Nothing Replaces a Bright Shiny First Appearance - 04/27/10 04:24 PM
Just two days after listing my daughter's house, my first listing in over 30 years, I had a realtor call to set up a showing.  Did this mean my price was in the ballpark I wondered.  The realtor appreared with a seemingly deer in the headlights couple.  They oohed and ahhed at all the features which separate this house from capes in the surrounding neighborhood.  Although I explained that we had rushed to put in on the market to try catch the tax credit market, the feedback came in that it was not as clean as others they had seen.  Today … (1 comments)

April 27th Mortgage Market Wrap-up - 04/27/10 04:17 PM
Mortgage backed securities (MBS) surprisingly closed up 50 basis points today at 100.66 having smashed through the 50 day movinga average and coming to rest just above both the 100 and 200 day moving averages.  Dollars rushed out of stocks and into bonds as the result of Standard & Poors downgrade of the debt of both Greece and Portugal.  This international drams caused a major correction in U.S. equity markets with the Dow down 213 at the close.
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Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks: Kind of - 04/26/10 04:43 PM
My daughter listed her house with me on Friday.  I have had my real estate license since 1975 but have always dereived my income from other sources.  When I went to go on the local MLS site to set up the listing, I was clueless.  The vagaries of the system and 35 years of technology have changed the handwritten submissions of yesteryear dramatically.  Today's foray into the world of placing pcitures on the listing, however, was actually fairly smooth and even a little bit intuitive.  Maybe there is hope for me after all.
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April 26th Mortgage Market Wrap-up - 04/26/10 04:37 PM
Mortgage backed securities (MBS) closed up 6 basis points today at 100.16 just above support offered by the 25 day moving average and 35 basis points below the 50 day moving average.  Today's Treasury auction did not fare that well but MBS bonds managed to stay above support anyhow.  Tomorrow the Fed Market Committee meets and will issue its new statement Wednesday at 2:15.
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Refinances Are Playing Second Fiddle to Purchase Mortgages - 04/22/10 04:19 PM
With all the pressure on getting the glut of purchase mortgages approved and closed prirr to the June 30th deadline, refinances have been put on the back shelf.  Although we have een quoting processing times from receipt of a file at the underwting center at 30 days for pruchases and 45 days for refinances, we are finding that many times the refinances are taking more than the 45 days.  As a result in order to keep the refinace clients rate locks in place, we are locking them for 60 days.
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April 22nd Mortgage Market Wrap-up - 04/22/10 04:15 PM
Mortgage backed securities (MBS) closed down 22 basis points today at 100.22 after having passed through tough resistance offereed by the 50 day moving average.  MBS bonds were not able to sustain successes achieved early in the day and finished the day retreating like a dog with its tail between its legs.  An increase and wholesale inflation and the pressure of next week's additional debt auctions caused the late day selloff.
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Your Clients Need Their Mortgages In Place Immediately - 04/21/10 04:55 PM
With the contract deadline for the tax credits just 10 days away, buyers are in a frenzy to get accepted offers.  Attorneys are on standby accross the nation to prepare and process sales contracts before May 1.  Although rates are still quite low (around 5.125% for a conforming 30 year fixed with no points) as of this afternoon, it is important for buyers to secure their financing as early as possible to be sure they will be able to have funding at the earliest possible moment.  If your potential buyer does not have a mortgagae in place by now, you should refer … (1 comments)

April 21st Mortgage Market Wrap-up - 04/21/10 04:46 PM
Mortgage backed securities (MBS) closed up 25 basis points today at 100.44 having smashed thorugh formidable resistance offered by the 25 day moving average.  MBS bonds settled in just 10 points below the new resistance level at the 50 day moving average.  A selloff in risk fraught Greek and Portugese long term obligations helped money flow into MBs markets.  If bonds can conquer the 50 day moving average, the 200 and 100 averages lie ahead as short range levels of resistance.
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April 20th Mortgage Market Wrap-up - 04/20/10 05:12 PM
Mortgage backed securities (MBS) closed flat today at 100.10 just four basis points below resistance offered by the 25 day moving average.  During the day the bond reached up to become almost tangiential with the difficult resistance but fell just short.  The reality of next week's Treaury auctions may have reinforced the technical factor.  Stocks rose marginally in reaction to wishy washy earnings reports.
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Beware of June 30th Closings - The System MayBe Overloaded - 04/08/10 04:18 PM
As we are approaching the final crunch time for the two tax credit programs, it is important to be aware of the limitations of banks.  Each bank has a finite number of people in its processing, underwriting and closing departments.  It stands to reason therefore that only so many approvals and closings can occur during a particular period of time.  If you have a loan scheduled for a June 30th closing, I suggest that you move the closing to an earlier date.  How would you like to be told on Monday June 28th that the bank cannot accommodate your closing until … (0 comments)

April 8th Mortgage Market Wrap-up - 04/08/10 04:07 PM
Mortgage backed securities (MBS) closed down 9 basis points today closing at 99.97 just above support at 99.93.  The 4.5% coupon MBS bond attempted to break through resistance at 100.15 but just as it was yesterday they were turned back.  Stocks made a slight comeback from two days of down trading.  Offsetting reports of higher job claims and better than expected retail sales numbers had more effect on stocks than bonds.
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Interest Rate Bargains Still Abound - 04/07/10 04:41 PM
Bargains are still available for bottom feeders despite last week's jump in rates.  Conforming 30 year fixed rates are still available around the 5.125% mark and jumbo are still available under 6%.  Adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) still offer some incredibly low rates.  As of today one bank was offering conforming ARMs at the following fixed periods for these rates.
5 years         4.0%             Corresponding jumbo ARMs were:   5 years           4.375%
7 years         4.375%5                                                          7 years           4.75%
10 years       4.75%                                                              10 years         5.0%
A 5.0% rate for up to $1,000,000. fixed for 10 years, now that is a bargain!
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April 7th Mortgage Market Wrap-up - 04/07/10 04:28 PM
Mortgage backed securities (MBS) surprisingly closed up 56 basis points to at 100.06 having crashed through resistance at 99.93 and stopped just short of resistance at 100.15.  Funds flowed freely from stocks to bonds as stocks tumbled.  That combined with a strong turnout at today's 10 year Treaury auction gave an unexpected jolt to MBS bonds.  The net effect is that interest rates fell back .125% today alone. 
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Japanese Candlesticks Better Than A Fortune Cookie - 04/06/10 04:54 PM
Japanese candlesticks were imported from the orient, as the name implies, as a tool for traders to quickly assess the direction of markets.   The candlesticks are more usefull than traditional bar charts in that they show the relationship between the opening and closing price on a given day.  They also provide easily readable information about the highs and lows of the day and are color coded to indicate whether the market was up or down.  The patterns created by conseutive days' candlestick can be useful in predicting market direction.
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April 6th Mortgage Market Wrap-up - 04/06/10 04:41 PM
Mortgage backed securities (MBS) closed up 25 basis points at 99.50.  MBS bonds are floating precariously 132 basis points above support offered by the low of 8/7/09.  The Japanese candlestick charting shows a lack of direction in the market.  The Fed released it Open Market Committee minutes today.  The document stated that due to continued low inflation that rates (Fed rates) will remain low for an extended period of time.
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Mortgage Processing Awash in Paper - 04/05/10 04:11 PM
Washington's new rash of regulatory mumbo-jumbo is taking a toll on the speed and efficiency of mortgage back rooms across the country.  The nation's forest's are cringing in anticipation of all the new disclosures and redisclosure.  The good faith estimate which used to be one page of informative facts is now three pages of useless double talk.  Locking a rate now requires an intent to proceed with mortgage application form and a request for rate lock form.  Every change of circumstance on a loan file requires and new 3 page good faith estimate.  Where will it end?
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April 5th Mortgage Market Wrap-up - 04/05/10 04:02 PM
Mortgage backed securities (MBS) closed down 22 basis points today at 99.25 marking the fifth consecutive day of declines since the Fed stopped buying MBS bonds.  Although many naysayers thought rates would remain in the upper 4s' and low 5s, 30 year fixed rates have already risen to 5.25% and appear to be heading farther north.  As previously mentioned the market is awash with new Treasury offerings in direct competition with MBS bonds.
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Next Week's Preview - 04/02/10 12:00 PM
Enjoy the Easter weekend, Passover and Spring in general.  Here is a preview of next week. It will be a light week for economic data next week.  Pending Home Sales, a leading indicator for the housing market, will come out on Monday. ISM Services will also be released on Monday. The FOMC Minutes from the March 16 Fed meeting will be released on Tuesday. These detailed meeting notes often provide additional insight into the Fed's decisions. In addition, there will be a total of $82 billion of Treasury auctions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
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April 2nd Mortgage Market Wrap-up - 04/02/10 11:54 AM
Mortgage backed securities (MBS) closed down 34 basis points today at 99.47 continuing its four day slide.  Ever since the reality hit that the Fed was truly stopping it MBS bond purrchasing program, bonds have tumbled from 100.53 to the present level.  This setback represents an increase of .25% in 30 year conforming interest rates.  The MBS market closed early today and the sell off may have been exascerbated by light trading volume.
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