Elliot Eisenberg, Ph.D., chief economist at GraphsandLaughs, LLC, may well have been born to be an economist. He has been fascinated by tax rates and the economy since he was a child.

“I remember being 10 years old and telling my parents we had to move to Vancouver, Wash. We were living in Montreal,” he recalled in an interview with The Title Report. “My parents said, ‘Well, why?’ And I said there’s no state income tax in Washington, and we can cross the Columbia River bridge and go into Portland, Ore., and shop, and there’s no sales tax there.”

His passion for money matters has not dampened since then.

“I love economics and interest rates and inflation and the Fed and demographics … oh my gosh, it’s fun!” he said.

Eisenberg, known as The Bowtie Economist, will share his enthusiasm for and knowledge of the economy as the featured speaker on Thursday, May 23, at the National Settlement Services Summit (NS3) in Naples, Fla.

This is his second time on the NS3 stage. He looks forward to returning and sharing his mix of education and entertainment with attendees.

“I love the industry,” he said. “My PhD was in housing, I worked with the National Association of Home Builders for 12 years, so I’ve spent the better part of my professional career thinking about housing. It’s my housing expertise that makes me really enjoy speaking to homebuilders, realtors, title agents, mortgage lenders – this is my home turf.”

Eisenberg plans to discuss how the economy is doing and the conflicting messages being heard.

“On the one hand, the economy is pretty good. The Q1 GDP is surprisingly strong, and the U.S. economy continues to do well,” he said.  “But rates are high, and when you keep rates high long enough, bad things generally happen. So, you’ve got this yin and this yang of good economy so far holding up against high rates, but high rates are here, and that’s a problem. And if they stay too high for too long, a recession probably happens.”

Among the topics he plans to cover is the question he is asked a lot: when will the Fed cut interest rates? Economists have changed their predictions over the past year as the economy continues to fluctuate.

“Inflation is driving this process,” Eisenberg explained. “When inflation got better, in December, we thought they’d lower rates maybe seven times. Then it went to three, then two. Maybe even zero. Maybe they’ll even raise rates.”

It’s important to keep in mind the Fed does a lot less moving than the market does, he added.

“They don’t want to make a mistake. They will wait as long as they have to before they begin lowering,” he said.

Attendees will get to hear Eisenberg’s predictions for when he expects to see rate declines as well as his forecast for the economy and housing market.

“I want audience members to walk away with a feeling. No one knows the future, but I want them to walk away with a general notion of what’s likely to follow, so they can plan accordingly,” he said. “I hope to give them insight and something they can hang their hat on so they can make better decisions for their business.”

For more information on NS3 2024, including the agenda for all three days, click here. You can register for NS3 online or click here to get information on how to register offline.