How To Get Home

Sorry for being a little late on the weekly recap, but I was a little under the weather this weekend.
From Monday morning until Friday evening, mortgage rates barely moved last week. In the current environment, investors are highly sensitive to fresh economic information, but a lack of surprises last week left them with […]

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After barely moving for four days, mortgage rates jumped Friday morning after the release of the Employment report. The economy added 180K new jobs in March, far above the forecasts, and the figures for prior months were revised higher as well. The Unemployment Rate fell to 4.4%, below the consensus of 4.6%. […]

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You are going to hear a lot about MEW (mortgage equity withdrawal) in the coming months. The questions are how much if any home prices might fall and how that will impact the economy. Americans, by some accounts, have been using the equity in their homes like an ATM to finance cars, vacations, and other […]

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A combination of stronger than expected economic data and inflation warnings from the Fed pushed mortgage rates to the highest levels of the month. In a highly anticipated appearance, Fed Chief Bernanke testified before Congress on Wednesday that inflation is running higher than the Fed’s comfort level and that the Fed’s […]

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I will agree that the subprime mess is getting a significant amount of press lately. It is almost like the pre-game show before a football game, except that it looks like we are somewhere in the 1st quarter. There are a ton of interviews being done with Fed officials, mortgage lenders, and homeowners. What went […]

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Early on, MBS markets surged when the Durable Orders report came in weaker than expected. MBS markets attempted to rally again after Fed Chief Bernanke’s testimony to Congress. Later in the session, however, the momentum shifted, as investors reconsidered the implications of Bernanke’s comments, and MBS markets closed near the lows for the day. Tomorrow, […]

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Ever notice how the nightly news is pretty negative? I understand there are a lot of problems in the world and that the networks have a responsibility to report that news. I also understand that people slow down to look at car accidents. Truth is, bad news sells and bad news keeps people from changing […]

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The biggest news last week was Wednesday’s Fed policy meeting. As was universally expected, the Fed held interest rates unchanged at 5.25%. Investors, hoping to find out the influence of recent turmoil in the stock market and the subprime mortgage sector, were somewhat surprised that the accompanying statement made no explicit […]

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Stability in the stock market last week (as compared to the wild ride the week before) caused mortgage investors to return their focus to the economic data, and there were few surprises early in the week. Mortgage rates held steady through Thursday, as investors mostly remained on the sidelines ahead of […]

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Countrywide Financial is the nation’s largest mortgage lender. As of Friday, Countrywide was telling brokers to stop offering the option of no-money down.
“Please get in any deals over 95 LTV (loan-to-value) today!” Countrywide said late on Friday in an urgent e-mail to brokers. “Countrywide BC will no longer be offering any 100 LTV […]

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