Loan pricing improved again today. This is the first time that par 30-year fixed mortgage rates have been offered on a broad spectrum below 4.00%. Par 30 year fixed mortgage rates have fallen into the 4.00% to 4.375% range for well-qualified consumers. More lenders than ever are however willing [...]]]> Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Loan pricing improved again today. This is the first time that par 30-year fixed mortgage rates have been offered on a broad spectrum below 4.00%. Par 30 year fixed mortgage rates have fallen into the 4.00% to 4.375% range for well-qualified consumers. More lenders than ever are however willing to offer mortgage rates as low as 3.75% as long as the borrower is willing to pay points . The best par 15 year mortgage rates are in a range between 3.375% and 3.500%. 5 year ARMs are being quoted around 3.00%. Mortgage Rate Disclaimer: Loan originators will only be able to offer these rates to borrowers who have perfect credit profiles and enough equity in their home to qualify for a refinance. If the terms of your loan trigger any risk-based loan level pricing adjustments (LLPAs), your rate quote…(read more)

Legality issues surrounding the foreclosure process are a hot topic. In no way is this good news for housing. Besides adding more uncertainty to an already uber uncertain marketplace (home prices specifically), these precedings are already affecting pending transactions of new homebuyers and originators. We shared this feedback from an [...]]]> Posted To: MND NewsWire

Legality issues surrounding the foreclosure process are a hot topic. In no way is this good news for housing. Besides adding more uncertainty to an already uber uncertain marketplace (home prices specifically), these precedings are already affecting pending transactions of new homebuyers and originators. We shared this feedback from an originator who has already experienced a delay in the closing of their purchase transaction because the property was a JP Morgan Chase foreclosure… “I have a client in Florida that closed on his sale in Florida on Thursday, and was supposed to close on his purchase of a Fannie Mae owned home this Wednesday. Well, last Friday he received a notice from the title company that they have indefinitely suspended the sale, due to the previous owner & servicer being…(read more)

Lenders are going for it. 4.0 hedges were bought back yesterday and 3.5 MBS coupon supply traded. On average, loan pricing is up 26.8bps today and 96.6bps better week over week (Thursday was the worst day to lock last week). All in, consumer borrowing costs are cheaper than they’ve ever [...]]]> Posted To: MBS Commentary

Lenders are going for it. 4.0 hedges were bought back yesterday and 3.5 MBS coupon supply traded. On average, loan pricing is up 26.8bps today and 96.6bps better week over week (Thursday was the worst day to lock last week). All in, consumer borrowing costs are cheaper than they’ve ever been…3.875% par pricing is a reality. 3.5 Can it get any better than this? Sure. Not all lenders are offering 3.875% pricing yet, some desks need to catch up. If we hold at record MBS price levels, this is a possibility. But if mortgage rates are to move below 3.75%, 3.0 MBS coupons need to trade because originators can’t deliver note rates below 3.75% into 3.5% MBS coupons. We also have to remember how long it took for the market to accept 3.5s…. a long time!!! Even then 3.5s have not been the coupon of…(read more)

With the jostling in the wholesale arena, it serves a purpose to take a step back and look at the top lenders , by volume, during the first half of 2010. Obviously many are banks, and many have a wholesale channel. (My apologies for saying that Wells was the last [...]]]> Posted To: Pipeline Press

With the jostling in the wholesale arena, it serves a purpose to take a step back and look at the top lenders , by volume, during the first half of 2010. Obviously many are banks, and many have a wholesale channel. (My apologies for saying that Wells was the last big bank with wholesale – that is too subjective.) By total volume we have Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase, GMAC, CitiMortgage, U.S. Bank Home Mortgage, PHH Mortgage, SunTrust Mortgage, MetLife Home Loans, Branch Banking & Trust (BB&T), Flagstar, Quicken Loans, Provident Funding, USAA Federal Savings Bank, Franklin American Mortgage, Fifth Third Mortgage, ING Bank, PNC Mortgage/National City, AmTrust Bank, and Regions Mortgage. Remember when Wells Fargo took over Wachovia, wrote down the option ARM’s, and thought that was…(read more)

Jobless Claims data has been released. Before we go any further, this report has no bearing on the September Employment Situation Report, which will be published tomorrow morning, nor will it have much influence over the October report. More on that below… Quick Recap: Jobless Claims. -11,000 to 445,000 (better [...]]]> Posted To: MBS Commentary

Jobless Claims data has been released. Before we go any further, this report has no bearing on the September Employment Situation Report, which will be published tomorrow morning, nor will it have much influence over the October report. More on that below… Quick Recap: Jobless Claims. -11,000 to 445,000 (better than expected). Continuing Claims -48,000 to 4,462,000 (worse than expected). Extended Benefits +98, 806. Emergency Benefits +157, 735 08:30 07Oct10 RTRS-US JOBLESS CLAIMS FELL TO 445,000 OCT 2 WEEK (CONSENSUS 455,000) FROM 456,000 PRIOR WEEK (PREVIOUS 453,000) 08:30 07Oct10 RTRS-US JOBLESS CLAIMS 4-WK AVG FELL TO 455,750 OCT 2 WEEK FROM 458,750 PRIOR WEEK (PREVIOUS 458,000) 08:30 07Oct10 RTRS-US CONTINUED CLAIMS FELL TO 4.462 MLN (CON. 4.450 MLN) SEPT 25 WEEK FROM 4.510 MLN PRIOR…(read more)

Benchmark interest rates are marginally higher and equity futures are mixed following an awful report Wednesday on private employment from Automatic Data Processing. S&P 500 futures are up 1.00 point to 1,156.25 but Dow futures are 18 points lower at 10,888. The 10 year Treasury note is -0-05 at 101-28 [...]]]> Posted To: MBS Commentary

Benchmark interest rates are marginally higher and equity futures are mixed following an awful report Wednesday on private employment from Automatic Data Processing. S&P 500 futures are up 1.00 point to 1,156.25 but Dow futures are 18 points lower at 10,888. The 10 year Treasury note is -0-05 at 101-28 yielding 2.41%. The 2s/10s curve is 3bps steeper at 204bps. The November FNCL 4.0 is +0-02 at 103-04 Light crude oil is 0.52% higher at $83.23 per barrel, and gold prices are up 0.63% at $1,347.70 per ounce. The ADP report suggested the economy lost 39k private jobs last month, against expectations for 10k jobs growth. Key Events Today: 8:30 ― Initial Jobless Claims are anticipated to fall by 3k to 450k in the week ending Oct. 2, after the prior week saw claims decline 16k. The expected drop…(read more)

Fed Policy: CLEARLY ON EVERYONE’S MIND. Including mortgage rate watchers…. From MND Mortgage Rate Watch… POTENTIAL ALERT: Mortgage rates are back at record lows because investors are anticipating the announcement of another Federal Reserve Quantitative Easing program sometime before January. Many believe this program will be concentrated on Fed purchases [...]]]> Posted To: MBS Commentary

Fed Policy: CLEARLY ON EVERYONE’S MIND. Including mortgage rate watchers…. From MND Mortgage Rate Watch… POTENTIAL ALERT: Mortgage rates are back at record lows because investors are anticipating the announcement of another Federal Reserve Quantitative Easing program sometime before January. Many believe this program will be concentrated on Fed purchases of Treasury debt or some other AAA asset. If this strategy were to be employed, it would be highly supportive of a low mortgage rate environment. However, one of the main motivations for another QE program is the notion that inflation is below the Fed’s target. There is growing concern that the U.S. is already being sucked into a deflationary spiral, similar to Japan’s economy which has floundered for the last 20 years for a few similar…(read more)

If you missed the boat last week when this happened, you are getting another chance today. This has happened three times since August 31 and everytime it happened, it never lasted longer than 48 hours… RECORD LOW MORTGAGE RATES ARE BACK ON THE BOARD The best 30 year fixed [...]]]> Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

If you missed the boat last week when this happened, you are getting another chance today. This has happened three times since August 31 and everytime it happened, it never lasted longer than 48 hours… RECORD LOW MORTGAGE RATES ARE BACK ON THE BOARD The best 30 year fixed mortgage rates have fallen into the 4.125% to 4.375% range for well-qualified consumers. Some lenders will even go as low as 3.875% if the borrower is willing to pay points. The best par 15 year mortgage rates are in a range between 3.500% and 3.875%. 5 year ARMs are being quote near 3.00% at a few lenders. Mortgage Rate Disclaimer: Loan originators will only be able to offer these rates to borrowers who have perfect credit profiles and enough equity in their home to qualify for a refinance. If the terms of your loan trigger…(read more)

Spurred on by a weak preview of official labor market data to come, the bond market upped the anti on quantitative easing this morning when the 10 year note broke 2.40% resistance and “rate sheet influential” MBS coupons moved outside the confines of our lock/float range. This implies QEII hasn’t [...]]]> Posted To: MBS Commentary

Spurred on by a weak preview of official labor market data to come, the bond market upped the anti on quantitative easing this morning when the 10 year note broke 2.40% resistance and “rate sheet influential” MBS coupons moved outside the confines of our lock/float range. This implies QEII hasn’t been totally baked into bond valuations and rates could go lower. The long end of the yield curve is leading the rates rally. The 2s/10s curve is 8bps flatter at 199bps and the 2s/30s curve is 8bps flatter at 326bps. This doesn’t mean TSYs aren’t rallying across the curve though. New record low yields were hit by 2s, 5s, and 7s. The 10 year note is currently +29/32 at 102-07+ yielding 2.369%. At one point 10s were up over a full point at 102-11 yielding 2.359%. If QEII is to send yields lower via TSY…(read more)

I remember clearly, 40 years ago, sitting in the auditorium on the University of North Carolina Law School, listening to the dean tell all the eager young “lawyers to be” to look to either side and remember the face because by year end there was a good chance that [...]]]> Posted To: Voice of Housing

I remember clearly, 40 years ago, sitting in the auditorium on the University of North Carolina Law School, listening to the dean tell all the eager young “lawyers to be” to look to either side and remember the face because by year end there was a good chance that person would no longer be enrolled in school. Sure enough over one third of our first year class dropped out or was academically unqualified to return. Today I feel like I am reliving that event. In just three short weeks mortgage bankers from across the nation will gather in Atlanta for a convention, the 97th. How many will be returning for the 100th convention in 2013? Look around remember the faces you see in Atlanta, most likely over one third will not be there and very possibly as many as half! Why? Well the rules…(read more)