Good afternoon,

I hope you had a nice Mother’s Day weekend, and to all the mother’s on the call,

I hope it was a happy one! Cheers to the “moms” in my life…you’re all the best!

On today’s call: Markets, Housing, Sellers and their buyers’ loans, Interest Rates

The markets opened up relatively quiet compared to Friday’s huge day. There was

an enormous bond sell-off a the end of the week, as the stock market rallied with

Bernanke’s comments about the strength of the dollar and low inflation levels. As

such, rates took a beating and are higher than the yearly lows we were just about

at. Investors are still trying to determine if the information from the Fed means

they’re going to stop buying bonds sooner than expected. My guess is that won’t

happen any time soon. If they lose control of the rates and treasuries start correcting,

then this will have a direct impact on the housing market, as rates will go up. 67% of

the 90% of S&P companies have posted earnings that exceeded expectations.

In housing, home foreclosure filings in Illinois fell for the third straight month (even

though we’re still 4^th highest in the country). It seems that the government’s threat

of legal actions against banks for not completing this quickly enough has given the

banks new motivation. Now if only we could something about short-sale approvals…

If you or someone you know is selling their home, listen up! You should pay very

close attention to the financing your buyer is trying to obtain. The highest offer isn’t

always the best one. Here are three things I think are vital to seller’s chances of closing

on the sale of their home:

1)      Know the difference between a “pre-qualification” letter and a “pre-approval”

letter. The former is a letter that can be typed up with a basic credit check and

nothing more. The latter involves the credit check, plus review of income, work

history and stability, and assets. It’s a much stronger indicator of the buyer’s

strength in, and probability of, obtaining financing.

2)      Don’t automatically write off an a government loan (FHA/VA) offer. Despite the

fact that these loans require sellers to pay certain things (if necessary), it is a huge

pool of buyers (and growing) that you’d be shutting the door on.

3)      Make sure you make the call, and not your agent. Their opinion is valuable, sure,

but in the end it’s what you feel comfortable with. Just make sure that you, as

the seller, has the final say.

Interest rates, as I mentioned earlier, took quite a hit at the end of the week, up .125% to

.25% for just about every loan program. If I’m not mistaken, Friday saw the largest bond

sell-off of the year so we’re not in the mid-to-high 3% range on the 30 year fixed. Since

rates have been on a roller coaster ride for a long time now, I’m hopeful that the bond

markets will correct themselves and we’ll see rates dip again sometime in the near future.

Thanks everyone…please pass along to anyone you might think could use this information.

I appreciate it as always! Have a great week…