The S&P Case Shiller April 2008 report of existing home sales showed record 15.3% price declines averaged across 20 major cities (see table below), with all 20 cities declining. Home prices are now down 17.8% from 2006 and close to 2004 levels. Though it wasn’t in today’s Case Shiller report, CNBC’s Diana Olick highlighted some
June 2008
FNMA/FHLMC vs. FHA GUARANTEES Fannie and Freddie don’t guarantee payments on home loans, but the FHA does. Does the FHA guarantee the servicer payments and also the payments on underlying collateral? FHA guarantees for a fee (known as MIP) to the GNMA MBS security issuer that the borrower will make their payments, but if the
Fixed and ARM rates are up about .2% over the past two weeks. Rates were actually higher as recently as last Thursday because higher consumer and producer inflation data caused bond markets to sell off, pushing yields up. But then renewed credit crunch woes started coming back into the picture. This week it’s been led
George Carlin died Sunday at 71 of heart failure. He was a comic legend who leaves a legacy of challenging our basic rights like freedom of speech (which he fought through the Supreme Court), but his model of challenging political and economic conventions through informed immaturity paved the way for satire institutions like The Onion
MORTGAGE INDUSTRY ROUNDUP For any loan agents who admit, “I didn’t realize that verified employment wasn’t the same as verified income”, please contact an underwriter. I am waiting for someone to ask something like, “Can I get a stated income second behind my reverse mortgage, and use the income from my reverse mortgage for what
The New York Times reported that Shaquille O’Neal may bail out foreclosed mortgages for residents in Florida residents. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has repeatedly called for private sector solutions to the housing foreclosure crisis, so if Shaq couldn’t be there to bail out Kobe in the NBA Finals, maybe he can reprise his Kazaam role
FHA vs CONFORMING LOAN PRICING Loan agents often have trouble explaining to clients why why pricing on FHA loans (which are often securitized in Ginnie Mae pools) is different than conforming conventional loans. Looking at the basic security marketing pricing, Ginnie Mae securities have a better price than Fannie Mae securities, given the same coupon.
The US Department of Labor’s May Producer Price Index reading Tuesday showed the prices that manufacturers and other businesses pay to create goods has risen 7.2% in the last 12 months. But since it’s commonly accepted that the US removes food and energy prices from the reading, the “core” PPI excluding these items for May
Women only able to get fresh Botox every eight months? People who once got new Bentleys yearly only upgrade every two years? Yes, things are bad in Beverly Hills, as the Daily Show’s latest economic analysis points out…
RATE HISTORY FROM 2003 TO PRESENT From one top agent, on June 13, 2003, when the 10-yr hit its low, “as I was preparing to go to Friday night horse racing at Hollywood Park in Los Angeles, the 10-year note was at 3.07% during the day. Then Monday morning it started to climb, but in
Last weekend I took my daughter hot-air ballooning for a present for her graduation from 8th grade – and because I’d always wanted to do it. Aside from getting yelled at by the pilot for dropping my gum in someone’s pool from 500 feet, we had an enjoyable time. That is, until the others found
A recently seen bumper sticker: “At least the war on the environment is going well”. MORTGAGE NEWS ROUNDUP Who is FHLMC (Freddie Mac)? Freddie, along with rival Fannie Mae (aka FNMA, Fannie), owns or guarantees more than 70% of all U.S. home mortgages. The companies were set up by Congress to increase home ownership –
Thanks to Erin for this quote from Eric Hoffer: “In times of change, the learners will inherit the earth, while the learned will find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” Everyone probably knows someone in each category, but darn, why did I put my entire 401k into WaMu stock
Fixed rates are up and ARM rates are down relative to my last Marketweek report two weeks ago. The move is about .125% in each respective direction, and jumbo ARMs in particular look good. Broad rate market trading would suggest all rates should be up, but competition among lenders is driving these pricing anomalies that
Today the New York Times published in interactive map of total income spent on gas throughout the country. There are three different US data maps: Percent of income on gas, median income, gas prices. Central regions of the country are hardest hit, more so because of lower incomes than higher gas prices — gas is
Is there anyway to sugar-coat these recent mortgage-related headlines? MORTGAGE INDUSTRY & LENDING GUIDELINE UPDATES Rates on 30-year mortgages edged up last week to the highest level since March as investors worried about inflation threats. Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.09 percent, compared with 6.08 percent the previous week. It was
Load More