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Real Estate News |
Mortgage Rates Hard-Hit by Trade Headlines
Thu, 12 Dec 2019 19:58:00 GMT
Posted To: Mortgage Rate WatchMortgage rates jumped quickly higher today following a series of headlines/tweets regarding the probability of a US/China trade deal ahead of Sunday's tariff deadline. What does all that mean? Let's break it down. The st..[read more]
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Sluggish Loan Applications Show Weakness in New Home Sales
Thu, 12 Dec 2019 15:06:09 GMT
Posted To: MND NewsWireWhile the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is predicting newly constructed homes sold at a much higher rate in November than they did a year earlier, sales are expected to be down significantly from this past October. MBA's B..[read more]
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MBS Day Ahead: A New Way to Look at The Range
Thu, 12 Dec 2019 14:15:43 GMT
Posted To: MBS CommentaryYesterday brought a nice little rally in response to a surprisingly rate-friendly press conference with Fed Chair Powell. The counterpoint to that conclusion is seen in the chart I posted in yesterday's recap. Specificall..[read more]
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Broker, Back-Office, Non-QM Products; Upcoming Events; The Fed and Rates
Thu, 12 Dec 2019 14:06:58 GMT
Posted To: Pipeline PressWe never see the headline, "Psychic Wins Lottery!" No one has a crystal ball, but originators often ask their capital markets staff about the direction of rates, whether it is, “Should I lock today?” or “Why..[read more]
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MBS RECAP: Fed Proves Surprisingly Capable of Intraday Inspiration
Wed, 11 Dec 2019 21:55:41 GMT
Posted To: MBS CommentaryWe moved from NFP not mattering (and then causing a surprisingly big intraday stir) to the Fed undergoing quite a similar routine. Granted, in the bigger picture, neither event will be memorable or have a lasting impact on ra..[read more]
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Mortgage Rates Improve After Fed Announcement
Wed, 11 Dec 2019 21:14:00 GMT
Posted To: Mortgage Rate WatchMortgage rates improved today following the Federal Reserve's policy announcement and Fed Chair Powell's press conference. The Fed doesn't set mortgage rates (their policy rate applies to 1-day loans between banks wherea..[read more]
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Differences Between Previous and Current FOMC Statements
Wed, 11 Dec 2019 19:02:35 GMT
Posted To: MBS CommentaryInformation received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in SeptemberOctober indicates that the labor market remains strong and that economic activity has been rising at a moderate rate. Job gains have been solid, on ..[read more]
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NAR Forecasts on GDP, Rate Cuts, and Probability of Recession
Wed, 11 Dec 2019 18:26:22 GMT
Posted To: MND NewsWireThe National Association of Realtors (NAR) used the occasion of a summit headed by Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson to release its forecast for housing and the economy over the next year. The predictions we..[read more]
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Servicing Primer and Prepayment Speeds; Retention, Reno, Non-QM Products
Wed, 11 Dec 2019 14:41:30 GMT
Posted To: Pipeline PressAloha! As any servicer with borrowers in Hawai’i knows, if you’re going to ask, “Is Ms. Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele* home?” or “Do you live on Kaalualu Waiohinu Rd.?”, you’d b..[read more]
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Everyone is Still Refinancing; FHA Refis at 3 Year High
Wed, 11 Dec 2019 13:41:03 GMT
Posted To: MND NewsWireMortgage applications activity recovered strongly during the week ended December 6 after the usual Thanksgiving week lull. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, which measures the volume of mor..[read more]
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MBS Day Ahead: Fed Reading From Same Script as Jobs Report
Wed, 11 Dec 2019 13:32:16 GMT
Posted To: MBS CommentaryLast week, I stunned the world by claiming that NFP (the nonfarm payrolls component of the big jobs report) "didn't matter." OK, maybe not the whole world, and maybe people weren't completely stunned, but in the long-..[read more]
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MBS RECAP: Trade Headlines Stealing Thunder From Heavy Hitters
Tue, 10 Dec 2019 22:15:12 GMT
Posted To: MBS CommentaryLast week saw an apparently important jobs report ATTEMPT to have a lasting impact on financial markets only for the move to be completely erased by this morning. Labor market data was already a bit of an outcast owing to its..[read more]
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Mortgage Rates Slightly Higher Ahead of Fed Announcement
Tue, 10 Dec 2019 21:14:00 GMT
Posted To: Mortgage Rate WatchMortgage rates moved up modestly today as bond markets weakened in response to trade headlines. This week's key consideration on the trade front is whether or not the planned December 15th tariff increase is delayed, can..[read more]
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Home Purchase Sentiment Rebounds to Near Record Highs
Tue, 10 Dec 2019 15:55:13 GMT
Posted To: MND NewsWireAfter a steep dive in October, America's attitude toward buying a home is on the rise again. Positive answers to the question of whether it is a good time to buy on Fannie Mae's November National Housing Survey rose 11 percenta..[read more]
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Automation, Marketing Tools; Shift in Evaluating Credit
Tue, 10 Dec 2019 14:26:23 GMT
Posted To: Pipeline PressIf you knew the value of the house was going to decline, or that the borrower has bad credit and would default, would you make the loan? There’s always a debate about how best to determine creditworthiness based on past..[read more]
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MBS Day Ahead: Still Waiting on Bigger Potential Market Movers
Tue, 10 Dec 2019 13:33:49 GMT
Posted To: MBS CommentaryIn the grand scheme of things, today will likely be another placeholder of a day unless some unexpected (and fairly significant) trade war update happens to come out. That leaves the afternoon's 10yr auction as the only m..[read more]
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Mortgage Rates Snap Back to Lower Levels
Mon, 09 Dec 2019 19:58:00 GMT
Posted To: Mortgage Rate WatchMortgage rates reacted somewhat harshly to an incredibly strong jobs report last Friday. At the time, I noted that such a jobs report would typically have done much more damage to rates, but that the current environment ..[read more]
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FHA's Mortgage Insurance Fund Improvement Has Come a Long Way
Mon, 09 Dec 2019 18:11:49 GMT
Posted To: MND NewsWireThe Federal Housing Administration (FHA) released its annual Report to Congress several weeks ago, reporting significant improvement in its Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund. Late last week Brian D. Montgomery, FHA Commissio..[read more]
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Lots of Refinancing, So Why Are Servicers Losing Business?
Mon, 09 Dec 2019 14:49:54 GMT
Posted To: MND NewsWireBlack Knight continues to review, in its new Mortgage Monitor , how the effects of nearly a year of lower interest rates have ricocheted throughout the industry. This month's Monitor looks both at loan data from October and fro..[read more]
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Investor and Lender FHA & VA Changes; Marketing and Cloud Products
Mon, 09 Dec 2019 14:24:15 GMT
Posted To: Pipeline PressWith the Fed content with rates hovering here for the foreseeable future , lenders can focus on other things. "Rob, are you hearing that real estate agents are nervous about Zillow's business moves?" Of course. There are a lo..[read more]
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MBS Day Ahead: Last Serious Trading Week of 2019
Mon, 09 Dec 2019 14:07:29 GMT
Posted To: MBS CommentaryIt's been almost exactly 3 months since the quick rate spike in early September. That, of course, followed an impressive run to the lowest rates in more than 3 years in August. The combination of those long-term lows and ..[read more]
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MBS RECAP: NFP Swings For Fences, But Still Comes Up Short
Fri, 06 Dec 2019 20:30:52 GMT
Posted To: MBS CommentaryThis morning's commentary was titled "NFP Doesn't Matter (Even If It Looks Like It Does)." Apparently NFP didn't like being called out because it did everything in its power to prove me wrong. Ultimately though, i..[read more]
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A Jobs Report This Strong Usually Does Much More Damage to Mortgage Rates
Fri, 06 Dec 2019 18:45:00 GMT
Posted To: Mortgage Rate WatchMortgage rates were pushed higher for the 3rd day in a row following an incredibly strong jobs report. For decades, if you were to ask anyone with a reasonable level of experience following rates/bonds to pick one econom..[read more]
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Loan Characteristics Mostly Account for Conforming/Jumbo Spread
Fri, 06 Dec 2019 16:56:49 GMT
Posted To: MND NewsWireFor many years homebuyers looking for homes priced above entry level employed every device they could to keep their loan amount below whatever might be the current limit for conforming (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) loans. It might ..[read more]
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LO Jobs; Budgeting Tools; Why You Should Care About Trade and Tariffs
Fri, 06 Dec 2019 13:53:17 GMT
Posted To: Pipeline PressI hope that you didn’t lay off your compliance department earlier this year, because there’s a lot going on. For example, from out of California comes the CCPA, effective in less than four weeks on 1/1/20. Susan M..[read more]
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