From the monthly archives: November 2008

As the stock market retraced to its 1997 level, mortgage markets improved last week — but not by much.

Mortgage rates closed out the week slightly lower, but the week wasn”t without fireworks.

Calls of deflation grew louder The automakers left Washington without a bailout Citigroup”s stock price [...]

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2009 Conforming Loan Limits

On November 24, 2008 By

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) left the conforming loan limit at $417,000 for most areas, but specified higher limits in certain cities and counties.

The conforming loan limit is the maximum size of loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can purchase in 2009.

According to provisions of the Housing [...]

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Today's Rates, 2008-11-21

On November 21, 2008 By

Rate%  Points in $   Lender Fees   Total Fees  APR 5.500%  $  4,500.00  $       975.00  $         5,475.00 5.685% 5.625%  $  3,000.00  $       975.00  $         3,975.00 5.767% 5.750%  $  1,875.00  $       975.00  $         2,850.00 5.859%

Assumptions

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There’s been a staggering 10% loss in the stock market in the past two trading sessions.

For the mortgage folks, we’ve watched another battle:  the 10 Year Note and the Fannie Mae 30 Year 6.0% Coupon have taken off on different paths.   I don’t mean to get off into a rant here…

…but, it [...]

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Business television and newspapers have made deflation a hot topic this week and, since Monday, Google has tracked 13,000 mentions of it.

Deflation is a recurring cycle in which the prices of goods and services fall. Isolated to one industry or sector, falling prices is the natural result of competition.

For example, [...]

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Today's Rates, 2008-11-20

On November 20, 2008 By

Rate% Points in $ Lender Fees Total Fees APR 5.625% $ 1,875.00 $ 975.00 $ 2,850.00 5.73% 5.750% $ 1,125.00 $ 975.00 $ 2,100.00 5.84% 5.875% $ (375.00) $ 975.00 $ 600.00 5.92%

Assumptions

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It’s time for that daily post again.  It’s been volatile…but not in mortgage bonds!!!  That’s a first for 2008.  A huge word was dropped in the notes from the October Fed Meeting.

Deflation.  The last time that we heard deflation was in 2003 and it triggered an unprecedented refinance boom.  Here’s the issue:  When [...]

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When it comes to housing data, there are always two questions to consider:

How does this impact buyers? How does this impact sellers?

This is why housing data is rarely positive or negative on a universal level — one group of Americans is going to see benefit.

Today, it”s home sellers.

From the [...]

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We normally don’t make interest rate predictions, but this time we can:

The next time that mortgage rates move, it should be a significant move.  Here’s why:

Mortgage bonds have followed the 200-day moving average now for the better part of 3 weeks of trading.  What tends to happen on these ‘sideways’ movements is [...]

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If the presence of inflation causes mortgage rates to rise, then the absence of inflation should cause mortgage rates to fall. And, in most markets that”s true.

Today, it”s not.

Despite a deep, month-over-month dip in consumer prices not seen since 1947, mortgage rates are inching higher this morning.

The main reason why [...]

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