mortgage interest rates: Are Mortgage Rates still going up? - 02/07/11 06:37 PM
Mortgage markets worsened last week as Wall Street came to terms with the expanding economy; and realized the Federal Reserve may be trying to induce inflation.
Better-than-expected retail sales and positive job growth buoyed stock markets and sank bonds.
Mortgage rates in California rose for the 4th time in 5 weeks last week, extending a losing streak which dates back 4 months.
Today, fixed, conforming rates are three-quarters of a percent higher as compared to the market’s low point, November 3, 2010. For a $200,000 home loan, that size rate hike equates to an increase in a monthly mortgage payment of … (2 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Unemployment Rate Drops? - 02/04/11 04:08 PM
Americans are getting back to work. Sort of.
This morning, at 8:30 AM ET, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Non-Farm Payrolls report for January 2011. More commonly called “the jobs report”, the government’s data showed a large decrease in the number of working Americans as compared to December, but a sizable drop in the Unemployment Rate.
The job growth figures were much lower than consensus estimates:
Expected job growth in January : +148,000 jobs Actual job growth in January : +36,000 jobs January’s Unemployment Rate surprised analysts, too, but not in a bad way, falling from 9.4 percent in … (8 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Are Mortgage Guidelines Starting To Loosen? - 02/03/11 06:40 PM
Mortgage lending appears to be loosening. At least for now.
In its quarterly survey of member banks, the Federal Reserve asks senior loan officers around the country whether their “prime” residential mortgage guidelines had tightened within the last 3 months.
A prime borrower is one with a well-documented credit history, high credit scores, and a low debt-to-income ratio.
Of the 54 responding banks, just 2 said its guidelines had tightened during the period October-December 2010. That’s less than 4 percent. And, by comparison, 95 percent of banks said guidelines remained “basically unchanged”.
The remaining banks reported a loosening.
It’s a positive … (1 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Advice to Seller : How to Sell Home Faster! - 02/02/11 06:15 PM
In December, home sales reached an 8-month high, recovering from the losses of last summer. Market momentum is positive across California , but that doesn’t mean every home is selling quickly — only some of them are.
So, if you’re a home seller and want (or need) to get your home sold quickly, take a listen to this 3-minute interview from NBC’s The Today Show. It’s loaded with practical sales advice for sellers.
As examples:
How to price your home relative to comparable homes for sale Using home inspections to keep your contract on-track for closing How much should be spent on … (2 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Pending Sales hit Highest Levels Since April 2010! - 02/01/11 03:22 PM
Another day, another strong report for housing.
The Pending Home Sales Index climbed 2 percent in December, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. A “pending home sale” is an existing home under contract to sell, but not yet closed.
Pending Home Sales are up for the fifth time in 6 months. The December reading is now its highest since the federal home buyer tax credit’s April 2010 contract deadline, and the figure is well north of the Pending Home Sales Index 3-year average.
Coupling this data with December’s strong Existing Homes Sales report (+12%) and its strong New Home Sales … (3 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Where are rates headed this week? - 01/31/11 04:56 PM
Mortgage markets improved this week as positive economic data was overshadowed by geopolitical strife. A flight-to-quality drove buy-side activity in mortgage bond markets, which, in turn, helped conforming rates fall across the state of California.
Last week marks the first time this year that mortgage rates fell on a week-over-week basis, and considering why rates fell, it points to the fragile nature of the global economy.
By all accounts, last week showed that the U.S. economy is in recovery.
Housing data rises to its best levels in 8 months (LA Times) Consumer sentiment hit a 7-month high (NPR) Business investment increased … (2 comments)

mortgage interest rates: What did the Fed say? - 01/27/11 04:34 PM
The Federal Open Market Committee voted 10-to-0 to leave the Fed Funds Rate unchanged within its target range of 0.000-0.250 percent.
In its press release, the FOMC noted that since December’s meeting, economic growth is ongoing, but at a pace deemed “insufficient” to make a material impact on the jobs market. In addition, the Fed said household spending “picked up” late last year, although it continues to be held back by joblessness, tight credit and lower housing wealth.
This is similar to the language used in the FOMC’s November and December 2010 statements.
Also like its last two statements, the Fed … (2 comments)

mortgage interest rates: How will the Fed meeting affect rates? - 01/25/11 05:02 PM
The Federal Open Market Committee begins a 2-day meeting today in Washington D.C. It's the group's first meeting of 2011 - one of 8 scheduled for the year.
The Fed meets every 45 days, on average. Its last meeting was December 14, 2010.
Rate shoppers and home buyers should make a note. Mortgage rates and home affordability could change dramatically beginning tomorrow afternoon.
Because Wall Street watches FOMC meetings closely, so should you. The meetings provide insight on the future of U.S. monetary policy, as told by the nation's central banker. Investors make trades based on the FOMC's commentary which is one … (3 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Rate talk! - 01/24/11 02:51 PM
Mortgage markets worsened last week in a holiday-shortened trading week.
As the body of U.S. economic data continues to show slow, steady improvement, Wall Street is becoming a net-seller of mortgage-backed bonds. As a result, conforming mortgages rates in California are rising.
This is why conforming and FHA mortgage rates rose last week in California. Existing home supplies plunged to a 2-year low in December, and unemployment claims dropped more than expected, giving hope for the U.S. economy in 2011.
This week, that trend may continue. There’s a lot of news set for release.
The biggest story of the week is Federal … (0 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Home Supplies Drop, Putting Pressure On Prices To Rise? - 01/21/11 03:55 PM
Existing Home Sales surged 12 percent last month, closing 2010′s housing market with strength. An “existing home” is a home that cannot be categorized as new construction; a resale.
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, seasonally-adjusted, annualized Existing Home Sales figures climbed by more than a half-million units in December as compared to November. It’s the 3rd straight month of home resale improvement nationwide.
Sales volume is now as high as it’s been since May 2010 — just after the federal home buyer tax credit’s expiration.
In addition, the number of months needed to sell the complete, current home inventory at … (0 comments)

mortgage interest rates: New California Program Helping Unemployed Keep Their Home... - 01/19/11 06:27 PM
 
Keep Your Home California introduces new program for unemployed Unemployed California homeowners now can apply for up to $3,000 a month in mortgage assistance to tide them over for up to six months while looking for work. The Unemployed Mortgage Assistance Program (UMA) is the first of four programs the state is scheduled to roll out as part of an initiative called “Keep Your Home California.”  The programs are supported by $2 billion in federal dollars provided through the Hardest Hit Fund. Eligible homeowners who are struggling to make their mortgage payments after suffering a job loss may qualify for … (3 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Interest Rates...Adjustable Vs. Fixed-Rate Mortgages - 01/12/11 03:52 PM
For some homeowners, electing to take an adjustable rate mortgage over a fixed rate one can be matter of budgeting. ARMs tend to carry lower mortgage rates and, therefore, lower monthly mortgage payment as compared to a comparable fixed rate loan.
Relative to fixed rate mortgages, current ARM pricing is excellent. Freddie Mac’s weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey puts the 5-year ARM mortgage rate lower than the 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate by 1.02 percent.
On a $250,000 home loan, a 1.02 differential yields a payment savings of $149 per month.
ARMs are not for everyone, of course. Over time their … (0 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Congress Expands And Extends The First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit - 11/13/09 05:05 PM
 
Congress both extended and expanded the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit program Thursday. 
 
The up-to-$8000 tax credit's expiration date has been pushed forward to spring, requiring homebuyers to be under contract by April 30, 2010, and to be closed by June 30, 2010.
The program's basic eligibility requirements remain the same:
Buyers can't purchase the home from a parent, spouse, or child Buyers can't purchase the home from an entity in which they're a majority owner Buyers can't acquire the home by gift or inheritance All parties to the purchase must meet eligibility requirements The new law includes some notable updates, however. 
For one, … (2 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Fannie Mae Halves One Of Its Mandatory Loan Fees - 10/06/08 06:08 PM
 
In an effort to provide "the most market support possible", Fannie Mae is cutting one of its mandatory loan fees by 0.250 percent, effective immediately.
Fannie Mae introduced the Adverse Market Delivery Charge in December 2007 to offset foreclosure and delinquency losses.  The initial fee was a quarter-percent of the amount borrowed. 
Then, as market conditions worsened, Fannie Mae doubled its across-the-board loan fee to 0.500 percent in August of this year.
As of today, the fee is back to its starting point.
Since the start of the 2008, Fannie Mae has made 21 separate changes to its mortgage guidelines.  Most have … (2 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Why The Government's Takeover Of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Is Lowering Mortgage Rates - 09/13/08 05:46 PM

When comparing two investments with equal risk, a rational person will choose the investment with a higher rate of return.
This behavior is called Risk Aversion and is a basic tenet of personal investing.
An off-shoot of Risk Aversion is that a rational person will only invest in an instrument of greater risk if the returns are greater, too.
The chart at right illustrates this concept, comparing return rates on two investments:
U.S. Government bonds Mortgage-backed bonds The difference in investment return rates is sometimes called a "spread" and the historical spread between government debt and mortgage debt is somewhere near … (2 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Rates this Week : September 2, 2008 - 09/02/08 07:34 AM
For the first time in 4 weeks, mortgage rates closing a week lower than where they opened it
Markets shrugged off uncertainty about Hurricane Gustav and chose to rally on the backs of strong economic data.
Overall, rates were down by about 0.125 percent, or $96 per year per $100,000 borrowed.
Markets were influenced by a handful of positive news last week -- two pieces of housing data gave markets reason to celebrate, as did an upbeat consumer confidence survey.
Sales of "new" homes is reducing the glut of builder homes Sales of "used" homes is showing stability Americans, in general, are … (1 comments)

mortgage interest rates: The Mortgage Market's Abnormal Reaction To July's Producer Price Index Reading - 08/20/08 07:11 AM
The Producer Price Index is a business inflation meter and it's now up 9.8 percent annually.
This is a huge number for PPI and represents the highest year-over-year rate of inflation since 1981.
Normally, blowout inflation like this would be terrible for mortgage rates but mortgage markets are actually improved since Tuesday's data release.
Usually, a rocketing PPI would create an inflation expectation on Wall Street which would, in turn, cause mortgage rates to rise.
Yesterday, however, that's not what happened.
Upon the PPI release, Wall Street looked at the 9.8 percent number and simply shrugged it off.  "Of course PPI is high," traders thought.  "Did … (0 comments)

mortgage interest rates: Up or Down? Where are interest rates headed? - 08/18/08 01:07 PM
Mortgage loan interest rates overcame a terrible Monday last week, climbing back to unchanged by Friday.  And like most weeks this year, rates were volatile.
Most interesting about last week, though, was that there was a ton of news that should have dragged mortgage loan interest rates down, but it didn't seem to happen.
A popular inflation measure reached a 17-year high A petropolitical war erupted in Eastern Europe Whispers of more credit problems surfaced on Wall Street Instead, a soaring U.S. dollar attracted global funds to Wall Street and a renewed demand for all things denominated in U.S. dollars, helping … (0 comments)