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Mortgage pros are entering the thick of the most pivotal marketing disruption since the .com boom.

In his earnings report Wednesday, the CEO of AI powerhouse Nvidia, Jensen Huang, dropped a truth bomb. Generative AI has "hit the tipping point," he told Wall Street analysts. Its critical mass and widespread adoption is now reshaping consumer research and product selection habits forever.

Mortgage marketers who ignore this seismic shift—specifically those who rely on old-school online lead-gen—could find themselves in a digital prospecting desert. No one wants that. And through MLN's reporting, we'll work hard to ensure it doesn't happen to you.

As the days unfold, we'll chronicle how AIO (artificial intelligence optimization) is surmounting traditional SEO and how mortgage pros can not just survive it but cash in on it.

The truth is, the sharp cookies in the mortgage biz started thinking about this by mid-last year. For those who haven't, it's not too late. Here's a cornucopia of AI/search marketing ideas to ponder so you're ready for every spring market to come.

The climate is changing (fast) for online search

Most in the mortgage broker business saw this coming, but now it's official.

In an email to its brokers on Tuesday, HSBC Canada said that its acquirer—RBC—"will not be entering into new partnerships within the broker channel at this time."

Optimists had crossed their fingers for RBC to take a shot on brokers. After all:

We won't swing from the chandeliers just yet, but the fact is, Canada's mortgage market just got precisely what the doctor ordered—significantly better-than-expected inflation. And it came just in the nick of time, as the rate market was getting jittery.

Here's the latest CPI report card from StatsCan:

• Y/Y inflation: 2.9% (vs. 3.3% est. & 3.4% prev.)
• M/M inflation: 0.0% (vs. 0.4% est. & -0.3% prev.)
• Avg core inflation: 3.35% (vs 3.6% est. & 3.6% prev.)
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BoC rate hikes are providing much of the air that keeps inflation pumped up. Strip out mortgage interest from the calculation, and inflation is hitting the bullseye at 2%.

Looking ahead

Scotiabank Economists expected that winter homebuyers would try to snatch up homes at the lowest possible price – before expected rate cuts.

But they didn't expect it to happen this soon.

Wagering that rate cuts eventually lead to "an uptick in activity and prices" is a "reasonable bet on the part of buyers," wrote Farah Omran, Scotiabank Senior Economist, on Wednesday.

But is it?

The Liberal government's jihad against short-term rentals (STRs) is hitting landlords' wallets harder than a surprise tax audit — particularly landlords who convert their short-term rentals to long-term rentals.

Some of you may have seen this post on X: