Rates
Rates were ticking up just a little this week, being cautious about the US economy, and with nothing coming out of EU and Russia, traders were placing their money into the stock market.
This week we also saw that the Federal Reserve will no longer be buying Mortgage Back Securities, i.e. QE3.
This means that mortgage rates are finally, after 5 years, not being manipulated by the Federal Government. Over the last 5 years, the Federal Reserve has purchase over $4 TRILLION, yes that is TRILLION in bonds, with a little less than ½ being mortgage bonds.
This has caused interest rates to drop to their lowest levels EVERY, which has seemed to prevent the utter collapse of the US Economy. But it has also manipulated the US Dollar.
So now Bonds are truly focused on economic news, it is anticipated that with the removal of QE3, that interest rates will now trend up to where they should be….repeat after me
6% is not a bad rate
6% is not a bad rate
Now this is going to also depend upon economic news coming out of the US and other 1st world countries such as the European Union and China. We saw last month that Germany could be falling into a recession, which is spooking investors.
There is some call that if the US economy shows some slowdown that the Fed will step in once again for a QE4, but the question is can they? without creating a whole new Bond Bubble???
Some numbers this week:
-Existing home sales 0.3% vs est of 0.5%, yes we are seeing a slowdown.
-Durable Goods -0.2% vs est. of 0.5%, interesting number
-Consumer Confidence 94.5 vs est. of 87, a very WOW number, not good for rates, but some believe it is due mainly to gas prices.
-3rd QTR GDP 3.5% vs est of 3.0%, HUGE number, but a preliminary number, likely to change, but this is worrisome for interest rates.
-Chicago PMI, 66.2 vs. est of 60.0 (50 is par), another number this week that doesn’t bode well for interest rates.
-Consumer Sentiment 86.9 vs est. of 86.4, another number not good for rates.
So based on what we are seeing with all of the really good US economic numbers, I am in a lock zone. Next 30 days will be VERY interesting with the Fed no longer buying bonds and keeping rates down.
Last week’s blog
If you didn’t get a chance to read last week’s Blog, I would HIGHLY recommend you review it, some GREAT information in there.
Link HERE: http://www.375loan.com/blog/e_665/Keeping_the_Real_Estate_industry_informed_/2014/10/Rates_up_a_little__Lots_of_changes_from_Fannie__GSE__FHA_flipping__Mortgage_Relief_act__web_site_and_same_sex_in_idaho.htm
Lead Generating
I am going to hit on email signatures again; it seems that lots and lots of people are not utilizing this simple item to generate leads.
So 1st of all, you should have a email signature when you send out and email AND when you respond to an email.
Next, the signature should have the basic information, in a font that is readable.
Name
Title
Cell Phone
Email Address
Web Site
Then from there you should also have:
Tag line, think of something you want people to stick in their minds.
Link to Blog, don’t have one, get one
Link to your Social Media
And then you need to have a Call To Action!
(and yes I am slacking in this area, but will be changing)
So you can offer a FREE Real Estate Market Analysis! Call TODAY!
Not too techie on making an signature line, GOOGLE IT!
I did find one site that looks promising: http://htmlsig.com/
Email addresses
Now to boot, lots of people are using personal email address for business. Not a great idea, as easy as it is to get a new email address, everyone should have a business email.
Now with that being said, I use my business email for personal, which means each time I send an email to a friend, relative or church person, they get my signature line with all my info. Call it Ad Placement!