Rates Have Improved!

Interest rates have slowly improved since February 10th…here are the details:

Loan amounts of $150,000 to $729,500

30 YR fixed - 4.75 to 4.875%
15 YR fixed – 4.125% to 4.375% depending on loan size
5/1 ARM - 3.375% to 3.625% depending on loan size

Jumbo loan amounts – over $729,500

30 YR fixed - 5.625%
5/1 ARM - 4.25%

Rates are down and so are home prices…what are you waiting for?

I’m looking forward to the Oscars…who are you rooting for? Hmmm-- The Social Network, The King’s Speech, or the Black Swan to name a few?

New Year's State of the Union for the Mortgage Industry

I survived January with only a short bout with the flu. Unfortunately I’m not sure how the mortgage industry is going to survive the continuing wave of regulation from Washington. To quote my market research source, at www.TBWSratealert.com

“After the collapse of the mortgage and housing markets there is a push to make changes based on beliefs that servicers have not done their job well, and are responsible for extending the housing recovery. A long stretch, but that is what the industry has dealt with for the last three years; beat up the lenders but don’t tread on Wall Street as the fuel for the housing market disaster . Blame it on brokers, blame it on servicers, blame it on anyone and don’t let the smoke clear. We don’t really have to say it for our audience; originators didn’t make an Alt A loan or most of the junk originated unless they had an upstream market to sell it to.”

So, who is ultimately taking the fall for all this? The consumer, of course. It is much harder to qualify for a loan. Even if you are qualified! You’d better have perfect credit or you’ll be paying a lot more in interest rate for that new loan. You’d better have adequate equity, or refinancing is more difficult, and more costly in rate, if not impossible; your tax returns need to reflect adequate income, and it had better not be declining.

Your loan modification chances are next to nil, even though the erosion of your property value was completely out of your control and you’ve made all your payments in a timely fashion (almost worse!) but you can’t qualify for a normal refinance due to lack of equity.

I could go on and on…the government programs that were forced onto the banks (after paying them lots of bail-out $$) are parsed out in a very limited basis, and only those who scream loudest are heard, and oftentimes not even then.

Some surmise that only a few mega banks will survive… which doesn’t make for a better deal for the consumer. Who is the real winner in all this? The banks. They pay less, and their agents don’t need the licensing etc. the rest of us brokers/mortgage bankers do. Their profits are rising.

Enough whining today! Enjoy Superbowl. Go Black Eyed Peas!