Even though this upcoming week is a short week we still have some key data being released that will affect the market and in turn mortgage rates. Below is a list of the pertinent data coming out this week.
2/20 at 8:30am: Jan CPI Previous: .3% Forecast: .3%
2/20 at 2:00pm: Jan FOMC Previous: - Forecast: -
2/21 at 10:00am: Weekly Jobless Claims Previous: 348K Forecast: 355K
2/21 at 10:00am: Jan Economic Indicators Previous: -.2% Forecast: -.1%
2/21 at 10:00am: Feb Philadelphia Fed Survey Previous: -20.9% Forecast: -10.0%
Let's see what this week holds and take advantage of President's Day!
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
Monday, February 18, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Mortgage Rates & Reading Between the Lines
I have received numerous e-mails and phone calls the past week concerning my opinion of the mortgage market and in particular "What will rates do"? Believe it or not some of these calls have come from other lenders, imagine that! Of course I do not and will not give my opinion and expertise to just anyone they have to be a client or referral partner otherwise what's the point; my biggest advantage above my competition is that they do not have me, and what's the biggest advantage to the realtor? They get to use my knowledge to help attain the best possible product, rate and advice concerning the mortgage process for "their" client.
Are you dealing with someone who knows how to monitor the market, do they get in early, do they stay late (in order to monitor "after hours" sentiment and yes that does happen), do they know how to read between the lines etc. By no means am I an expert and yes I make mistakes however, predicting the market is not a science and errors happen everyday but what I can say is that I have a lot more success than failure.
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
Are you dealing with someone who knows how to monitor the market, do they get in early, do they stay late (in order to monitor "after hours" sentiment and yes that does happen), do they know how to read between the lines etc. By no means am I an expert and yes I make mistakes however, predicting the market is not a science and errors happen everyday but what I can say is that I have a lot more success than failure.
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Whirlwind of Mortgage Rate Changes
Wow, 3 weeks ago on a Wednesday we had a 25-45 minute window where 30 year mortgage interest rates were at 5.25% and now we are at 6.125%! Can you tell my frustration? In my opinion the market (Dow & Nasdaq) are extremely overpriced given the current economic conditions. It almost seems that traders are willing to perceive any and all data as good, when in reality if you read between the lines may not be as such. Therefore over the past 2.5 weeks we have seen a continued escalation in mortgage rates. I bet this is good for people wanting to buy homes?
It seems the Fed is really more concerned about helping banks and struggling consumers rather than "potential" consumers of inventoried homes. Now with that being said I am very much in favor of most of the policies the Bush administration and The Fed have enacted but it has really taken mortgage rates for a ride lately and we are on the upward slope of the "roller coaster" ride. Be prepared for the continued volatility as we move forward!
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
It seems the Fed is really more concerned about helping banks and struggling consumers rather than "potential" consumers of inventoried homes. Now with that being said I am very much in favor of most of the policies the Bush administration and The Fed have enacted but it has really taken mortgage rates for a ride lately and we are on the upward slope of the "roller coaster" ride. Be prepared for the continued volatility as we move forward!
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Project Lifeline
Keep your eye on the news today. They are to be announcing a plan called "Project Lifeline".
This plan is being put into place to help the mortgage crisis. Lenders such as Countrywide, Bank of America, Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo, Chase, and Citigroup are a part of the program.
These lenders are reportedly set to work with distressed homeowner's to try and catch up on their overdue mortgage payments. This would call for a 30 day freeze for anyone that is 90 days late on their mortgage. This will stall the foreclosure process and allow more time to negotiate terms to save their home! The difference with this plan is that it is not only for Subprime borrowers! This is for all mortgage holders! All of these lenders are currently in the HOPE NOW program that freezes ARM rates for subprime borrowers. They are being urged to extend this to conventional borrowers.
Only time will tell if all of this will help. The problem is that unless some serious payment modifications are made to these problem loans, it may only be a matter of time!
This program will no doubt help many people and I am all for it! I just hope people don't sit back and relax and think this will solve their problem. The fact is for many of these people, they cannot afford the home they are in. They are stretched way too thin and all it will do is take another bump in the road and they are right back to playing catchup!
Keep your eye on the news today and more information on this program goes public!
Brought to you by:
Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
"Your Columbia, MO Mortgage Broker"
This plan is being put into place to help the mortgage crisis. Lenders such as Countrywide, Bank of America, Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo, Chase, and Citigroup are a part of the program.
These lenders are reportedly set to work with distressed homeowner's to try and catch up on their overdue mortgage payments. This would call for a 30 day freeze for anyone that is 90 days late on their mortgage. This will stall the foreclosure process and allow more time to negotiate terms to save their home! The difference with this plan is that it is not only for Subprime borrowers! This is for all mortgage holders! All of these lenders are currently in the HOPE NOW program that freezes ARM rates for subprime borrowers. They are being urged to extend this to conventional borrowers.
Only time will tell if all of this will help. The problem is that unless some serious payment modifications are made to these problem loans, it may only be a matter of time!
This program will no doubt help many people and I am all for it! I just hope people don't sit back and relax and think this will solve their problem. The fact is for many of these people, they cannot afford the home they are in. They are stretched way too thin and all it will do is take another bump in the road and they are right back to playing catchup!
Keep your eye on the news today and more information on this program goes public!
Brought to you by:
Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
"Your Columbia, MO Mortgage Broker"
Monday, February 11, 2008
Education and Communication A Key to Success!
I wanted to talk a little about performing your "due diligence" as a mortgage lender to protect both yourself and your clients. In this day in age where foreclosures are at all time highs, delinquencies are on the rise and the escalation for government involvement is heightened; are you doing your job to protect your integrity? I can say we at Professional Mortgage Group are! Following are just a few items that we do to educate and communicate with our clients to ensure a smooth, honest and ethical transaction.
1) We personally meet with every client: We do this to both make the client comfortable with talking and communicating with us and to go over (in detail) the loan in general and their responsibilities and our responsibilities. If there are any issues now is the time they are both addressed and brought up!
2) We verify the information given to us: We have seen too often in this business that the information given in connection with an application is not entirely correct. How? Basically for two reasons, they simply do not or they are concerned about qualifying for the loan in the first place. By verifying the data provided it makes the lending process easier for everyone involved and if we find any discrepancies we can address them before hand, hence not holding up a closing at the last minute.
3) We hand out Buyer's Guides: This informational handbook helps the client understand what we do and what they are responsible for. It also addresses FAQ's in case questions come up after the fact.
4) Home buyer's certification course: If you are a first time home buyer and are doing business with Professional Mortgage Group, we require you to take an on-line education course! We find this course to be very helpful in preparing are clients for the tasks of homeownership.
5) Certification Disclosure: We require all clients to sign a form that they were A; given copies of all disclosures assocaited with their home loan and B; they were given a thorough explanation of all documents and had any and all questions answered in connection with their financing. By doing this we feel at ease with our clients and they feel at ease and trust us!
6) We perform a Benefit to Borrower Test on every file: This ensures that the client gets the best possible product, terms and costs associated with their mortgage financing!
7) We simply do things the right way: From our first conversation to the closing table we give honest, ethical and professional advice and recommendations. We back this with Service Guarantee's, results and client testimonials!
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
1) We personally meet with every client: We do this to both make the client comfortable with talking and communicating with us and to go over (in detail) the loan in general and their responsibilities and our responsibilities. If there are any issues now is the time they are both addressed and brought up!
2) We verify the information given to us: We have seen too often in this business that the information given in connection with an application is not entirely correct. How? Basically for two reasons, they simply do not or they are concerned about qualifying for the loan in the first place. By verifying the data provided it makes the lending process easier for everyone involved and if we find any discrepancies we can address them before hand, hence not holding up a closing at the last minute.
3) We hand out Buyer's Guides: This informational handbook helps the client understand what we do and what they are responsible for. It also addresses FAQ's in case questions come up after the fact.
4) Home buyer's certification course: If you are a first time home buyer and are doing business with Professional Mortgage Group, we require you to take an on-line education course! We find this course to be very helpful in preparing are clients for the tasks of homeownership.
5) Certification Disclosure: We require all clients to sign a form that they were A; given copies of all disclosures assocaited with their home loan and B; they were given a thorough explanation of all documents and had any and all questions answered in connection with their financing. By doing this we feel at ease with our clients and they feel at ease and trust us!
6) We perform a Benefit to Borrower Test on every file: This ensures that the client gets the best possible product, terms and costs associated with their mortgage financing!
7) We simply do things the right way: From our first conversation to the closing table we give honest, ethical and professional advice and recommendations. We back this with Service Guarantee's, results and client testimonials!
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Does Your Mortgage Broker Earn Their Paycheck?
We've talked about this in the past but in light of a couple of stories I heard I thought it wise to revisit the situation. How do you know whether or not your broker is earning his or her money? Whether your doing a refinance or a realtor monitoring your client's purchase transaction, each transaction has it's own set of hurdles however, that does not relinquish the broker from doing their job to the fullest earning every penny they take. I can say with 100% certainty that myself and the staff at Professional Mortgage Group, Inc. earn every dime! Why am I so certain? Because I know in my heart that our clients were given the best possible product, rate, terms, fees, advice and expectations from day one! Following are a couple of "highlights" on things that I think are critically important to earning your money.
#1) Expectations: These can be the downfall to any transaction or can be the lifeline. We must set fair, honest and realistic expectations from day 1. For instance, the "unkowns" during the transaction, time frame constraits, documents needed, the process etc.
#2) Research: Do you know what the market is doing and I am not speaking to the fact of the Dow, Nasdaq, Bonds etc. Do you know the data coming out and how it will affect investors perceptions and hence rates. Do you know where to look and how to analyze this data to give good advice to your clients
#3) Guidelines: Are you familiar with the best possible products and the guidelines that go with them. Do you know what your competition has so you know if you have a product that will compete or even better be more advantageous? Have you prepared your client for possible guideline changes that could happen during their loan process?
#4) Time Frame: Have you met the time line set-forth in the contract or that you have given your client (should it be a refinance transaction)? Have you alerted them to the possibility (early on) of issues?
#5) Disclosures: Did you sit down with your client and go over every little detail? Did they ask questions, did you prepare them, were they prepared?
#6) Above & Beyond: Do you go above and beyond what your clients expect, what your realtors expect and what you expect? This is what sets you apart from everyone else and is the determining factor in earning your money. It could be as little as meeting your clients at home to pick up documents so they don't have to make the trip or as big as helping them prepare a budget and all that entails.
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
#1) Expectations: These can be the downfall to any transaction or can be the lifeline. We must set fair, honest and realistic expectations from day 1. For instance, the "unkowns" during the transaction, time frame constraits, documents needed, the process etc.
#2) Research: Do you know what the market is doing and I am not speaking to the fact of the Dow, Nasdaq, Bonds etc. Do you know the data coming out and how it will affect investors perceptions and hence rates. Do you know where to look and how to analyze this data to give good advice to your clients
#3) Guidelines: Are you familiar with the best possible products and the guidelines that go with them. Do you know what your competition has so you know if you have a product that will compete or even better be more advantageous? Have you prepared your client for possible guideline changes that could happen during their loan process?
#4) Time Frame: Have you met the time line set-forth in the contract or that you have given your client (should it be a refinance transaction)? Have you alerted them to the possibility (early on) of issues?
#5) Disclosures: Did you sit down with your client and go over every little detail? Did they ask questions, did you prepare them, were they prepared?
#6) Above & Beyond: Do you go above and beyond what your clients expect, what your realtors expect and what you expect? This is what sets you apart from everyone else and is the determining factor in earning your money. It could be as little as meeting your clients at home to pick up documents so they don't have to make the trip or as big as helping them prepare a budget and all that entails.
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Boone County Missouri Housing Statistics for 2007
I was doing some web browsing yesterday, I do this at least 1-2 hours a day to stay up on local, regional and national market data and noticed that The Columbia Board of Realtors had the Final 2007 housing results; so in case you missed it here are some of the highlights.
- June looked to be the best month of 2007 with 288 homes sold.
- Over the past 5 years the 2nd Quarter has proved to be the best every single year
- A total of 2,110 homes were sold last year that's 202 less than 2006 and 358 less than 2005 sales.
- New construction still feels the chill of the housing slump as only 416 homes were sold in 2007 as oppossed to 580 in 2006 and 617 in 2005!
- New construction volume was $88.3M far less than the $121.9M in 2006 and $122.8M in 2005.
- Existing home volume was $284.3M in 07 very strong against 2006's $284.7M.
- The average sale for new construction was $212,308 as oppossed to $210,196 in 2006.
- The average sale for existing was $167,848 as oppossed to $164,390 in 2006.
- The "hottest" area continues to be the Southwest with 579 homes being sold in that area a trend that has continued for the past 5 years.
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
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