FHA News

          FHA came out this week, and pretty much said that there was a snowballs chance in Heck that the were going to reduce their upfront Mortgage Insurance and Monthly mortgage insurance anytime soon.   The feel that as long as they are owning the home, the borrower should pay mortgage insurance, even if it dips below 20%, or even 40%.  Bummer.

          They did hint, that there might be some room to negotiation a reduction over time on the MI, based on, on time payment and loan to value, but they just indicate that it is something for them to research in the future.


              

Realtor Stealing

          So if you haven’t seen it yet, pretty much went viral, some home buyers caught a Real Estate Agent stealing drugs from their cabinets.  This bring a really good questions, is a home you listed under surveillance?  Is it the responsibility of a Realtor to ask the sellers if they have hidden cameras?  Do you really care or should you?  Might be for some good Water Cooler talk at your next meeting.
Link to article here: LINK HERE
 

Mortgage Rates

          Rates were again flat this week and we have been flat or trading in a pretty narrow channel since June 4^th, and one day we are higher due to inflation concerns, as we were on Monday and Tuesday, but then Trump tweets and threatens tariffs, and rates come back down.  We are in such a narrow trading channel, now for almost 10 days, that something is going to have to give.  Traders do not like no volatility, they can’t make any money.

Some numbers that came out this week:

• Jobless Claims, holy COW, 218,000, that is an amazing number, and is concerning to the inflation hawks, because with employment going higher and higher, we are bound to see wages to start to increase, which is inflation.
• Consumer Price Index, or inflation at the consumer level, 2.9% on overall and 2.3% on core, both numbers are in line with expectations, but starting to get VERY close to the limit the Federal Reserve has set and a threshold.  Of course they could always adjust that threshold of 3.0%.

          With the market trading ins such a very narrow range, there is no gambling on rates, we have pretty good rates, considering all of the economic news, and the chances for a breakout higher is too risky.  Keep locking them.

          Also we need to keep in mind, that the Federal Reserve is now buying significantly less mortgage securities, beginning last week, but with it being a holiday week, we didn’t see much activity, I think next week we could see more results on the market due to this.

 
 
 

Facebook postings

          I get the questions all the time, where do I come up with my Facebook posts, and the answer is, through out the week if I seen a infographic or article I fees will be helpful, I save it and post it.  But some of the easiest posts come from Boise Regional Realtors, about mid month they post infographics about Ada & Canyon county, great stuff, and then you can put your own tag lines in there.

          You can also repost items, each Monday I post a infographic on Rates, which I really get a lot of positive feed back on.

          Rule of thumb for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Instagram:  Post 3x per week, but no more than 5x per week, and post something that is smart, logical and relative.  Keep in front of you clients, friends and relatives.  You are not on these 4….whoops, you are missing out and need to be!

          Also DO NOT, and I REPEAT DO NOT co brand with anyone, especially a lender or title company or home warranty company.  Yep, you heard me.  Unless you pay ½ of that cost of producing that infographic, flyer, video or shout out.  RESPA will get you.  I was even told that co-branding on an open house flyer, unless the Realtor paid me for ½ of my time to make the filer, and ½ of the paper and ink cost would violate RESPA.