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refinance: 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 12:44 PM
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)
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refinance: 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 01:36 PM
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)
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refinance: 2010 New Hampshire FHA and Conventional Loan Limits by County - Jumbo Cutoffs - 01/12/10 04:38 PM
2010 New Hampshire FHA and Conventional Loan Limits by County - Jumbo Cutoffs
Wondering what makes a Jumbo mortgage in New Hampshire for 2010? Here's the updated limit information, compiled from the Federal Housing Finance Authority and the Federal Housing Administration by county.
County FHA Limit Conventional Limit
Belknap $281,250 $417,000
Carroll $271,050 $417,000
Cheshire $271,050 $417,000
Coos $271,050 $417,000
Grafton $281,250 $417,000
Hillsborough $402,500 $417,000
Merrimack $302,500 $417,000
Rockingham $523,750 $523,750
Strafford $523,750 $523,750
Sullivan $271,050 $417,000
Again, for 2010, neither Agency nor FHA loans will observe a different limit amount than 2009.
Please contact me if … (0 comments)
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refinance: 2010 Conventional Loan Limits for Rhode Island - 01/12/10 10:52 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)
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refinance: Bowling for Finance and Entrepreneurship Education - 04/06/09 10:51 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)
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refinance: What's new in the mortgage market? Keeping up on recent changes - 03/30/09 11:26 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)
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refinance: Economic Stimulus Act Signed Into Law - What does it mean for homebuyers? - 02/17/09 12:02 PM
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 … (31 comments)
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refinance: Mortgage - Treasury Spread closes sharply in January - is Fed buying bringing stability? - 02/12/09 10:19 AM
In a month which saw the lowest 30-year fixed rates on record, it isn't surprising that the massive groundswell of refinancing we experienced happened. Its consequences could also be seen as quite predictable: lenders, fresh from laying off thousands of employees in 2008, saw their operations grind to a halt as they received an onslaught of mortgage applications. The reprecussions to market interest rates were rather more cryptic, though. By the end of January, the Mortgage-Treasury Spread had closed to its tightest range since September, 2008, closing the month at 2.28%.
The 10-week moving average stayed relatively level at 2.78%, bouyed … (4 comments)
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refinance: Builders converge, but does their idea make sense? - 01/14/09 09:59 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)
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refinance: Why You Should Talk to Your Creditors - 12/15/08 01:50 PM
One night last week, I got home bright and early at 8:00 PM after a busy day of networking and loan applications. I opened my mail, and near about flipped. There on my credit card statement it said:
“11/xx Late Fee: $39.00”
People who know me well will tell you that I’m not a person who gets terribly angry, but after I read that, I have to admit that I didn’t really want to talk to anyone, and I certainly didn’t feel like addressing the problem.
So I did what a lot of people will do – I set it aside … (1 comments)
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refinance: Fed Intervention Fails to Close Mortgage Treasury Spread - 12/05/08 10:47 AM
In spite of an unprecedented move by the Federal Reserve on November 25th to purchase $600 billion in mortgage-related assets, the spread between mortgage and treasury rates remained at its highest level on record for the week ending December 4th, closing at 2.96%. Investors sought the safety of treasury securities in droves, increasing their prices, and depressing the yield of the 10-year treasury note to its lowest close ever at 2.57% this Thursday. In spite of rampant speculation that the Fed may be prepard to act again, mortgage securities found few buyers. Mortgage rates averaged 5.53%, according to Freddie Mac.
The … (6 comments)
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refinance: Stop the insanity! No, wait, keep it going! - 11/26/08 02:36 PM
Phew, what a busy couple of days!
I’m sure at this point you’ve been inundated with emails from loan officers since yesterday morning, so I probably don’t need to tell you that many buyers are qualifying for 5.5% with no points today. We saw a huge drop yesterday in rates, so, rather than harping on how attractive they are, I thought I’d let you know some of the why behind it.
Over the past 4-5 weeks, investor demand for mortgage securities had waned considerably, as wave upon wave of bad economic news suggested consumers and homeowners would face greater difficulty in … (0 comments)
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refinance: Rates drop sharply on $600 Billion Fed Purchase - expect to see 5.5% 0 points in some cases - 11/25/08 09:12 AM
I only have a minute to post right now, but I wanted to make sure you're aware that there has been a dramatic shift in mortgage pricing this morning.
This morning the Fed announced it was going to buy $600 Billion in mortgage assets. This has had a huge impact on rates, with most mortgage rates at least .375% better on RATE than they were yesterday. If you’ve been waiting for the right time to lock a floating loan, or you’ve been waiting on refinancing for a better rate, it’s here. Today is the day to make that move, but don’t … (0 comments)
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refinance: Updates to Jumbo mortgage limits for 2009 - 11/24/08 04:33 PM
Earlier this year, we learned that the Jumbo mortgage was going to be a bit bigger for a time. For a year, the limit for mortgages purchasable by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was temporarily increased from $417,000 to as high as $729,750 through the beginning of 2009 as a component of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. That date is now fast approaching.
The original purpose of this temporary change was to address a mortgage market problem that arose in late 2007 and early 2008, specifically that demand for securities backed by Jumbo mortgages had decreased precipitously. By opening those … (0 comments)
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refinance: Wall Street Rocked by Credit Fallout; the Definition of a Flight-to-Quality - 09/15/08 12:19 PM
If there is rock & roll playing in lower Manhattan this morning, it is probably The Doors' "Peace Frog", as investors awoke to a market seeing financial giants Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and American International Group all discussed in badly negative news.
Lehman, a troubled investment firm with major investments in the mortgage market filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy this morning. Its stock has declined from over $65 at the beginning of 2008 to less than a quarter this morning. The company had sought government intervention or an outside buyer over the past 10 days, but when none was forthcoming, found … (1 comments)
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refinance: Province Mortgage Associates Celebrates 3rd Anniversary - 07/03/08 06:49 PM
I don't write a lot of what I consider "shameless self-promotion" articles, but I think that a mortgage company completing its 3rd year in existance given current market conditions is a great testament to the quality people I work with, to their dedication, and to their perseverence. We held an anniversary celebration event last Thursday, which was attended by over 75 prominent attorneys, realtors, and financial planners. I was asked to give a speech about the market and our company at that event, and the following is what I presented:
It's difficult to argue that the past 12 months has not … (3 comments)
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refinance: US Senate to Vote on Foreclosure Rescue Plan Today - 06/24/08 10:52 AM
I've been hearing rumors of this plan for a while. A similar bill passed the House of Representatives in May, and was expected to get to the Senate fairly quickly. I guess 7 weeks is fairly quick in Washington.
What is it?
We've seen a number of plans recently to help homeowners get out of trouble with problem mortgages, but so far they have met with limited success. The first such program was the FHA Secure mortgage, which allowed homeowners who had gotten into credit difficulties because of adjustable rate mortgages to refinance. While this program was originally expected to help … (5 comments)
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refinance: Ten Important Things to Know About Mortgages for 2008 - 04/28/08 09:46 AM
You may not be considering doing anything with your mortgage at present, but there are still several important details to know in order to make the best of the current challenges being faced by the largest mortgage lenders. Here are a few things to consider:
Things to Know if You Already Own:
Know your loan terms - you can find this information in the documents you received from your attorney at closing. Older ARMs are good to have at the moment because low short-term rates are causing their rates to decrease.There is nothing to worry about if your servicer fails - your loan … (4 comments)
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refinance: Rates improve sharply - will it hold? - 03/03/08 11:27 AM
Last week was just what many loan officers and borrowers were looking for: a week of sharp improvements in rates. What we saw was a substantial "flight-to-quality" as investors shied away from stocks and moved their money into safer treasury bonds. This was triggered by several reports indicating higher than expected inflation, and reaffirming slow economic growth. Chairman Bernanke's comments to congress also supported the weakening of the economy, but reaffirmed the Fed's commitment to encourage growth.
The challenge is a pheonmenon called "Stagflation".
Stagflation is said to occur when economic growth is shrinking, or stagnating, and inflation is increasing. The challenge … (3 comments)
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refinance: Fed Cuts Rates, but Mortgage Rates Go Up? - 02/25/08 10:59 AM
CNN this morning reported on a new "conundrum" faced by the Federal Reserve. Industry veterans will recall 2-3 years ago when then Fed Chief Alan Greenspan noted the unfathomable disconnect between bond yields and Fed rate moves. Now Ben Bernanke is faced with the prospect of his moves having a similar, if opposite, effect on long term rates.
Since January 8th, the Fed has cut short-term rates by 1.25%, yet long-term rates have barely budged, with ten-year treasuries declining a mere 5 basis points (0.05%) from 3.84% to 3.79% Friday. What conclusion can be drawn from this? Basically, I think we're looking … (2 comments)
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Dan Hartman
Providence,
RI
More about me…
Province Mortgage Associates - (401) 263-8655
Address: 10 Davol Sq, Providence, RI, 02903
Office Phone: (401) 490-4400 x 114
Cell Phone: (401) 263-8655
Email Me
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!
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