Rates.
Well with all the war drumming in Asia for the last 4 weeks, investors are starting to look more and more away from there and more to economic reports.
After last week’s really bad jobs report, more reports have come out indicating that the economy may be slowing down again.
U. of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell from 78.6 to 72.3. This is a pretty significant drop, and a good key to watch. During the Great Depression #2, the sentiment dropped into the 60’s which caused consumers not to spend. Kind of a disturbing number.
Unemployment numbers came in to what was expected, still not below the 300K needed for good job growth.
FHA mortgage application fell, to be expected since they raised all of their fees to outrageous numbers.
Overall this week we saw rates once again improve nicely, with conventional once again falling into the 3.625% range, and heading towards the 3.50% range. And 3.375 is peeking it’s head out for a look!
Lots of green this week, except for Wednesday when the unemployment numbers came out.
Right now we are in a hold or float pattern for those who like to gamble with rates. Market is looking a little over bought, so I expect some correction for rates. But with continued turmoil in the Korea Peninsula, and markets jittery over the recent economic news, we could see rates continue to slide.
FHA Deadline:
Don’t forget that June 3, 2013 is the next FHA deadline, if a borrower does not have a case number after 6/3/2013, they will then keep their mortgage insurance on their loan forever, or until they refinance into a conventional loan!
With FHA now killing people with fees, more and more are looking towards conventional loans so to recap:
-95 to 97% financing.
-IHA does offer a 3% 2nd mortgage for down payment.
-No upfront MI (unlike FHA which has a 1.75% upfront fee)
-MI is lower that FHA and CAN potentially be removed after 2 years.
-Rates are slightly higher than FHA right now, but the low MI makes up the difference significantly.