Today caps off another strong week in which we have seen the momentum build in terms of how many buyers are out shopping for homes. We have received numerous calls and referrals of people looking to get pre-approved. This is a great sign that shows the Columbia market is not down and out like many say it is. Now we just need the weather to break and start cooperating. It is no secret that when the weather is favorable over a weekend, activity picks up!
We really appreciate all the referrals we have received from our past clients and current realtor partners. We couldn't do it without you!
Referrals are the core of Professional Mortgage Group's business!
To Buyer's, we wish you luck in finding that perfect home! It is a great time to buy and we know the right home is out there for you.
To Realtor's, we wish you the best in your business as the buying season ramps up! The hard work you have been putting in during these tough times will no doubt pay off!
We have all been giving our respective professions 110% and we will all be better off in the long run!
So one last time, RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY! We are all ready for Mother Nature to cooperate so we can get out and about, enjoy Spring, and get things rolling!
Brought to you by:
Professional Mortgage Group,Inc.
"Your Columbia, MO Mortgage Broker"
Friday, April 18, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Mortgage Rates Up!
If you are an avid follower of mortgage rates you will have noticed that we have taken quite a hit since last Friday rising from 5.875% to 6.25% on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. This has continued the theme of VOLATILE mortgage rates and in particular consumer perceptions on what rate they should or should not expect to get. Why have the rates increased so much in just 3 days? The most simplistic answer I can give has to do with company earnings coming in better than analysts forecasted. Why does this matter? When analysts forecast company profits it is always in a "per share" basis. For instance when Wells Fargo is trading at $29.00 a share and analysts have "priced in" a revenue decrease of $30M for the first quarter and the actual number was only a $15M loss traders will then "price in" the added value of there shares based on the new data thus putting more money in the stock market, which normally translates into less money in the avenues that affect mortgage rates (i.e. Mortgage Backed Securities).
As I stated on my Monday post this was going to be a very volatile week as there was a ton of economic data being released, Regional Fed Presidents were speaking and it is earnings season for most companies. All of this added up means a frustrating week for mortgage rates. If you are a really keen individual you will have noticed that the ARM rates have also become less attractive. We have gone from 5.5% to 6.25% in just 3 days! Why? Well, the "spreads" between the short term treasuries; in particular the 10 year treasury and MBS have widened to the point where there no advantages between short term and long term money at the moment.
As usual continue to check back to this site for updates and should you have any questions, comments or concerns please do not hesitate in contacting us.
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
As I stated on my Monday post this was going to be a very volatile week as there was a ton of economic data being released, Regional Fed Presidents were speaking and it is earnings season for most companies. All of this added up means a frustrating week for mortgage rates. If you are a really keen individual you will have noticed that the ARM rates have also become less attractive. We have gone from 5.5% to 6.25% in just 3 days! Why? Well, the "spreads" between the short term treasuries; in particular the 10 year treasury and MBS have widened to the point where there no advantages between short term and long term money at the moment.
As usual continue to check back to this site for updates and should you have any questions, comments or concerns please do not hesitate in contacting us.
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
A Surprising Rate Quote!
We recently encountered a client who was shopping around for the best loan. She called in and applied and we promptly quoted a rate for her loan scenario. At the time it was 5.875%. She then checked around with a few other lenders and one of them completely surprised her! They said they had some credit issues and anybody would be lying to her if they told her she could do any better than 6.5%!!!! WOW, that is quite a difference! She of course ended that call and contacted us again. "Is this true?" she asked. She had no idea what "problems" they could be talking about. After going over her credit report, we could not either! There were simply no issues that would hinder then from getting the loan and rate we quoted!
This is the difference between a transaction broker and a relationship broker. The transaction broker takes a client and squeezes as much out of them as possible and moves on to the next one, never to do business with them again. A relationship broker nurtures the relationship with each client, resulting in repeat business over time. The only way a client will use your services again is if you do a great job and treat them appropriately!
Lenders that quote rates and conduct business like the one mentioned above, is why our industry has a tarnished image! They take away from the majority of professionals that conduct business that way it was meant to be conducted!
Today's market is extremely difficult to navigate for lenders, realtors, appraisers, etc..
However, one good thing that will come from this tough market will be that it will weed out some of these bad apples!
Brought to you by:
Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
This is the difference between a transaction broker and a relationship broker. The transaction broker takes a client and squeezes as much out of them as possible and moves on to the next one, never to do business with them again. A relationship broker nurtures the relationship with each client, resulting in repeat business over time. The only way a client will use your services again is if you do a great job and treat them appropriately!
Lenders that quote rates and conduct business like the one mentioned above, is why our industry has a tarnished image! They take away from the majority of professionals that conduct business that way it was meant to be conducted!
Today's market is extremely difficult to navigate for lenders, realtors, appraisers, etc..
However, one good thing that will come from this tough market will be that it will weed out some of these bad apples!
Brought to you by:
Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Monday, April 14, 2008
A Huge Economic Week!
With such a big week of economic data being released I thought this blog would be best served by just detailing out the releases and letting you form your own opinion.
Monday 4/14: Mar Retail Sales: Forecast: -.1%
Monday 4/14: Feb Business Invent: Forecast: .6%
Tuesday 4/15: Mar PPI: Forecast: .4%
Tuesday 4/15: Apr. Empire Index: Forecast: -16.0%
Wednesday 4/16: Mar CPI: Forecast: .3%
Wednesday 4/16: Mar Housing Starts : Forecast: 980K
Wednesday 4/16: Mar Industrial Prod: Forecast: -.1%
Wednesday 4/16: Mar Capacity Utiliz: Forecast: 80.4
Thursday 4/17: Weekly Jobless Claims: Forecast: 385K
Thursday 4/17: Apr Philadelphia Surv: Forecast: -14.0%
Thursday 4/17: Mar Leading Econ Ind: Forecast: -.2%
For those of you who desire an explanation of these terms or how they affect the market and in particular mortgage rates, please feel free to contact me directly at shawnvt@pmg-inc.net
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
Monday 4/14: Mar Retail Sales: Forecast: -.1%
Monday 4/14: Feb Business Invent: Forecast: .6%
Tuesday 4/15: Mar PPI: Forecast: .4%
Tuesday 4/15: Apr. Empire Index: Forecast: -16.0%
Wednesday 4/16: Mar CPI: Forecast: .3%
Wednesday 4/16: Mar Housing Starts : Forecast: 980K
Wednesday 4/16: Mar Industrial Prod: Forecast: -.1%
Wednesday 4/16: Mar Capacity Utiliz: Forecast: 80.4
Thursday 4/17: Weekly Jobless Claims: Forecast: 385K
Thursday 4/17: Apr Philadelphia Surv: Forecast: -14.0%
Thursday 4/17: Mar Leading Econ Ind: Forecast: -.2%
For those of you who desire an explanation of these terms or how they affect the market and in particular mortgage rates, please feel free to contact me directly at shawnvt@pmg-inc.net
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Credit Crisis Hits Our High Education Funding
It seems the credit crisis is really eroding individual's ability to access funding for student loans, especially in Missouri. So far 45 state agencies have pulled out of the U.S. subsidized Federal Family Education Loan Program since December. This funding avenue accounts for about 60% of the $78 billion loans made to students and their parents in an effort to help fund higher education. Without this ability to finance pools of loans authorities in Missouri, New Hampshire, Texas, Pennsylvania and Iowa have all but suspended or limited their origination of loans according to a report filed on April 1st!
What happened? It seems Wall Street firms stopped using their own funds to buy these auction-rate bonds when they went unsold because of concerns about creditworthiness of the guarantors of the debt. For the first time in almost 40 years NO municipal bonds backed by student loans were sold in the first quarter! NorthStar (a provider of student loans out of Minnesota) stated last week that it would no longer process applications for federally backed and ever popular Stafford, PLUS and Grad PLUS loans.
Student loan providers were enticed by auction rate securities because it allowed them to borrow long term debt (40 years) at short-term rates (4.83% in January). However, the market for these types of bonds has all but vanished and if you are able to secure or sell auction-rate money the Wall Street firms are requiring a much higher rate of return. With margins already very slim for these companies they simply cannot afford to pay the required prices established by today's market in light of the liquidity and credit crisis.
In an effort to help curb the growing issue U.S. Education Secretary told lawmakers last month that the Bush administration is prepared to step in to make direct loans to compensate for loss of lenders. It should be noted that financial packages just started going out to incoming freshman so no one will know for sure how many students will be left holding the baggage. One thing is for sure some students will be scrambling for necessary funding to attain their goal of higher education and in particular this could very well hit home in Columbia and The University of Missouri!
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
What happened? It seems Wall Street firms stopped using their own funds to buy these auction-rate bonds when they went unsold because of concerns about creditworthiness of the guarantors of the debt. For the first time in almost 40 years NO municipal bonds backed by student loans were sold in the first quarter! NorthStar (a provider of student loans out of Minnesota) stated last week that it would no longer process applications for federally backed and ever popular Stafford, PLUS and Grad PLUS loans.
Student loan providers were enticed by auction rate securities because it allowed them to borrow long term debt (40 years) at short-term rates (4.83% in January). However, the market for these types of bonds has all but vanished and if you are able to secure or sell auction-rate money the Wall Street firms are requiring a much higher rate of return. With margins already very slim for these companies they simply cannot afford to pay the required prices established by today's market in light of the liquidity and credit crisis.
In an effort to help curb the growing issue U.S. Education Secretary told lawmakers last month that the Bush administration is prepared to step in to make direct loans to compensate for loss of lenders. It should be noted that financial packages just started going out to incoming freshman so no one will know for sure how many students will be left holding the baggage. One thing is for sure some students will be scrambling for necessary funding to attain their goal of higher education and in particular this could very well hit home in Columbia and The University of Missouri!
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Columbia... I am Impressed!
I have to say I am very impressed with Columbia. This community as a whole is very strong and driven! Especially in the case of the real estate community. This includes real estate agents, banks, brokers, appraisers, title companies, etc..
I say this because it is no secret the last 2 years have been a nightmare for this industry! We all know this, yet there are numerous companies and individuals leading the way in this volatile market! Several round table meetings have been held throughout town to brainstorm and get the word out about the market, changes being made, and how to adapt. We have taken part in a few of these and they have been great! It really shows that Columbia's real estate professionals are taking the bull by the horns instead of just accepting the market and waiting this downswing out! Who wants to take that approach! Every day we need to think positive and make the most out of the curve balls thrown to us! If we don't adapt, we will be out of the game! I think the real estate community in Columbia needs to be commended for the way things have been handled. Let's all keep up the good work and innovation! This community we be better for it and when the market does turn, we will all be better prepared to capitalize!
If any of our readers have any comments to add, please do!
We welcome your input!
Brought to you by"
Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
I say this because it is no secret the last 2 years have been a nightmare for this industry! We all know this, yet there are numerous companies and individuals leading the way in this volatile market! Several round table meetings have been held throughout town to brainstorm and get the word out about the market, changes being made, and how to adapt. We have taken part in a few of these and they have been great! It really shows that Columbia's real estate professionals are taking the bull by the horns instead of just accepting the market and waiting this downswing out! Who wants to take that approach! Every day we need to think positive and make the most out of the curve balls thrown to us! If we don't adapt, we will be out of the game! I think the real estate community in Columbia needs to be commended for the way things have been handled. Let's all keep up the good work and innovation! This community we be better for it and when the market does turn, we will all be better prepared to capitalize!
If any of our readers have any comments to add, please do!
We welcome your input!
Brought to you by"
Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Monday, April 7, 2008
A light economic week
For the most part this is a very light week as far as economic releases are concerned. Most of the movement in mortgage rates this week will be due to "headline" news. For instance, Washington Mutual's release that it may receive a $5B injection from TPG Group for which the company is in current negotiations. Weeks like this can be extremely volatile for the market as these key releases are never forecasted and at times appear out of know where; much like the Bear Stearns "rescue" a couple of weeks ago.
However, with that being said there are two critical releases due out this week that I would like to acknowledge. The first is the Weekly Jobless Claims report which last week shocked the market with a $407K loss. This weeks report is due out Thursday April the 10th at 7:30AM CST with a consensus reading of ($386K). The second is the Consumer Sentiment Report which is scheduled for release on Friday April the 11th at 9:00AM CST. Both of these will most certainly be "market movers" in one direction or the other. Like I have stated almost every Monday in the past "hold onto your hats" because it's going to be another bumpy ride.
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
However, with that being said there are two critical releases due out this week that I would like to acknowledge. The first is the Weekly Jobless Claims report which last week shocked the market with a $407K loss. This weeks report is due out Thursday April the 10th at 7:30AM CST with a consensus reading of ($386K). The second is the Consumer Sentiment Report which is scheduled for release on Friday April the 11th at 9:00AM CST. Both of these will most certainly be "market movers" in one direction or the other. Like I have stated almost every Monday in the past "hold onto your hats" because it's going to be another bumpy ride.
Brought to you by Professional Mortgage Group, Inc.
Your Columbia Missouri Mortgage Broker
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