island: If I had a little more confidence in my preditiction Tuesday, I would have looked like a genius yesterday - also, major FHA changes coming?
- 06/11/10 05:44 AM
Daily Rate Update for Friday, June 11th from Province Mortgage Associates Part of my job is to send a daily email to the staff at my company detailing the condition of the mortgage market, and whether our originators should be locking rates, or if it is safe to float to another day. I've been doing this for two months now, and from what I've heard around the office, the results have been great. We're having more success in improving profitability, while at the same time delivering better rates to our borrowers. On Tuesday, I closed my message, saying, "In spite of … (0 comments)
island: Crazy to calm - a new week begins in financial markets with no jobs data on the way - June 1-4 market recap
- 06/07/10 06:36 AM
Financial market recap for the week of June 1 to June 4 This is a new feature I plan to continue posting each Monday. I was planning to wait until next week, but an email server outage forced my hand. I hope you find this information helpful! If I were looking for a word to recap what happened in the financial markets last week, I would probably settle on "disappointment". Last week was the first business week of the month, a week which normally brings big quantities of important economic data, and last week certainly had its share. Pending home sales, … (0 comments)
island: Mortgage-Treasury Spread Hits New Lows - Are mortgages safer now?
- 04/05/10 04:51 AM
Mortgage-Treasury Spread Hits New Lows - Are mortgages safer now? In mid-March, a number of articles were published suggesting that the end of the Federal Reserve's Mortgage Backed Security purchase program might drive mortgage rates somewhat higher, fairly quickly. The Fed had telegraphed this upcoming action very loudly and very clearly since 2009. The program has had substantial effects on mortgage rates over the past 16 months. It immediately lowered mortgage rates by 1/2% or more, and, over its course, brought 30-year fixed rates to their lowest point ever, at 4.71% in December of 2009. It also had a profound effect … (0 comments)
island: Financial Education Should Start in Elementary School - That's Why I'm Bowling for Junior Achievement!
- 02/25/10 02:31 AM
Financial Education Should Start in Elementary School - That's Why I'm Bowling for Junior Achievement! As you know from my previous post, education is a very important part of my life. Between the work I do as a mortgage advisor teaching clients about their credit and mortgage options, the work I do educating future leaders at Roger Williams University and the University of New Haven, I have found that there exists a big gap in education in the United States when it comes to financial well-being. Junior Achievement is a wonderful organization that seeks to fill this gap by offering … (2 comments)
island: Combining Education with Mortgages: My Job is Much More than Just Writing Loans
- 02/24/10 11:12 AM
Combining Education with Mortgages: My Job is Much More than Just Writing Loans Education is important. Without education, income levels are lower. According to the macroeconomics textbook used in the course I'm teaching right now, in the United States, each year of education accrues a 10% average increase in income for its recipient. Education can help consumers avoid traps like sub-prime mortgages. Education may be the key to the next technological innovation that will spur economic growth. I have made a commitment to education, both in my business, and in my personal life. I've certainly consumed a lot of it (18 … (0 comments)
island: Jumbo Mortgages in 2010 - Will the secondary market keep forcing ARMs on owners?
- 01/13/10 08:52 AM
Jumbo Mortgages in 2010 - Will the secondary market keep forcing ARMs on owners? Flash back a couple of years, and you'll remember the Federal Government initiating a program to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase loans greater than $417,000 on a temporary basis. Fannie and Freddie had been limited as part of their charters to a set amount which started at $93,750 in 1980, and which has since been adjusted based on year-over-year housing price changes. The economic stimulus package of 2008 gave provisions for the limit to be temporarily increased in "High-cost areas" to an amount … (0 comments)
island: 2010 Conventional Loan Limits for Rhode Island
- 01/12/10 02:52 AM
2010 Conventional Loan Limits for Rhode Island For 2010, conventional loan limits for Rhode Island have remained at the same level where they stood in 2009, according the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the group that oversees mortgage investment giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These limits define the maximum loan amount for loans that may be sold to the agencies, which is an important distinction, as the secondary market for loans meeting these requirements is much more active than the secondary market for larger loans, meaning that loans that conform to these size requirements carry much lower interest rates. For … (0 comments)
island: Conforming Loan Limits for Massachusetts for 2010
- 01/11/10 08:30 AM
Conforming Loan Limits for Massachusetts for 2010 For 2010, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has set revised conforming loan limit at $417,000, the same limit it has offered for several years now. Certain counties designated as high-cost areas have received higher limits in conjunction with the economic stimulus package of 2008, extended in late 2009. These extended limits are available through December 31st, 2010. For Massachusetts, the following counties received higher limits than the national $417,000 cap: Barnstable County: $462,500 Bristol County: $475,000 Dukes County: $729,750 Essex County: $523,750 Middlesex County: $523,750 Nantucket: $729,750 Norflok County: $523,750 Plymouth County: $523,750 … (0 comments)
island: FHA Private Well Requirements for Properties not Served by Public Water
- 01/07/10 09:55 AM
FHA Private Well Requirements for Properties not Served by Public Water In Rhode Island a very high proportion of homes are connected to an ever growing public water system. I also work with many buyers in Eastern Connecticut where public systems are much less prevalent. Conventional mortgages don't ask many questions about wells, but government mortgage programs, including Federal Housing Adminsitration (FHA) insured loans, have more stringent requirements. Appraisers evaluating properties for FHA mortgages are required by the FHA to evaluate the well's safety. For FHA mortgages, certain guidelines have been established for safety reasons. The most commonly encountered requirements … (2 comments)
island: 2010 FHA Loan Limits for Rhode Island - Unchanged from 2009
- 12/31/09 05:28 AM
2010 FHA Loan Limits for Rhode Island - Unchanged from 2009 Yesterday, I wrote about the updated FHA lending limits for Connecticut. To learn more about the methodology used in calculating limits, I would suggest circling back to that article. Today, I want to pass along the same information for Rhode Island. This year has been a relatively quiet one in real estate pricing in Rhode Island. Almost all areas saw a decline in value, some very significant. If anything, I believe Rhode Island is fortunate not to have seen its FHA loan limits cut for this year. FHA limits are … (0 comments)
island: 6.5 steps to $6500: Getting the Move-up buyer's tax credit in 2010 for Providence and beyond!
- 12/29/09 08:12 AM
6.5 steps to $6500: Getting the Move-up buyer's tax credit in 2010 for Providence and beyond! Throughout 2009 there was a lot of talk about further means to stimulate activity in the real estate market. Many things were happening already: the Federal Reserve preserved the mortgage market by inserting itself as the largest, and sometimes only, buyer of mortgage backed securities; and an $8000 tax credit for first time homebuyers was instituted quite successfully, among other efforts. For 2010, congress has presented additional buyer incentives to maintain activity. If a flaw can be found in the original 2009 homebuyer tax … (3 comments)
island: New Green Shoots? How About Significant Improvements to FHA Condo Guidelines!!!
- 08/10/09 12:16 PM
Washington's buzzword last month was "green shoots" to suggest tiny indications of improvements to the economy and financial markets. After 2 years of lender closures and program cuts, this fall we may just start seeing some green shoots in mortgages, as well. Mortgage financing on condominium properties has been a sore point for mortgage and real estate professionals this year due to the intensified scrutiny these properties receive from underwriting, and the often-frustrating guideline variations from one lender to the next. Perhaps most challenging for the mortgage professional is that we are unable to provide our clients with assurance that the … (0 comments)
island: Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act, or why I'm working late tonight
- 07/28/09 09:57 AM
Good evening! I wanted to post a quick note tonight to let you all know what I’ve been working on for most of this working week so far. The Mortgage Disclosure Improvement Act, or MDIA, was enacted as a rider to one of the many stimulus-related bills that have cleared congress this year, and will be implemented on July 30th. The act brings with it significant changes to disclosure paperwork that are intended to make consumer choice among mortgage sources more competitive, and, for the most part it should succeed there. It also contains certain procedural changes that will have a … (3 comments)
island: Volunteering at WaterFire - How I spent my weekend
- 06/16/09 04:23 PM
This Saturday, after spending most of my day in New Hampshire at a school board meeting (I serve on the board of a private school there - more on that at another time, perhaps), I zipped back to Providence to volunteer again, this time at a Providence institution, WaterFire. I'm the co-chair of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce's Ambassadors, and for our spring / summer service event, we assembled a crew of over 20 ambassadors and friends to serve as ambassadors to WaterFire, staffing Ribbons of Light booths. WaterFire is a Providence institution, was first lit for First Night 1994, … (0 comments)
island: FHA is great, but don't forget conventional options, too!
- 05/11/09 10:55 AM
I know that FHA, and other government products, have been all the rage lately due to difficulty in getting conventional loans and conventional mortgage insurance, but I think that a lot of mortgage originators have forgotten that there are still good conventional loans available without the high down payments frequently associated with them. For cost conscious borrowers, this can be especially important, as conventional loans do not require the high upfront mortgage insurance or guarantee premiums associated with government programs. In most areas, well qualified first time homeowners can get financing at as high as 97% of the purchase price of … (1 comments)
island: Bowling for Finance and Entrepreneurship Education
- 04/06/09 03:51 AM
Yesterday, I took part in Rhode Island Junior Achievement's 25th Annual Achieve-A-Bowl, a fund-raising event that has collected over $80,000 this year to support Junior Achievement's in-school education programs. I think this is a very important charity to support right now due to the obvious deficit of Finance and Economics education in our school systems. Considering that 34% of respondents to a survey conducted by Bankrate.com didn't know what type of mortgage they had, I fell it is very important to support anything that will increase financial literacy. Participating in the event was a blast. I bowled on a team consisting … (0 comments)
island: What's new in the mortgage market? Keeping up on recent changes
- 03/30/09 04:26 AM
Good morning! It’s been a little while since I had the opportunity to write, and I wanted to pass along a bit of information about what is going on in the financing market. There have been some changes recently that need to be considered, so I’d like to take a few minutes to run through them. If you have questions about any of these in particular, please don’t hesitate to call me. FICO Updates Over the past two months, many individual lenders have set credit score requirements that differ significantly from traditionally accepted criteria. At present, a 620 credit score is … (1 comments)
island: Mortgage - Treasury Spread Closes as Homebuyer Incentives Suggest Home Prices May Stabilize
- 03/12/09 09:03 AM
February was a significant month for the mortgage and real estate markets, as a massive bailout package was signed into law, and further talk of foreclosure prevention efforts at the federal level reassured mortgage investors of the safety of their investments. An $8000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers sparked hope for increased home sales in 2009, both for starter homes and condominiums, as well as for so called "move-up" homes needed by those current homeowners able to sell into the current market and purchase significantly discounted replacement homes. Entering March, the Mortgage - Treasury spread reached its lowest point since June, … (1 comments)
island: Economic Stimulus Act Signed Into Law - What does it mean for homebuyers?
- 02/17/09 04:02 AM
As I write this, the president is poised to sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the $787 billion Economic Stimulus Plan. There has been much speculation about what this plan might do for housing, real estate, homebuyers, and mortgages, ranging from 2.99% to 4.5% mortgage rates, $15,000 tax credits, and more, but when the dust settles and the plan is signed into law, the final effect will be quite different. The most important thing the finaliztion of this plan will accomplish is it will end that speculation. Over the past few weeks, I have spoken … (29 comments)
island: Builders converge, but does their idea make sense?
- 01/14/09 01:59 PM
I attended a presentation yesterday regarding the possible solutions to the real estate problems currently facing Rhode Island, and, one of the things I learned about was a proposal by the National Association of Home Builders to stimulate home sales by artificially lowering 30-year mortgage rates to 2.99% for a 6 month period and to 3.99% for an additional 6-month period. I was interested in the concept, so I did some additional research looking for news articles related to this. I found one such article on the association website of the magazine of the landscaping industry. The two primary proposals offered … (1 comments)
Dan Hartman's Blog about mortgages, real estate, and the economy in New England, and the United States, especially Rhode Island Rates, Connecticut Mortgages, Massachusetts Rate Locks, and New Hampshire Home Sales. Let Dan leverage his MBA in Finance and experience as a college professor for you!
Daily Rate Update for Friday, June 11th from Province Mortgage Associates;)
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