Rates
Rates are WACKED! Plain and simple.
Rates this week should of once again risen, all economic new this week has pointed directly the a fully US recovery, here is some of the date:
ISM Servicing sector, i.e. what we do in the economy, 58.7 vs est. of 56.3
Factory orders up 1.1% vs est. of 0.6%
Weekly Jobless claims 298,000 vs est. of 305K
2 qtr non-farm productivity 2.5% vs est. of 1.5%
The ISM was a huge number, and jobless claims falling for the 1st time in a long time below 300K is also a huge number.
These numbers alone, should of caused rates to jump, I would expect atleast .25 of a point.
BUT…
Geo politics really, really played a role in rates this week, and based on today’s info, this probably isn’t going to end any time soon.
Last week the US and the EU slapped Russia with more sanctions over Ukraine, well this week Russia hit back, with some pretty significant sanctions of their own. Barring US chicken, but most important, hitting some of the EU nations.
This caused the German Economy to take a hit (they are the largest economy in the EU). And so goes Germany, so goes the EU. So the German Bund (Bond) dropped below 1.01%, so basically Germany is selling their government debt CHEAP.
But investors like to make money, so they are not buying the Bund, they are coming over and buying US Bonds, which today is paying 2.38% (US 10 year) and mortgage back securities.
This has pushed rates down all week, although lenders are hanging onto the gains, hedging against a quick possible rise if Russia cools off. So today I suspect rates are being kept high, but if this continues for another few days, lenders will start to have to drop rates to match.
Once again, we are still trading in that 4.00% to 4.375% range, as we have been for the last 2+ months. Depending what happens with Russia and Iraq over the weekend, we could, could see a break through into the 3’s.
Government rates, FHA, VA, RD are still entrenched in the 3.75%, because the next major drop is the 3.50, so will really take some Russian troops to enter Ukraine in order for us to drop down there…
Next week is a whole lotta government reports, most I anticipate will show the US economy humming along, but I think that most traders are now going to focus on the EU.
Sitting on a neutral stance leaning towards floating right now.
Court again punished dual agents
Lots of news regarding Realtors this week, nationally and locally.
This is a very interesting court case, and sure to cause some talk around the watercooler this week, and probably Brokers need to examine their policies.
http://bayarearealestatelawyers.com/real-estate-law/court-again-punishes-dual-agents/#.U9-invlSYt2
IMLS to support Zillow
Also this week, IMLS announced an agreement with Zillow to directly feed MLS data to Zillow, looks like there will be some reorganization for the listing agent, which is good
http://www.inman.com/2014/08/01/idahos-largest-mls-to-feed-14000-listings-to-zillow-and-trulia/
In the next year, this is going to be one major shift and fight between NAR/Zillow/MLS and Realtors, will be interesting to watch it pan out.
Lead Generator
GREAT Idea, update your web site to have a landing page that list all school supply list in a specific area, let’s say Meridian.
Then send out mailers or FB requests leading people to your landing page on your web site. Something like:
Time to move, want the Meridian School District (or what ever they are calling it) GREAT, download free school supply list and get info here!
You can get the list free from their web sites, and then get school info from the web.