Mortgage News
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Mortgage Rates Mostly Unchanged After Treasury Auction
Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch When economic data is thin the stock market tends to have a larger impact on the direction of mortgage rates. The session began with stocks moving lower yesterday. With no data on the economic calendar to reverse the market's direction, the bond market was able to rally all day (higher bond prices = lower bond yields). This allowed most lenders to reprice for the better. Like yesterday, the economic economic was quiet today. Two events influenced the marketplace... The Department of Treasury auctioned $21 billion 10-year notes today. Before the auction, the bond market made room for new debt supply by letting Treasury prices fall (cheapen). This pushed benchmark yields higher and led MBS prices lower. The issue must have gotten cheap enough because auction demand was strong. This led to a modest...( read more) 
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USDA Rural Development System Upgrade Complete. Now Processing Conditional Commitments
Posted To: MND NewsWire In March we learned that USDA Rural Housing funds were expected to run dry by the end of April . A month later, even though the legislation intended to provide the funding had not passed, USDA began issuing commitments for new loans, but there was a caveat: Loan approvals would be "subject to the availability of funds and Congressional authority to charge a 3.5 percent guarantee fee for purchase loans and a 2.25 percent guarantee fee for refinance loans." Finally, on July 29 Congress passed HR 4899 to reestablish the program as one that would no longer be subject to the annual whims of Federal funding but self-sustaining through a 3.5 percent guarantee fee paid by the borrower. Four weeks passed after the Congress did their job and appropriated unlimited funding for the USDA Rural Housing Program...( read more) 
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Jeff's Blog -
National Mortgage News
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Written by Jeff
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Sunday, 13 September 2009 10:47 |
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The Sussex County Association of Realtors sponsors a fun evening at Jungle Jim's in Rehoboth Beach every year - the RPAC Duck Race. RPAC is the Realtor Polical Action Committee and the event raise money for lobbying on real estate related issues. This year I decided to enter a Prosperity Mortgage Duck in the race and challanged the Bethany Beach and Rehoboth Beach Long & Foster offices to do the same. Here's what happened:
RPAC Duck Race Click Here |
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Jeff's Blog -
Jeff's Blog
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Written by Jeff
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Saturday, 05 September 2009 16:17 |
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The "end of summer" at the beach is actually the beginning of some great weather conditions at the shore. September and October are generally very mild and sometimes we even get some nice beach days. The real estate market has picked up considerably over the past 4-6 months and sales are definately happening. The mix of my business with regard to refinance mortgages versus purchase money mortgages has firmly turned in favor of the purchase side of things. We closed 14 loans in August and 10 were purchases, including 3 jumbo mortgages.
Now, I'm not talking about short sales and REO properties. Some buyers are still searching for "deals" on the distressed side of the market, but it's not easy. You will more than likely wait and wait for contract acceptance by the lending bank, while other buyers get great deals on non-distressed sales. None of the purchase loans I closed this summer were on short sales or bank owned properties, yet that seems to be all the media talks about.
I'm looking forward to a great Fall season at the beach. If you are looking for a vacation home or investment property, I can recommend the best realtors in the area. If you want to discuss restructuring your current mortgage, give me a call as well. Mortgage rates are still very low - even lower than 2 months ago. I hope you had a great summer and I look forward to speaking with you about your financing needs. All the best! |
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Jeff's Blog -
Jeff's Blog
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Written by Jeff
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Monday, 31 August 2009 21:50 |
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The latest issues of Real Estate Trends, The Real Estate Page, and The Sales Update have been uploaded:
Real Estate Trends: Is the Deflation Threat Real? Home Sizes Shrink. Tax Credit to Expire Shortly.
Rent to Own: Some first time homebuyers can't get together a down payment, a gift, or get qualified for a mortgage just yet. Renting to own may be a good option - if they stick with a plan and work with a good team of advisors.
Social Networking, Part 2: A follow-up to last month's Sales Update Newsletter (last month's here) which discussing rules and strategies for successfully using Social Networking sites to build your business.
I hope you find these regular newsletters helpful and please feel free to share with your friends, family, clients and referral sources. |
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Jeff's Blog -
Jeff's Blog
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Written by Jeff
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Wednesday, 26 August 2009 21:33 |
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New Home sales jumped 9.6% in July to an annual rate of 433,000 units. The forecast was for an annual rate of 390,000, but it was easy to see the better than forecast performance coming with the recent data on existing home sales, home starts, etc. See the data and our report here: July New Home Sales
It should be noted that sales are still at very weak levels, but it looks like they could be emerging from the trough formed earlier this year. We are hopeful that new home sales are rebounding, but cautious with the coming expiration of the $8,000 tax credit and the large increase in competition from distressed properties into next year.
As usual, here is the take from Calculated Risk: New Home Sales Increase in July |
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Jeff's Blog -
Jeff's Blog
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Written by Jeff
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Friday, 21 August 2009 15:19 |
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Existing home sales gained 7.2% in July - more than expected. Analysts were looking for home sales at an annualized rate of about 5 million homes and the annualized rate came in at 5.24 million. Here is our report: July Existing Home Sales
Sales of existing homes have risen for 4 consecutive months and are up 5% year on year for the first yearly increase since 2005. However, the majority of sales last month were first time home buyers (driven by government incentives) and distressed sales (driven by increasing foreclosures and short sales). Low prices and tax incentives do seem to be driving demand, at least in the short run. Remember, the first time home buyer tax credit ends November 30, 2009.
Here is the take from my favorite blogger - Calculated Risk |
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Find Jeff's Offices
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September 7, 2010 (8)
