Mortgage Blog

Increase to conforming loan limits?

As a part of the fiscal stimulus package which the President is expected to sign into law today there is a provision designed to offer relief to homeowner’s with loan amounts above the current conforming loan limit ($417,000). However, the law is unlikely to impact most of the country. The reasoning behind the provision is […]

Rate Update Feb 13, 2008

You Tube link to see rate update video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bzw02hk71Y Yesterday it was Warren Buffet’s offer to bail out the bond insurers and today it’s stronger than expected retail sales numbers. Either way the good news for the economy is supporting the stock market which is sucking capital out of the bond market. Mortgage-backed bonds are […]

Rate Update Feb 12, 2008

Mortgage rates look poised to increase modestly in the coming hours in response to a stock market in rally. All the major indexes are currently up over 1.0% in trading today thanks to Warren Buffet’s offer to help out troubled bond insurers. We talked about it before but when stocks rally it usually means money […]

Rate Update Feb 11, 2008

You Tube link to see rate update video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgqCxEf77fU Mortgage-backed bonds are currently trading sideways on the day. It is another relatively light week in terms of economic data. The only notable release this week will be the retail sales report which is due out Wednesday. President Bush is expected to sign the Economic Stimulus […]

More tightening to come?

One of the most difficult questions to answer is WHEN our lenders’ credit standards will stabilize and maybe even ease. Of course, in the long run, tighter credit standards will help all participants in the real estate industry (be it mortgage originators, lenders, investors, homeowners, realtors, title companies, etc.) because it will promote more prudent […]

Stimulus plan- Tax “rebates”

According to a couple articles I’ve reviewed online it appears that the so-called “tax rebate” which is at the focal point of the governments plan is not a reabte at all. In fact, most taxpayers will see their 2009 tax refund reduced by the amount of their rebate. This is certainly not the way that […]