Tech with Ty

🤖[T]echnology: They’re Ready
🎓 [E]ducation: Gov. Shutdown
📝 [C]oaching: Masterclass
📹 [H]ow To: Blur Your Video Background

[T]echnology: 

Just over a year ago, I talked about AI Avatars and that they were so close…but not quite there yet.

Whelp, they’re ready…⬇️⬇️

[E]ducation:

It’s not the first time, but every time it happens I start getting questions on does a government shutdown affect real estate. ⬇️

Luckily, NAR put together a really great guide.

Here’s the real estate version of CliffNotes: ⬇️

The Big Stuff That Could Slow Down

• FHA loans – Still moving, but certain programs (like reverse mortgages and condo approvals) get paused.

• USDA loans – No new loans during the shutdown. Closings stall

• VA loans – Still guaranteed, but appraisals and eligibility checks may take longer.

• Flood insurance (NFIP) – No new or renewal policies until funding is restored. Existing policies stay valid.

• IRS transcripts – Lenders may not get tax returns verified on time, which can jam up underwriting. 

The “Still Rolling” Side

• Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac – Keep running since they don’t rely on congressional funding.

• Existing FHA/VA servicing – Claims, payments, and managing REO properties continue.

Private flood insurance – Still an option if NFIP shuts down.

What It Means for Buyers & Sellers ⬇️⬇️

• Delays on closings that use FHA, VA, or USDA financing.

• Potential headaches if flood insurance is required.

• More uncertainty = some buyers may hold off.

• But most conventional deals and day-to-day showings go on as usual.

Pro Tip

If you’ve got clients in the middle of a deal, get docs in early, communicate about possible delays, and remind them: this isn’t the first time, and the market keeps moving.

Even Pro(er) Tip

Send this out to your database so your clients know you’re the freaking expert and how to handle uncertainty!

[C]oaching

I’ll be honest, I use AI to transcribe a lot of YouTube videos that I want to watch, but don’t always have the time to. I’m actually really looking forward to automating that with ChatGPT Pulse, but more on that next week. This week, I’m going to watch this video at least two to three times, be deliberate with my notes, and use AI to help me with a course of action.
 

This is the video I’m talking about and it truly is a masterclass:

[H]ow To: With Abby

In order to come up with what to write each week, I’ve started thinking about what I did throughout the week that people might not know how to do. And what do you know—Tyler forgot to film one of his videos in cinematic mode, so the background didn’t have that nice cinematic blur. That’s where I came in…

Okay, if you have the option, always film in cinematic mode—it’s ten times easier than adding it in post. BUT, if you forget (like Tyler did), here’s what you can do. (You’ll need a CapCut Pro account.) 

• Open CapCut.

• Upload the video you want to blur the background for.

• Add your video to the timeline. Select it, then copy and paste a second version (Command+C to copy and Command+V to paste on Mac).

• Stack these identical clips directly on top of each other.

• Click the top version of your clip. In the top right, click Remove BG → Auto Removal. If it doesn’t remove everything you’d like (which happened to me), click the button below for Custom Removal → Smart Eraser. Use it to erase anything that didn’t get removed.

• At this point, the video still looks the same since you have an identical layer underneath. Here’s where we add the blur.

• Select the bottom layer. Go to Effects → Video Effects → Blur. Drag the blur effect onto your bottom layer. This creates the background blur.

• Adjust the level of blur in the top right with the slider until you’re happy with it.

And that’s it! Pretty easy. If your video has more movement, you might need to use masking instead, which is a bit more complicated—but definitely not impossible.

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-Ty Morton + Abby G