Mortgage Rates
We have been in a pretty narrow trading with rates going back and forth between worsening and improving, we have been stuck in a 4.625 to 4.75% range now for quite a few weeks, with real no sign of a break out. And the reason for no break out is we are being squeezed by some resistance layers, or floors and ceilings in bonds.
The nice thing about this is we are able to get people floating on longer locks. The bad thing about this is what will happen when we do break out of this channel. It could be a pretty HARD break out, and unfortunately with data and economic statistics, the break out will more than likely be for the worse.
Next week is a real WHAMMY for numbers, we have lots of home sale data, the one to really watch is the Pending Home Sales. Then on inflation we have Personal Consumption Expenditures, or PCE, which is the main one that the Fed looks at. Then toward the end of the week, we will get unemployment numbers. Based on last 3 weeks of unemployment application, it is anticipated that the BLS unemployment numbers are going to be VERY hot.
Floating into the weekend, but I don’t know if I would float next week. Pending any Tweets from Trump, all of the numbers next week should point to a robust economy and higher inflation, which is bad for bonds and mortgages.
Personal Property on Real Estate Agreements
Lenders have been re-enforcing to us that Personal Property being “given” or “sold” with the home should NOT be on Real Estate Agreement. Handle this outside of the purchase agreement. And the reason why…
Personal property can be used as an enticement to purchase the home, i.e. Buy my home and I will throw in the Hot Tub. Hot Tubs, lawn mowers, non-permanent appliances, like Washer and Dryers, and the most common items that should not be on the contract.
Once the property is written into the contract, a simple addendum removing it will work. But if people do not want to remove it, a value will be given to the property, and that will be reduced from the purchase price which the lender will allow.
Handle personal property outside of a real estate contract.
Now, I here all the time: “but this lender allow for it.” And my response is the same, not all lenders follow the rules.
New Loan Products
As the market gets tighter and tighter, lender are bringing out more and more products, here are a few that have recently been released and we at 1st Choice have access to:
- 95% Jumbo Loan, with NO mortgage Insurance, up to $2.0M purchase price, yep, only requires 5% down.
- 1 to 12 Month Bank Statement Program, which allows for self employed people to provide bank statements to income qualify.
- Single Wide Manufactured Home Loan, has to be REAL property in Idaho.
- FHA and VA loans down to 500 FICO scores.
- Escrow Waivers, more and more lenders are allowing buyers to NOT have to have an escrow account for taxes and insurance, and they are waiving the fee. Now you still have to have escrow for 1st time home buyers, FHA and VA. But it is an option for people that like to pay for their escrows themselves.
Realtor Myths Debunked
Found this GREAT article from NAR that goes over some of the myths that Realtors have, it is a pretty good article and would make a GREAT social media post, link here: https://www.housingwire.com/articles/46141-here-are-5-myths-about-realtors-debunked?eid=311700059&bid=2184206
Mortgage Broker's Rule
And speaking of myths, did you know Mortgage Brokers ARE BETTER, Really! Cool video, but I have also set up a web site: http://www.375loan.com/mortgage_brokers_are_better/