rates: Will Rates Go to 5%? They Just Fannie Mae. - 09/15/08 10:58 AM
OK. Time to get out the crystal ball. We've been hovering in the low 6% range with the 30-yr. fixed interest rates (despite what all of the pop-up ads on Internet proclaim) and a few bits of news lead me to believe we may hit 5% by the end of the … (2 comments)
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rates: What's All the Bracket? NCAA Tourney Thoughts - 04/01/08 02:25 PM
Big week in the Men's College Basketball world. The field has narrowed from 63 teams to the Final Four. Interestingly, the four teams that were seeded #1 are the four teams that are left. There's usually some surprise team in the final couple of games; some underdog that rose from obscurity … (3 comments)
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rates: The Truth About Traffic - 02/25/08 10:27 AM
I've been seeing these things a lot lately. Those black tubes stretched across the various roadways I drive. At first I thought they were some kind of traffic enforcement device and there were cops lurking nearby waiting for suckers like me to fly over them at unlawful speeds. But no, they are actually … (9 comments)
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rates: One Down, Twenty-Five To Go - 02/05/08 09:11 AM
I just read an article about the 2007 Chicago Marathon and my calf muscles cramped just thinking about what these 25,000 people went through. In case you hadn't heard about it, Chicago had an unseasonably warm race day, to the tune of 82 degrees and 78% humidity at the start of … (13 comments)
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rates: Mutant Carrier Pigeons, Dancing Lizards, and Cashew Perfume - 02/04/08 02:09 PM
The Superbowl has come and gone, but the memories of the commercials linger in the air like the smell of wet socks. From what I heard, a 30-second time slot ran the advertisers something like $2.7M. Or $100,000 a second. Just you reading my first three sentences would've cost $500,000, if … (2 comments)
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rates: I'm Mike Tullio and I Endorse The Following Message - 01/31/08 03:25 PM
I laugh every time I see a political ad on TV and at the end, the candidate's mug pops on screen, they offer up a cheesy smile, stare sincerely into the camera, and tell us how they endorse the commercial. Really. Oh, now I believe all of the political wrangling and … (12 comments)
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rates: Burning Your Tongue Despite the Warning Label - 01/30/08 12:58 PM
<-----Do you see it? The little warning at the bottom of the cup telling you how extremely hot your beverage is? I saw it too, but I figured enough time had passed since ordering my venti, and I tipped the cup back and proceeded to sear the kris kringle out of … (7 comments)
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rates: Ignoring the Dashboard Warning Lights - 01/24/08 08:52 AM
We've all done it. You're driving along and suddenly a bright little icon blinks on. Check engine it tells you. So what do we do? Ignore it. Hope it flickers out. Maybe it's just stuck. My engine is fine; it must be a mistake. I'll deal with it later. Pretty light, … (4 comments)
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rates: Line Dancing: More Than A Country Music Fad - 01/22/08 05:22 PM
I was never any good at line dancing. Nor did I look good in tight jeans, boots, and a cowboy hat. But the line dancing this post refers to isn't done to a Brooks and Dunn song. The DJ in this case is Fannie Mae. The tune they are playing is … (10 comments)
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rates: Dude, Your ARMS Are Looking Good! - 01/18/08 02:01 PM
No, not a self-photo. Although I did pump some iron this morning to keep the pythons looking healthy. More importantly, I took a look at my wholesale lender rate sheets today, and it turns out, I'm the dumbell.
Funny how you get used to doing things a certain way, and for the … (9 comments)
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rates: It's A Full Doc World, and I'm A Full Doc Girl. - 01/16/08 09:37 AM
No, I'm not really a girl. I think I had a Madonna song stuck in my head. But the heart of my title is this: Lenders are slowly squeezing loans back into the full doc box. If you haven't heard, no doc loans are gone (other than hard money). In fact, … (11 comments)
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rates: Are You a Donkey or a Moose? - 01/15/08 09:11 AM
No, this is not a question about which political party you favor. It is a question I'd like you to consider. I was jogging on the treadmill in the gym this morning burning off some holiday grease and I saw this news blurb come on about a moose that fell through … (21 comments)
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rates: The World's Biggest Lender: The Universal Bank of Ameriwide - 01/11/08 08:33 AM
So it's really going to happen: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22606833/
It's funny. I've seen quite a few posts about this in the past week. Rumors of CW going BK. Rebuttals from the PR spin doctors at Countrywide. Every prediction under the sun from media pundits to the fine folks in AR. And here we … (12 comments)
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rates: Hunting Rabbits With a Bowling Ball - 01/10/08 05:07 PM
Is anyone else having a hard time keeping up? Just when you think you learn the new rules of lending, they change. You study program guidelines, check out lender websites, grill your account execs, and tattoo new Fannie Mae manuals on your forearm to no avail. I'm just too slow.
OK. 100% No … (6 comments)
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rates: Analysis Paralysis - 01/09/08 05:04 PM
Proverbs 23:7 "As a man thinketh, so he is." What if a man thinketh way too much and doesn't doeth anything about it? Then we have a serious real estate log jam with inventory out the ying-yang. Being a mortgage consultant, I see the financial side of real estate transactions and … (0 comments)
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rates: Such Cutting Remarks - 01/08/08 11:17 AM
OK, the title is a little misleading. The cutting remarks I'm referring to aren't the ones that professional wrestlers hurl at one another before grappling on the WWE. I'm talking about the ones the Federal Reserve (more specifically, the FOMC) are in charge of implementing. Recently there have been some remarks that seem … (5 comments)
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rates: I'd Like To Sell A Vowel, Please. - 01/07/08 09:56 AM
It blows my mind, but back in 1939, an author did publish a 50,000 word book, "Gadsby", without using an "e". Crazy, I know. What an amazing thing to accomplish. This Wright guy had such focus and insight; his singularity of thought did allow him to attain his goal.
How was a story told … (20 comments)
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rates: Can You Spare Some Change? Need AR Help! - 01/06/08 09:05 AM
So it's been a little over two weeks (since joining) and close to 5,000 points later and I'm asking for some help from my AR brethren. I've got a couple of questions; feel free to chime in and let me know what you think.
1. I know that posting to my blog … (8 comments)
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rates: I Give Thee Seven, No, Eight Commandments! - 01/04/08 09:21 AM
OK. It's January 4th and if we're honest, many of the resolutions we made, both personal and business, have been compromised. We've snuck some chocolate, slept through our alarm rather than go to the gym, and chewed on our fingernails in a nervous moment. But take heart! If you set goals … (10 comments)
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rates: Squeeze 10 Lemons - 01/03/08 09:34 AM
I was talking with one of my loan officers yesterday who was struggling with putting deals together and finding leads. He was telling me how hard things are and how it seems like lenders are constricting their guidelines. True. He mentioned how difficult it is to put loans together. True. He … (15 comments)
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rates: Potato Chips, Floss, and Fear of Committment - 01/02/08 08:48 AM
It was New Year's Day 1986 that I decided to give up potato chips. Don't ask why. I think I weighed about a buck thirty at the time, so it wasn't about shedding pounds. I guess it was about discipline. I figured if I gave up something I really liked, I … (9 comments)
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rates: Do you ever wish there was a RESET button for your life? - 12/31/07 12:59 PM
When I was a little kid, I used to have a slight video game addiction. Not that I was any good, but if things weren't going my way trying to get to the next level of a game, I'd just hit the RESET button. Problem solved. Well, I still wasn't any … (7 comments)
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rates: Will rates dip into the fives by the end of the year? They just did! - 12/31/07 09:32 AM
We're finishing 2007 on a positive note as mortgage-backed bond prices have ridden the UP escalator the past 3 sessions (+9 bps today) and interest rates are loving it. With a few of my lenders, rates have dipped into the high 5% range. If you look back at my past few blog entries, … (2 comments)
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rates: Boing! Bonds Bounce Back Beautifully. - 12/28/07 09:39 AM
What goes down must come up! OK, so maybe the housing market still has a way to go before the media proclaims a full recovery, but for the day, rates have taken a turn for the better. The FNMA 5.5% Bond is up a whopping 50 basis points and that is … (2 comments)
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rates: Ham Hangover - 12/26/07 02:08 PM
Interest rates are eating a healthy portion of leftovers from the main course we had earlier in the week: a bunch of goose eggs and a lame duck. With no good news to feed off and a stock market that's trying to make a comeback, mortgage-backed securities are currently down 16 bps, … (1 comments)
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rates: A Bounce of Prevention? - 12/24/07 09:04 AM
Monday morning and mortgage-backed bonds must have missed their cup of coffee as they are drooping miserably down 22 bps. The bond sell-off continues and we are resting on an important floor of resistance called the 50-day moving average. This puts rates in the 6.25-6.375% range for the day. The question is: … (1 comments)
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rates: Bond Bombshell - 12/21/07 01:55 PM
It's 2:45 EST and the bond market is getting whacked harder than a pinata at a 4-year old's birthday party. Since my blog posting this morning, the Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities fallen even farther down the rabbit hole and the currently stand at -50 bps. That's a hefty loss. Turns out … (5 comments)
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rates: Shop and Bonds Drop! - 12/21/07 09:38 AM
A big economic number was released this morning called the PCE (Personal Consumptions Expenditures). It basically measures how much the average consumer is spending and believe it or not, wallets and purses are coming out more than ever. The number was expected to come in at 2.0%, but it exceeded … (3 comments)
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rates: Rate Expectations - 12/20/07 01:24 PM
Did anyone see where my 5% interest rate went?The mystery of what controls interest rates rivals the Bermuda Triangle and why women like shoes so much. It's funny to listen to "industry experts" talk about the 10-year T-Note being a leading indicator of which way rates will head on a daily … (4 comments)
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