FOR THE REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL

KEEP INFORMED WITH NEW BLOGS EVERY FRIDAY ON CHANGES, STATISTICS, RATES, AND MORE

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For the Real Estate Professional

This site is dedicated to informing the Real Estate Professional. I Blog each Friday, to keep you informed of upcoming changes, statistics, rates and lending news.  There is also links to program brochures on the right, as well as charts and news to keep informed.

Home loan rates flat, VA mortgage fees

In this Blog:  Home Loan mortgage rates are flat this week.  VA home loans fees that a VA borrower can pay for, eClosings comming soon and AWESOME Realtor Marketing Idea!

Rates

Mortgage Rates should end the week fairly flat, which would mean the 2nd week in a row that rates didn’t move too much.  Again, this is just a pause, as rates are still anticipated on moving towards the 5% mark for home loans and eventually towards the 6%.  Repeat after me:  A 6% Mortgage is not a bad rate!

Couple of news stories came out this week, both should have caused rates in increase, but investors are waiting for additional new before we start to see more of a sell off:

1-North Korea and the US to talk.  This is pretty huge news, as indicated in previous blogs, the N. Korean nation really could have a HUGE effect on rates.  If the US and DRKP would have gone to war or had a skirmish, traders would of fled to Bonds, thus lowering mortgage rates.  But now, we are going to have a meeting, so traders are cautious of the results, and pending results, this will directly affect Bonds, and thus Mortgage Rates.

2-Unemployment numbers, there were HUGE today, US economy added 313,000 new jobs.  But what Bond traders were really looking for is wage inflation.  And Average Hourly Earnings only came in at 0.10% increase, vs est. of 0.2%,. Month over month.  This means that wages did not go up, thus no wage inflation, which will tame overall inflation.   Year over year, we only have a 2.6% vs est. of 2.8%.

The Federal Reserve’s March Meeting is 21st, where as we will know then if they are still concern about inflation.  If they are concern about inflation, they are going to raise their Fed Funds rate, to try and cool off the economy.  Keep in mind, the Fed Funds Rate does not directly affect mortgage rates.  The Fed increased their rates to hold off inflation, and inflation is the downfall of mortgage rates.

No signs of rates falling, anytime soon home loans, like for a very long time, years….lock them

End of Face to Face Closings?

Could we start seeing home closing happen in the living room of the borrowers, while they are in their jammies?  The short answer is YEP.  The CFBP and lenders are going forward with eNotaries and Esigning all mortgage lending documents. 

What does this mean, well borrowers and sellers can now sign anytime of the day or night, from anywhere that has an internet connection.  This should speed up the process and make it more available for people.  It wil also reduce fees charged to the borrowers and sellers.

Pretty good article here:  eNotorized:  https://www.housingwire.com/articles/42275-notarize-partners-with-westcor-to-bring-fully-digital-mortgage-closings-to-16-new-states

News about VA Home Loans.

VA has recently come down on some fees that have been charged to Veterans, and clarified those fees.  First of all, a Veteran can NOT pay for a re-inspection fee on a house which is part of an escrow withold.  So say you have an appraisal on new construction, and the landscaping is not complete.  The builder will complete it when the weather is nice.  The builder/Lender does an escrow withhold for the amount of the landscaping + 1.5%.  Typically the VA Appraiser then will charge a $150 re-inspection fee.  The Seller will have to pay for the re-inspection fee from their closing or as part of the Seller Paid Closing Costs.  Per VA Pamphlet 26-7 Section 3, sub section e.

You can find more about what fees a Veteran can and cannot pay for on link here: https://www.375loan.com/loan_products/veterans_administration_home_loans/va_allowable_fees/

VA also came out and stated that if a title company charges a Notary Fee, as part of their regular fees, the Veteran can not pay for that either, even if it is bundled.  I haven’t see this too much in Idaho, but I guess it is quite common around the US.

Realtor Marketing Idea:

You are all on Facebook right, right!  Well if not, you should be.  But how do you get engagement, or people to realize what you do.  Being Friends on Facebook and telling everyone happy birthday is not benefiting you.  Or Blasting your listing over and over again will get people to start to “Hide” your postings.

How about this, put interactive posts, like a Survey, and make it FUNNY. 

You can follow the instruction here:  https://apps.facebook.com/my-surveys/?ref=aw&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzurX9YXg2QIVXVgNCh2_wgWnEAAYASAAEgKenfD_BwE

And then make a survey:  What do you think the Real Estate Market will do in the next 24 months?

A-Going to keep going Nuts.
B-Going to slow down a little.
C-Plateau so sellers won’t be so cranky
D-Tank like the Titanic.

And then see what type of responses you get, ANY response is an interaction with a potential client!

Posted by 375loan at 3/10/2018 3:01:00 AM

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