Loan Amount Limits
Government came out of Monday with new loan limits for Conventional (Fannie/Freddie) loan in 2018.
Conventional loan amount for most counties in Idaho will go from $424,100 to $453,100.
For those special Counties in Idaho, like Teton & Blaine, the loan limit will increase from $639,100 to $679,650.
This is quite a big increase, and will save lots of people from having to go to a JUMBO loan product.
FHA loan limit is still at $275,665.
VA Loan limit is still at $424,100.
We will have to see if in the coming weeks, FHA and VA home mortgage limits increase as did the Conventional.
Update on Rule Changes from the CFPB
Well politics is alive and well in the Mortgage Business, the Director of the CFPB stepped down, and Trump replaced him with a guy that HATES the CFPB. Trump Budget Director Mick Mulvaney has been confirmed by a court to be the Acting Director of the CFPB. And his 1st order of business was to FREEZE any pending rules and regulations that are going to go into affect.
What is going to happen in the next 12 months is anyone’s guess, but I can tell you that Wells Fargo is cheering, among many, many other agencies.
From our standpoint, I don’t anticipate any real changes in the lending world to be affected. The CD and LE are firmly entrenched, although I do anticipate some cleaning up.
We do, however, still anticipate the new Federal 1003 Loan Application to go into affect on 1/1/2018. Which is a real PIA, 8 pages, per borrower, and asking A LOT of personal questions that HAVE TO BE divulged to the Federal Government.
More listing resources
Last month Facebook announced that it will now do Real Estate Listing in it Marketplace area. And now NextDoor Neighbor announced this week that they will also be launching Real Estate Listings in more markets, adding to their list. Currently, this this announcement, NextDoor will have 22 Major markets where people can list their homes.
How does this affect Realtors:
-All Realtors need to ensure that they have their listing in MLS, but also in Facebook and NextDoor (when it rolls out to Idaho).
-Zillow is loving this, because they can now Data Mine these services as well, thus increasing their domination into Real Estate.
-Realtor’s will need to update their web site so that their clients are searching on the Realtor’s web site, not Zillow or Facebook or Nextdoor, where they will be solicited by other agents.
-Realtors need to ensure that they are properly advertising under the rules and regulation. I was reviewing Facebook just today, and there was quite a few violations, in my opinion of course.
Mortgage Rates
It has been a WILD ROLLERCOASTER this week for rates, and up until today rates worsened most of the week.
The major news has been the Senate ability or their lack of ability to pass the Tax Reform Bill. There are currently 4 hold outs, all of them are deficit hawks, worked about adding $1.5 TRILLION to the national debt. About an hour ago, the Senate thought they had it all worked out. But then Robert Flynn pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the Russia Investigation.
This is concern, because investors are feeling that this could be the downfall of Trump, and with the 2018 Congressional elections <11 months away, the House and Senate could turn into Democratic controlled. Which mean any new bills or laws probably will not be Business Friendly.
So the Stock Market tanked yesterday and so far today, which is causing Bonds to rally, and thus mortgage interest rates to improve. But that was about an hour ago, so Lord only know what will happen in the next hour.
Things to watch:
-Senate passage of the Tax Reform Bill.
-Indictment of President Trump.
-And maybe N. Korea, maybe.
Marketing Tip of the Week:
Time to get those Christmas Cards out to your past clients
