My colleagues Tony & Jared of Equity Design @ Mortgage Trust recently wrote this excellent posting on their blog about 6 things we can all do to overcome these tough economic conditions. Among my favorite- dust off the bike and ride to work which is something I’ve done over the past few weeks! Thanks Tony and […]
Rates are modestly lower this morning. Renewed credit worries have helped mortgage rates remain low in the face of hot inflation data. Here are links to the articles that were referenced in today’s rate update video: –Blog posting & link to Sunday’s Barron’s article regarding the inevitable nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (this […]
Rates are unchanged again this morning. Last Thursday the Labor Department issued the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) report which showed that prices at the consumer level in our economy grew at the fastest pace in 17 years. Today, the Labor Department released the monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) report which reports on prices at […]
It’s that time of year again in Oregon where lenders will begin collecting real estate tax holdbacks for transactions closing in September & October where the first payment of the new mortgage is in November or December. Every year tax holdbacks end up being the source of frustration for many homebuyers who end up having […]
Often times our customers are hesitant to grant us permission to access a new credit report for them because of concerns that it will hurt their credit score. The problem with not reviewing a client’s credit history and credit score is that we end up proposing mortgage options that may change once we do pull […]
Our company recently changed 401K providers which offered me the opportunity to evaluate not only the standard 401K but also the Roth 401K. I had read about the Roth 401K back in December of 2007 and was pleased to see that these options were beginning to work their way into employers’ offerings. It also created […]
Rates are effectively unchanged again this morning. Looking ahead this week the biggest piece of economic news will be delivered tomorrow when the Producer Price Index (PPI) report is released. This report, which indicates inflationary pressure at the wholesale level of our economy, is likely to come in “hot” as did the CPI from last […]
Back on July 15th I posted this blog entry regarding Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac in which I outlined the crucial role they play in our nation’s housing industry. Here is an update to this saga: This weekend Barron’s is reporting that the two mortgage giants are essentially insolvent and that government intervention is inevitable. The […]
The NY Times published a good article today outlining the presidential hopeful’s views on financial regulation (click this link to view). By the sounds of it we can expect greater governmental oversight over the financial markets in the coming years. It is no surprise that a reaction for greater financial regulation has resulted following the third financial […]
The final piece of a mortgage application that a bank is interested in reviewing is the property itself. After all, if a borrower fails to make their monthly payments then the bank will take the house back and sell it in order to recoup the money that they loaned against it. The value of a home will […]