I'm guessing that house prices will plateau by the end of this year when the Fed reconvenes and decides to increase the interest rate by a quarter point.

YUP at the end of the day unless the fed owned all the mortgages or MBS  and could wait on payment.. this ripple effect is going to be a real issue.

Since the fed cut interest rates, banks have also cut their interest rates.

All that mortgage paperwork your LO asks you for, that's basically what you are doing, helping them manufacture something to be sold to the "War Department" (the Fed) for above-normal levels of profit (note that I'm not opining on if I think this is good public policy or not, I'll leave that to others).

Kidney beans sales rose too, a sign of financially-strapped households seeking cheap sources of protein.

somebody has to compensate landlords. forbearance does not cut it. state or fed govts or cdc need to compensate landlords by cutting them monthly checks. so far they have been doing whatever they want without facing any legal and financial consequences. there is also no national body that represents interests of landlords.

Wash their car, walk their dog, cut their grass, anything to get that knowledge and experience from them.

There was one blade of grass that had grown tall between the time we turned in the keys and the THREE weeks latter when they actually inspected the house.  

Does the private lender have obligations based on the fed rate to provide a specific rate minimum?

The Fed is raising interest rates, the jobs report just came out better than expected, which points to ANOTHER increase.