Rates Continue to Imrpove

Interest rates have continued to improve... and bond analysts are considering the fact that their markets and prospective yields may move even lower. That means offered interest rates could go lower as well. How much lower... we are at RECORD LOWS again, when making history its difficult to predict because historical data is not available, so we follow the trend, and right now the trend is positive.

Despite these low rates mortgage applications remain flat which suggests home buyers are not out in the numbers we need to stabilize the housing market. Are we lining up for a double dip? Are more foreclosures going to be hitting the market? Are home prices going to turn down again? These are all legitimate questions and anyone that immediately brushes them off is not being very realistic.

Buying now is by no means a bad move. Waiting to see where the real estate market settles in the next couple of months is not a bad move. Ignoring the opportunity available to refinance into a lower rate or ignoring the low home prices and rates available for borrowing, knowing your options - these are the people I worry about.


Above is a one year graph of the mortgage backed securities market. This market is producing the lowest consumer rates in history. Anyone not interested in paying less for money they have borrowed... didn't think so.

Back

Good day everyone... I hope all have been busy originating new business in the wake of these low rates. I have been out on personal matter for the last week and why you have not seen posts over the last week or so.

Rest assured I am back and hope all of you did not miss me too much... The market over the last week, I am happy to report has been stable and remained relatively unchanged.

To the left you will find a five day graph illustrating a clear range in which we have been trading. This is why rates have been steady. Interestingly, investors are comfortable at these high points, which suggests our market may improve further bringing rates even lower. I wouldn't bank on this, but it is possible.

Right now the real issue is delivering to investors. Keep in mind these are mortgage notes they are buying into, and if we (lenders and agents) are not originating new business, investors are left without product... no product and well they'll only hang around for so long.

I am not worried about our market.... after all one person sells another buys, but we must continue to move inventory and create demand for investors. New demand is critical, so let's turn it up, and get cracking. There are buyer's everywhere.

Open House Flier

Below you will find this weeks open house flier which you may print out and use to compliment your own marketing material.

Of course if you need preapprovals over the weekend to complete your offers we are available. Have a productive weekend.

104.00 Breakout

Today we broke through the 104.00 price point which has been acting as resistance to our market. This has lead to very good rates moving into the weekend. We will have our open house flier published shortly to compliment your marketing material this weekend at your open houses.

Monday will be a very interesting day, which we are hoping provides additional support to our market moving forward. Assuming we do not sell off it will mean 104.00 is beginning to turn coat, acting as support as opposed to resistance, which has been its authority recently.

Currently purchase loans should consider 45 days, although a 30 day escrow is still achievable if the borrower is prepared with supporting paperwork.

These rates are what we have all been hoping for. Let's make the most of our market while these rates are so low.

Markets Improve

Mortgage rates improved today... underwriting turn times got longer... make sure you plan close of escrow periods accordingly. Although the news is reporting mortgage applications are down, our recent experience has been the opposite, although a great deal of demand has been for people looking to refinance.

Even so, we are seeing activity in regards to purchase loans starting to pick up. One problem we are seeing is the general public is not fully aware of just how low rates are. Point in fact, we can now secure a rate of 3.875% on a conforming 30 year fixed home loan right now with an APR of 4.204%.

That's an awesome deal... currently the media is reporting 30 year mortgages at a rate of 4.57% If people only new what was available wholesale, the fence sitters might become home buyers.

We are happy to issue preapprovals to anyone looking to buy a home, and can have an automated approval in less than an hour of taking a complete application.

Now would be the time to educate your prospects, make sure they understand just how low rates have moved.

A Strong Day of Gains

It was a strong day in the mortgage backed securities market, evidenced by the graph to our right. Curiously however, reprices were slow to come, some not at all from lenders that you would have expected improvement from. If you are currently approved with a lender that did reprice, take a good look at the rate sheet, if you're approved with a lender that didn't reprice, holding off until tomorrow's opening may prove to be the smart play.

We have to play close attention to that treasury yield (yellow) which is rising slowly but surely. This will put pressure on our market should it continue.

Additional considerations include longer underwriting turn times at the most favorable lenders. As a result most are either floating in open market for a longer period of time, or forced to take a 45 day lock to ensure they will not need extensions at the time of closing.

Considering this fact, it would be wise to begin paperwork and submit as soon as possible if you are considering taking advantage of these rates.

Settlement...

Yesterday at close our market settled and the July coupon closed out and we rolled into the August coupon. As expected this brought our market down, which is evidenced by the fall at the close yesterday.

Despite this, pricing this morning is still very favorable, and slightly better than yesterday's close. Even so, we are currently down two ticks in secondary which is not a good sign for future rate sheets. This sell off is due to a stock market rally, which I don't see dissipating today. Best we can hope for today is strong support at our current trading level. This would reinforce current pricing and encourage investors to buy leading to a rally. Wishful thinking, but completely plausible.

We are down off highs... the doomsdayers may see this as an opportunity, and believe me there are still plenty of people out there questioning the overall health of our economy.