The Rate Outlook for the Week Beginning February 28, 2011 - 02/28/11 04:50 PM

Rate Outlook for the Week Beginning February 28, 2011
This week’s rate forecast is going to be dominated by two major factors.
1.   The weakening of the dollar
2.   The political unrest in the Middle East
 
The major economic calendar data point will be Fridays’ big jobs’ report. There is a consensus that the unemployment numbers should be very strong for February as compared to January mainly because the weather was much better this month. The range is 120,000  to 255,000  new  jobs created and a hope that the unemployment rate could drop under 9%. This would be a great psychological … (2 comments)

One Last Push for the FHA Streamline Refinance - 02/27/11 03:18 PM
One Last Push for the FHA Streamline Refinance   As a result of FHA running low on their capital reserve requirements they are going to need to raise their fees so that can replenish their reserve pool, and the home owner is the one footing the bill. The FHA Streamline has been a great product over the last couple of years. On average I have been able to help between 12 and 20 FHA mortgage holders a month refinance their current FHA loans into lower interest rate settings, and it is so frustrating that HUD has make the home owner pay higher fees … (5 comments)

Fannie Mae Launches Servicer Accountability Program - 02/24/11 06:27 PM

Today Fannie Mae announced the start of the  Servicer Total Achievement and Rewards Program, also known as the STAR program. This new program is designed to rate and evaluate mortgage servicers' performance in supporting the housing recovery by helping homeowners avoid foreclosure. This will be implemented as a type of report card for mortgage servicers. The hope is that it will guide the servicers to focus on customer service and make sure they are doing everything possible help home owners. If these servicers do well they will receive incentives.
Fannie Mae's scorecard gauges a servicer's effectiveness based on criteria in four … (1 comments)

Answering Questions from a Real Estate Seminar One Day at a Time - 02/24/11 12:32 PM
Answering Questions from a Real Estate Seminar One Day at a Time
As I continue to give a blogging recap of the seminar I was a part of I want to touch base on another question that the attendees to the meeting had.
"I hear there are going to be some changes to FHA what does that mean to me as a first time home buyer?"
This question was asked to me last week and I did my best to thoroughly answer it. As many of you may have heard, FHA like many other government agencies is running low on cash … (2 comments)

Quick FHA Update on the Mortgagee Letters Out This Week - 02/22/11 09:12 AM
Hello fellow Activerainers, there were a couple of Mortgagee Letters out this week and I wanted to make sure you are aware of the upcoming changes.  
 ML 11-10 states the annual MI premium will increase by .25 bps effective with case numbers assigned on or after April 18.   Also, case numbers will begin to automatically expire in 6 months if there is no activity on the loan (big difference from the current 13 month life span of a case number). That too is effective on April 18th but will include case numbers previously assigned. Please see page 4 for … (0 comments)

Rate Outlook for the Week Starting February 21st - 02/21/11 07:53 PM

Rate Outlook for the Week Starting February 21st
It's going to be a huge week of economic data in store for this week. When we top that with the geopolitical market pressures in the Middle East right now it could be a wild ride for the stock markets and the interest rates.
Tuesday
9AM Our beloved Case-Shiller Index: This tracks the monthly changes in real estate values across 20 US regions. We have been hit with some bad reports as of late and look for the trend to continue tomorrow. Let's cross our fingers and think positive no matter what
… (3 comments)

Answering the Questions from a Real Estate Seminar One Day at a Time - 02/21/11 03:20 PM
Answering the questions from a real estate seminare ond day at a time
As I blogged about last week I was on a panel for a local real estate company as they hosted an industry news seminar. It was basically an open forum discussion focusing on the changes and challenges that correspond with today's market. I had a few request to give my point of view in regards to the questions that were asked so everyday this week I will discuss one of the questions.
 
How will the changes with Fannie and Freddie effect me buying a home?
It's tough … (7 comments)

An Alternative to the FHA 203k Loan for 2nd Homes and Investment Properties - 02/19/11 05:58 PM
An alternative to the FHA 203k renovation loan for 2nd homes and investment properties

I'm sure many of us are familiar with the FHA 203k renovation loan, a fantastic mortgage product for purchases and refinances but from what I'm hearing not many real estate professionals are aware of Fannie Mae's renovation loan product called the Fannie Mae HomeStyle loan. In this market there is a growing amount of people who are thinking about buying that "fixer upper", but they don't want it to be their primary home. Instead, they want to buy a "fixer upper" for a second home or investment … (4 comments)

I Was a Contributor at a Real Estate Seminar and Learned This About Today's Buyers - 02/17/11 11:49 AM
I Was a Contributor at a Real Estate Seminar and Learned This About Today's Buyers
I have been spending a lot of time this winter meeting with local agents, business groups, and holding industry education seminars for investors and first time home buyers. The purpose behind this focused business plan is to build new referral partners and get an understanding as to the challenges that are facing so many involved in the home buying process in 2010-2011. What I'm finding out is a few of different things.
1.  The real estate agents who are embracing technology and the challenges of todays' market are  building their … (8 comments)

Mortgage Rate Outlook for the Week Beginning 02/14 - 02/14/11 11:35 PM
Mortgage Rate Outlook for the Week Begining 02/14

Tues 830am Retail Sales: This could be a market mover either way. Did the bad month of storms keep consumers away?
A jammed packed Wed
Housing starts and Producer Price Index at 830am: This will give us a picture of construction for the country and how the inflation picture is looking. PPI can move interest rates either way
FOMC Minutes at 2pm: These are the comments from the last fed meeting, as of late there has been a lot of tension on whether it's time to start worrying about raising rates and … (4 comments)

Obama's Housing Plan, GSEs, and What It Means to Us - 02/12/11 09:42 AM
Obama's Housing Plan GSEs and What It Means to Us

Background
The GSE Purchase Program is a government program that was put in place as a result of the financial crisis of late 2008. This program was designed to give the strained mortgage market some breathing room in the form of more liquidity in the market. Basically the United States Treasury would invest or buy up mortgage back securities from the likes of Aunt Fannie Mae and Uncle Freddie Mac.
 
This was a vital program that helped a paralyzed banking system stay afloat while the economy tried to get … (3 comments)

This Weeks Mortgage Data Recap - 02/11/11 11:52 PM
 
This week saw had a lot of mortgage market specific talking points
Obama's Housing Plan which I will outline tomorrow morning. Lots of info to share here A very successful 10yr treasury auction Wed afternoon which stopped rates from pushing beyond their 10 month high A drop in mortgage applications from last week's data. Mortgage applications continue to track very closely with current rates. Last week I wrote about positive momentum with applications and how maybe we were starting to see some real progress only to be punched in the gut this week with a decrease in activity. It's been the up … (3 comments)

New Mortgage Broker Compensation is Set for April 1st - 02/09/11 12:23 PM
New Mortgage Broker Compensation is Set for April 1st..... Here is an example of how the governement has decided will be the best way to compensate mortgage brokers. Talk about a mess.
Background: With the Federal Reserve Board amending Section 226.36 of Regulation Z and regulating originator compensation, the mortgage industry will face another year of unprecedented change..
Key Concepts: The Federal Reserve Board has previously announced final rules to protect mortgage borrowers and preserve responsible lending and sustainable homeownership. While the rule represents a fundamental change in the way loan originators are compensated, it does not limit compensation purse.
 The … (3 comments)

Rate forecast for the week starting February 7th - 02/07/11 08:15 PM

 
Rate forecast for the week starting February 7th.... Last week was a wild week for rates, from Friday to Friday we had a huge move up on the heels of some stronger economic data, and the fears about the Egyptian political unrest dying down. The market also shrugged off a pretty poor jobs report on Friday. Although the unemployment rate came down to 9%, the job creation was less than 40k, meaning lots of people left the workforce or where potentially effected by all of the storms.    
Economic Calender for the Week  
Wed:  10yr Treasury Note auction- This … (3 comments)

This Week Could Change The Mortgage Industry Forever - 02/04/11 11:35 PM
This week will change the mortgage industry for good and it's very important that everyone involved in the mortgage transaction process know why. We are all going to have to work together to explain these changes to our clients.
  As most of us know the past few years in the mortgage world have been frustrating to say the least. Ever changing bank guidelines and product tightening have pushed our communication skills to their max. I'm sure many agents reading this can think back to at least one instance when a purchase and sales contract had to be extended because of a slow … (7 comments)

Some Positive Signs of Spring in a Cold Winter Market???? - 02/02/11 06:35 PM
Some Positive Signs of Spring in a Cold Winter Market????
The weekly Wed. mortgage application report had some positive news today. It showed a nice move up in activity following the MLK holiday week.
The numbers read like this.
Refinance Applications Rose: 11.7%
Purchase Applications Rose: 9.5%
What is great about these numbers is that there wasn't a significant move in rates since last weeks' report. Why is this important? Usually the refinance applications follow the rates. Rates move down applications move up, but not so this week. We had pretty stable rate movement and applications growth. This week could give … (0 comments)

Why Today's Homeownership Numbers Could Change Your Life - 02/01/11 12:08 AM
Homeownership rate hits a 10yr low.....Today The Census Bureau released its survey of residential vacancies and homeownership for the fourth quarter of 2010. Every quarter the census bureau releases it's backward looking report to give us some information on homeownership in the country and how it compares to a year over year number. The report covers data by region, age, race, and income levels.
 The report covered the following:
The total of all housing units for the 4th Quarter of 2010 was 130.85 million, up slightly from the same time period of 2009
The number of owner occupied units: This total number came in … (32 comments)

 
John Saari "The Mortgage Buddy"

John Saari "The Mortgage Buddy"

Worcester, MA

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Office Phone: (508) 740-7442

Cell Phone: (508) 740-7442

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I decided to start writing this blog to be an education resource to my referral partners and my clients. We live in a new world of mortgage lending in which we need to be up to date on the changing underwriting guidlines and mortgage products offered. It's through these updates that we will all be able to provide our clients with the customer service they derserve and expect. It's my belief that this industry insight is what will take our business to the next level. Education = Confidence


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