I woke up this morning with the “and then…” scene from Dude Where’s My Car in my head. Word of advice: don’t try the “and then” game at home, it’s not as funny in real life. Which of course you know if you’ve gotten a mortgage in the past few years. The documentation checklists from [...]

The August refi boom continues as rates bounce around near record lows. This is happening because rates drop when bond prices rise, and investors continue to regard mortgage bonds as a safe haven from a weak U.S. economy, Europe’s debt crisis, and ironically, the U.S.’s downgrade.

Marketwatch’s top housing reporter Amy Hoak just wrote a good consumer primer on the current refinance market. I’m quoted in the story and my discussion with Amy also prompted me to write some more detailed refinancing tips last week. Here are the links:

Rates were dropping this time last year as Europe’s debt crisis and U.S. economic weakness led to a second round of quantitative easing. NY Fed president Bill Dudley confirmed QE2 in an October 1, 2010 speech, and rates hit an all-time record low October 9.

In my latest guest blog for National Mortgage Professional magazine, I wrote about how loan agents measure their own performance in four main ways: total loan volume closed, total units closed, total purchase loans closed, and total commissions earned.

Yesterday’s S&P Case Shiller May report showed home prices across 20 major U.S. metro areas were up 0.6% since April, the second straight monthly gain after seven straight months of decline. But prices are down 4.5% since last May, and prices are down 32.3% from June/July 2006 to May 2011.

I just attended a wedding where the parents of the bride are divorcing. I sat directly behind them and watched their pain as the priest hammered home the unconditional permanence of their daughter’s commitment.

Recent existing home sales reports remind us that cash buyers are on the rise. In May, 30% of existing home sales were all-cash deals, down only slightly from 31% in April, and a record 35% in March.

Rates ended last week even after heavy volatility. Tuesday, rates rose as mortgage bonds sold sharply on less bad U.S. retail sales and a 5.5% spike in Chinese inflation since May 2010. But as the week progressed, bonds rebounded and rates improved on tame U.S. core inflation and contracting U.S. manufacturing activity.