Monitoring Rates!

If you have read our blog before you probably have heard us refer to rate monitoring. While most lenders monitor rates is some form, everyone has their own method. In today's turbulent market, rate monitoring is more important than ever. Gone are the days of receiving a rate sheet in the morning and that is the rate. As the MBS (Mortgage Backed Securities) market bounces all over the place, so do mortgage rates. MBS prices are the key indicator what direction rates are going these days. If you are not following them then you are doing your clients an injustice. Lenders have been re-pricing numerous times during the day. This means if you quote someone a rate in the a.m. without locking, that rate will no doubt change before the day is up. While the market will probably stabilize again the next day resulting in the same quoted rate, this doesn't always happen. We monitor all the factors that influence rates and implement procedures to insure our clients are protected. If we quote someone 5.875%, we must protect this. Borrower's want the best of both worlds. This is a guarantee they will at least get what they were quoted, but an opportunity to go lower! While there is no sure thing, we can give them as close to this as there is possible. We give an accurate quote day one and it is our goal to get them this rate or something better. If we see trends that are beneficial to our client, then we will float. If we see a trend heading in the wrong direction we will lock if we feel we can't make this loss up prior to closing! We will never be 100% accurate all the time, but we are very close. It all comes down to the particular client and their risk tolerance. If they are conservative we can lock and not mess around. If they are more aggressive and want to shoot for a lower rate, we can put our tools to use to try and get them what they want!
Today was a prime example. We had a particular client that had told us his rate tolerance and his ideal rate. We almost locked last night, however we researched some data and thought the mornings opening for MBS prices would be favorable. We were correct and then we saw prices start to dip again. Since we were on top of it, we locked his loan. He received a better price than he would have last night. We also locked in the nick of time as the lenders re-priced and we would have been worse off than last night had we waited 30 more minutes! The client was ecstatic and so were we! This is a prime example of why we do this!
I would hope there aren't any lenders left that just wait for the rate sheet and just fly by the seat of their pants. I am sure they are still out there. You just may want to think twice about using someone like this! If you have any specific questions, please call. We would be glad to fill you in on how we operate in order to do what is best for your loan.

Brought to you by:
Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
"Your Columbia, MO Mortgage Broker"