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Monday Mortgage Call - Chicagos' Best Source for Housing/Mortgage Info

By
Mortgage and Lending with Movement Mortgage NMLS # 574681

Good Afternoon,

I hope you had a good weekend. I happened to see Argo on Saturday and while it was an excellent film, I guess I was kind of surprised that it won best picture. I wasn’t surprised to see the Hawks win another one though!

On today's call: Markets, Housing, Interest Rates

The markets opened lower today amid some troubling European news, namely the pending Italian senate elections, which will have a big influence on the financial situation over there, as Italy is the Euro’s 3rd largest economy. There are many highly anticipated reports due this week, including the Consumer Confidence index and GDP estimates. Congress is trying to decide what to do about the $85 billion in spending cuts that take effect on March 1st. Many analysts believe a deal won’t be struck by then. As such, I would expect a decent bond rally next week (or maybe preceding the deadline) and rates to possibly improve.

In housing, it’s interesting that many experts believe that while the economy is still struggling to gain traction, and there
is still a lot of distance between the parties in Congress on how to solve the problem, housing may just actually be the one thing expected to improve over the near term. If you have a minute, check out this story for a more in-depth analysis on some experts’ projections. It seems the forecasts are looking pretty good.

http://www.housingwire.com/news/2013/02/25/nabe-economic-uncertainties-remain-one-exception

On a more local level, the Illinois Association of Realtors reported a 37% increase in home sales in January, the strongest month in 7 years. In the city specifically, home sales are up over 32% since this time last year. I have received quite a few contracts in the last few weeks…it’s nice to see the wheels turning faster!

Interest rates are holding steady but may be poised for a decline soon, considering the news mentioned above. There are a lot of indicators for a bond rally, but the impact of the budget sequester is hard to estimate. We’ll be there soon enough. For now, the 30 year fixed is unchanged, right in the mid-3% range with 0 points. Our new Jumbo lender should be on board very shortly…their 30 year today (with 0 points) is 3.875%, a good .25% to .375% than all the other lenders we have. Nice!

As always, I’d be very appreciative if you could pass this along to your networks. And please don’t hesitate to contact me with questions.

Posted by

JP Marzano

NMLS ID# 574681

O: 312-654-7216

M: 312-608-1555

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