The Fed Rate Cut Explained: Why Mortgage Rates Could Still Drop in 2026

Real estate, finance, and AI — minus the jargon, the hype, and the sales pitch.

That's The Texas Real Estate & Finance Podcast, and I'm your host, Mike Mills.

I'm a mortgage banker up in North Texas, 17 years in — but these days I'm probably better known as the AI guy. I take the complicated stuff (rates, the market, and now the wave of AI tools hitting our industry) and explain it like a normal human would. Not PhD-level. BBQ-level. I started this show because Realtors kept asking me the same questions, so I figured I'd just answer them out loud, every week, for everybody.

Before mortgages, I took the scenic route — owned a couple of restaurants here in DFW, bought merchandise for Radio Shack back when that was still a thing, and sailed around the world for Royal Caribbean. Turns out running a kitchen on a Friday night and walking a nervous buyer through a rate lock aren't that different: both are mostly about staying calm and telling people the truth. All those detours are why I can talk to just about anybody, and why I skip the stiff-banker routine.

Here's where the show's headed: a whole lot more AI. Not the "robots are taking over" stuff — the practical kind. How agents can use AI to find clients, follow up without dropping the ball, build a real brand, and claw back hours of their week. And I don't just talk about it: I rebuilt my own business on these tools (this website included), I build AI tools for agents, and I teach state-certified CE classes on it across DFW. If I tell you something works, it's because I already ran it through my own shop first.

So every week you'll get mortgage rates and the Texas housing market in plain English, real conversations with Realtors, investors, and experts, and a steady stream of AI tools and workflows you can actually put to work in your business. Straight talk, a few bad jokes, takeaways you can use Monday morning. No smoke and mirrors — and if some shiny new tool is a waste of your money, I'll tell you that too.
If you're a Texas Realtor trying to grow and not get left behind while this stuff changes fast, this show is built for you. Want more than the podcast — the AI classes, the done-for-you tools, or a straight conversation about a loan? It's all at mikemillstx.com.

Thanks for listening. Let's make this make sense.

— Mike