI debt worries and why a stock slide matters for housing: wealthier buyers paying cash don't worry about rates

• Pending home sales fell 7.3% in September and 11.3% from a year ago, down in all four regions. The West was the worst, down 9.2% on the month and 15.0% on the year (NAR, Oct 20, 2026: https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/pending-home-sales-decreased-7-3-percent-in-september)

• NAR's Lawrence Yun: "Market conditions weakened in September due to fast-rising mortgage rates." Mike's take: that also opens doors for buyers, with sellers doing what builders do

• Housing starts: 1,221,000 at a yearly pace in September, down 5.2% from August. Single-family starts 859,000, down 4.6%. Building permits 1,400,000, down 0.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, Oct 20, 2026: https://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/current/index.html). Census says the monthly drop in starts is not statistically significant

• Is this 2008 again? Ed and Mike on inventory then and now, and why "never" and "always" are false statements

• Google's listing carousel and getting your listings in front of ChatGPT and Copilot through Bing Webmaster Tools

• Extra jerky: a house shaped like a pirate ship in Levan, Utah, nowhere near an ocean. Would you walk the plank?

• Community Corner on realestatejerky.com: UB40 at the Gallo Center, the El Concilio Job Fair, a junk journaling workshop in Lodi and the Brady House basement haunt in downtown Modesto

No cheerleading. No doom. Just the truth, with a little seasoning.

Watch live Mon to Fri on Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. More: www.edparcaut.com | @EdParcaut

Rates: rate figures were read on air. Ed read rates "like 7.40" and the 10-year at 5.10, from his screen during the show. For reference, 7.40% is Freddie Mac's 30-year survey average from last week (PMMS, Oct 15, 2026: https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms). Daily rate index: Mortgage News Daily, Oct 20, 2026, https://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage-rates. Ed's opinion, not financial advice.

Edward R. Parcaut, NMLS #235384, CA DRE #01077454. Lending For Living Inc, Real estate broker, California Department of Real Estate, NMLS #855360, CA DRE #01907016. Equal Housing Opportunity. This is not a commitment to lend. All loans are subject to credit approval, underwriting guidelines and program availability. NMLS Consumer Access: www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org