Mortgage Rates
Pretty simple, rates are entrenched in this very narrow trading band, and unless something HUGE happens in the media, we are not going to see much happening. If it was up to economic news, all the economic news is AWESOME, and rates should climb, unemployment numbers are stupid low, inflation is growing at a pace consistent with the Federal Reserve guidance, and the US economy is chugging along, even with all of the Trade War stuff. What will bump rates: * Iran, watch for this news to start to grow. Conflict with Iran will cause mortgage rates to go down. * North Korea, just when you thought they are playing nice, they are not. Conflict with N. Korea will cause rates to drop. * Trade war with China, If the US and China continue to ramp up the Trade War, rates are going to stay the same and have a chance of going down. But be cautious, if the US and China settle their differences, this will cause the stock market to have a HUGE rally and rates will definitely go up. * Turkey and Italy, budget issues and their potential financial collapse will cause mortgage rate to go down. It is almost certain the Federal Reserve will raise their rate in September by at least .25. Keep in mind, that is not a 100% correlation to Mortgage Rates, just gauge. 
Floating rates right now, might see very slight improvements, but if someone can lock under a 15-day lock, rather than a 30 day lock, the borrower might see more of a credit towards closing costs.
Appraisal Re-Inspections
On the RE-21, purchase and sales agreement, I am getting quite a bit of the boxes on page 5 of 8, line 266, appraisal re-inspection fee box checked as buyer. But typically, we are doing re-inspection due to sellers not performing, i.e. repairing items or NOT repairing items, thinking the appraiser will not catch it. I would recommend that this box be checked “seller”, and 90% of the time it is the sellers reason for the re-inspection. And in some cases, the sellers are not repairing the items a 2^nd time, and we have to do a 2^nd re-inspection. In this case the buyers have to pay for 2 re-inspections, and typically re-inspections run $150.00 each. Just my non-realtor opinion.
Great news for the Self Employed
Congress is trying to Amend the Frank-Dodd rule with regards to self-employment people being qualified for homes. Right now, it is very difficult for people with self-employment income to get qualified, due to the fact that most of them try to write everything off, thus resulting a lower Adjusted Gross Income, thus not having to pay as much Income Taxes. But this is a double edge sword, lower AGI is less taxes, but also means less qualified for a home. I will follow this and keep updating. Link to article here. Now of the flip side, we do have Non-Prime loans, which allow us to use 12 months’ bank statements to qualify a self-employed borrower, rates are not as great, and require more down payment, but it is a pretty good option, link here on Non-Prime Loans: Link to Non-Prime Loans (https://www.375loan.com/loan_products/non_prime_lending/)
Permit info for building, plumbing, electrical
Lately, we have had a rash of borrowers buying existing home, where as the sellers have done remodeling work on the home, sometime properly with permits, and sometimes not properly without permits. In one of my recent cases, it was done without permits, so the seller had to go get plumbing and electrical permits. What was cool is the listing agent informed me about a web site, whereas us common folk can look up permits (THANK YOU SAM!). Here is the link, and I would definitely save it, and you can look up any existing permits and new permits: Link to State Permit Website Also, you can see if the builder you are working with really has applied for permits, see any code violations on a home you are constructing, and check to see if a builder is legit, pretty cool web site and a HUGE resource for Realtors!
2nd Look Mortgage
1ST Choice is rollout out a pretty sweet program, called the 2^nd Look. This will ensure a borrower that their lender is giving them a good deal. If you have a client, that is qualified with another lender, have them check out our 2^nd look. It takes about 10 minutes, and we will review basic information, shop the loan around to our many different lenders, and ensure that they are getting the best deal. If we can’t meet or beat the deal, I will be upfront and honest and tell them, and I will buy them lunch. But 99% of the time, especially because we don’t charge junk fees, we will be able to smoke other lenders. Check out the web site here: Link to 2nd Look Mortgage Here