Rates
Well now that the Fed has indicated the removal of guess work out of the Bonds, we have started to see a little less volatility in the market.
So the market is really focusing on economic numbers rather than guess work on what the fed is going to do, so a few numbers that affected us:
-Pending home sales up 0.02% vs. est. of 1.0%
-Chicago PMI 59.1 vs. est. 61
-Consumer Confidence 78.1 vs. est of 76 (HUGE increase, very positive for economy, not so much for Mortgage Rates.)
-Jobless Claims 339,000 vs. est. of 334,000
It was a quite week, all the economic news was good, so YEP, rates worsened again. But just so slightly, which is nice to see, albeit a short week.
This week we have:
-ISM non manufacturing
-3 Treasury Auctions, of the government trying to sell our debt
-Wednesday ADP payroll
-And Friday, the big one, Unemployment
The big quesiton now for the bond traders is Friday’s unemployment numbers, which will lead them to speculate whether or not the Fed will reduce QE3 by another $10 Billion this month or hold.
A good BLS number will raise the opinion that the Fed will take QE3 Down another $10 billion, thus worsening rates.
Lock you rate as soon as you can.
QM or Qualified Mortgage
Well Friday ends the era of semi easy mortgages and into the Era of Qualified Mortgage. For those of you who don’t know what is happening on Monday, well it is a little late for me to train you, just put it this way: On an average 30% of the people who got mortgages in 2013, would of NOT got a mortgage come next Monday.
Also on Monday, this came out Last week:
“As a reminder, the CFPB has issued a final rule that amends the Equal Credit Opportunity Act requiring lenders to issue borrowers with copies of all appraisals and/or written valuation that are used in connection with the estimation of the property's value upon completion or three business days prior to closing. No fees may be charged for delivery or making copies. Applicants must be provided with a disclosure describing their rights to receive the relevant documents, and lenders must include a disclosure acknowledging the borrower's receipt. If the borrower waives their right to receive copies of appraisals and valuations, the Borrower Appraisal Disclosure must still be delivered in the loan file.”
If the lender does not have this, in writing, before close, it will hold up closing. Please ensure that your buyers are getting these forms!
Signing
It still amazes me to see Real Estate sign out in front of a house, with a big old picture of the Agent.
Or their Brokerage.
But nowhere on the sign is the word “For Sale”.
Selling home, like selling anything is all about Advertising.
Human Nature is all about eye catching and phrasing.
Retailers spend BILLIONS and BILLIONS of dollars on advertising.
The simple words “For Sale” is more eye catching than the name of a Brokerage, because that Brokerage typically isn’t that well known, or if it is well know, it is a HUGE national name.
So when you order your next signs, make sure you have “For Sale” typically at the top.
Also, the typical person is only going to see that sign for 3-4 seconds. Too many words or too small of words and it is going to be ignored.