Today’s headlines are filled with ‘record low’ headlines. Yes rates are stunningly low, but the “new record” is for rates from the past 3-4 business days—this from the official source Freddie Mac, which releases this data each Thursday.

GDP To so-called “final” GDP for 2ndQ2011 was adjusted upward to +1.3%. The GDP Deflator (an index of inflation weighted by how much each item contributes to GDP) was +2.5%. Final sales of domestic products was +1.6%.

You can’t pick up a newspaper without seeing news on banks. Banks own huge amounts of mortgage-backed securities (MBS), and any large refi program that would allow people with underwater homes to refinance through Fannie and Freddie would negatively impact banks’ investment performance.

Late night Originations link fest… -Will Facebook’s New Timeline Spell Disaster For Realtors (InmanNews) -Mortgage Rates For Buying Investment Property (MortgagePorter) -Tweet By Voice With New Plantronics Headset (VentureBeat) -Lots Of New NY Condo Inventory Coming (TheRealDeal) -Can Mortgage Servicing Be Saved From Itself (WSJ) -Michael Lewis Writing Liar’s Poker Movie (NetNet)

Since 2008, I’ve tracked the Fed’s quantitative easing closely because it directly impacts rate markets and my client advice daily. Today I got an inquiry from a student trying to fact check QE dates for a term paper. I gave her the dates and link below (to a timeline and rate chart), and she asked [...]

On Monday high net worth marketer April Rudin told her Twitter followers “for the epitome of coolness, follow @thebasispoint” and I responded with “Tx April! but now I’m worried: coolness is gone once found.” But she held the line with: “coolness is eternal.”

In his LinkedIn town hall meeting Monday, president Obama said this about mortgage brokers:

MBA Mortgage Applications -Purchase Index, Week/Week: +2.1% -Refinance Index, Week/Week: +11.2% -Composite Index, Week/Week: +9.3% -Refinancing activity was driven by the extremely low rates of last week. -Purchases are so small that a 2.1% bump is not that meaningful.

Brandversation™ – It’s not just talk™ … This was sent to me anonymously and definitely wins un-smart quote of the day because of its desperate attempt to sound smart. The irony is that this is ALL talk, especially when you read the full definition below. Is it just me, or does this explain nothing about [...]

Great infographic from Credit Sesame via WSJ. Interesting follow up to today’s report from S&P Case Shiller on July Home Prices. Click image for full size and writeup. WSJ has more on Credit Sesame.