Rates
Well another week and more volatility, but not what we want to hear, well kind of good, but not good.
All the economic news this week was not good and even some of it was bad. Causing mortgage rates to rebound and improve, almost all week.
Let’s look at the numbers:
-Personal income +0.4% vs est. of 0.3%, good for economy bad for mortgage rates.
-February Pending home sales + 3.1% vs est. of 0.4%, but not much is look upon this report because as we all know, sales fall through.
-Chicago PMI, 46.3 vs est. of 52.0, this was the 2nd month in a row that this report was below 50, and below 50 means contraction of economy according to Purchase Managers.
-Consumer confidence 101.3 vs est. of 96.4, this is also on a 50 scale, and this was a Very high reading, rates would of skyrocketed up this week if it was just based on this report.
-ADP private payroll 189,000 vs est. of 225,000, HUGE miss.
-March ISM manufacturing 51.5 vs est. of 52.9, lower, not good for economy.
-Non Farm payroll 126,000 vs est. of 245,000 AND last 3 months were revised down by 69,000 jobs. Major upset in employment numbers.
Traders are now starting to get more and more worried about the economy and whether it can sustain this growth.
These negative number caused stocks to fall again this week and bonds to rally, so mortgage rates improved 4 of the 5 days this week.
But let’s not forget about Greece, from what is being reported in the media, Greece will run out of money on April 9th, and they have 2 interest payment on bail out loans coming due at the end of the month. OUCH!
So based on this information I am in a floating mode, next week we have ISM non-manufacturing, and import prices and Fed Minutes released, not a huge week for information, but not expecting too much volatility.
Gamblers could be rewarded with .125 improvement in rates, that is could….
Electronic Signature
Couple of points of info, more and more of my lenders are accepting more and more documents eSigned. And I have 1 lender that is now all eSign except for one Social Security form! This is great, no more killing someone’s hand sign a huge stack of paperwork.
And we should see more and more lenders hopping on the Closing Documents eSigning also.
Now the kicker, all eSign documents need to have documentation and Certificate attached to them, which isn’t a big deal, most eSign software has this.
Now on to the 2nd story….
As a Realtor, what is your company policy for acquiring eSign documents. Don’t have one, prepared to be sued!
If you utilize eSigning documents for purchase/sales agreements, you need to have a company policy with regards to eSigning, AND more important, you need to have eSign Certificate available.
Right now lenders are requiring us to provide all eSign Certificate for any loan document signed. And I would suspect we will also be asking the Realtors for eSign Certificates for Purchase contracts as well.
Lead Generator: Reverse Mortgage
Is a reverse mortgage in your tool bag for helping people purchase homes.
Recent law changes have made Reverse Mortgage quite a bit less slimy, and have added significant protections for the borrowers.
Just think, having a clients who sells their home for $200,000 net. They could purchase a $200,000 again and have no payment. Say they are going from a large 2 story home to a single story home.
OR
They could Purchase a $200,000, put $100,000 down, do a Reverse Mortgage for Purchase, and still have no monthly mortgage payment AND have $100,000 in their pocket to do what ever with!
Check out my Reverse Mortgage web site, lots of information there including brochures and calculators with current RM interest rates.
http://www.375loan.com/reverse_mortgage/
And yes, creating a Lunch and Learn!