RECENT BLOG POSTS
Today...the Federal Reserve exits the train station and ends their 15 month long buying spree of mortgage backed securities (MBS). This purchase program helped bring some stability to the housing market since its inception in January 2009. Looking back to late 2008, mortgage rates were in the 6....
03/31/2010
2
Comments
There's plenty of chatter to go around regarding Shadow Inventory? And it has been defined many different ways, some of which are incorrect. So let's get our arms around it and see if we can make some sense of this. Shadow inventory is housing units that are not making it onto the public marke...
02/04/2010
0
Comments
Last night many American's tuned in to Obama's first State of the Union Address. With concerns of jobs and the economy on our minds...it was impossible to miss this statement, "Jobs must be our No. 1 focus in 2010, and that is why I am calling for a new jobs bill tonight." For most of us...afte...
01/28/2010
1
Comments
Like David Bowie's lyrics..."changes are taking the pace I'm going thru" and the mortgage world is going thru changes that take the pace to a whole new level. It seems every time we turn around, there is a new rule, new legislation, new guideline, new something or other. On July 30th a new ‘some...
08/11/2009
1
Comments
The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) became effective on May 1st in an effort to insulate the appraisal process from influence by any of the parties that may have an interest in the outcome. So...what is wrong with that? Recently, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) conducted a sur...
07/28/2009
0
Comments
Better than expected earnings from Corporate America, higher Retail Sales and a hot Producer Price Index has moved our 30 year Mortgage Back Security from the cheese platter to....the waste basket? Oh no.... The producer price index is a reading on wholesale inflation. The headline number was h...
07/14/2009
0
Comments
Late in the day Wednesday, the Treasury unveiled their plan to take up to $40 billion in so-called illiquid assets off bank balance sheets. Nine investment managers have been chosen to bid for these illiquid assets. The $40 billion is composed of $30 billion of equity and debt invested by the Tr...
07/09/2009
0
Comments
Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) are moving again! Over the past several days, MBS have been improving as stocks continue their struggle. Today's bond auction was well received which has helped fuel a beautiful rally today, giving Bonds the needed momentum to break above some tough overhead res...
07/08/2009
0
Comments
Today the Fed begins their 2 day meeting. We know the Fed Funds Rate is not going to change, but there is speculation that the Fed will buy more longer-term Treasuries, which may provide a jump start to eventually bring Mortgage rates down. So if you are still considering a refinance, it is impo...
06/23/2009
The Treasury has been going to town printing money...clear proof we are "already out of money". The Treasury has literally been printing money at a record pace by way of Treasury auctions to pay for the massive spending. How does that impact those attractive home loan rates you once were hearin...
06/04/2009