Want To Know Where Rates Are Headed? Watch Inflation

August 25, 2009

Inflation Hurts Mortgage Rates There are two major reasons why rates could rise higher this week: Fed Chairman Bernanke said Friday that the near-term growth prospects “appear good”.  Comments like this draw money from bond issues to the stock market — a move that’s bad for rates. Crude oil hit a 10-month high, a potentially inflationary […]

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A Quiet Week In The Mortgage Market

August 25, 2009

Sometimes Bumpy Isn’t So Bad Mortgage markets finished the week unchanged last week but don’t let that make you think the markets were flat.  It was a bumpy five days and rates were volatile.  Remember, Good News For The Economy Is Bad News For Mortgage Rates Friday was the worst day of the week by […]

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First Time Home Buyers Are Nearly 1/3 of Market Activity

August 25, 2009

Proof In Numbers The housing market continues to surprise.  Last week, the latest good news came in the form of the monthly Existing Home Sales report. An “existing home” is a home sold by an existing owner as opposed to a developer.  It’s non-new construction property. The data on existing home sales was noteworthy for […]

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Obtaining a Mortgage May Be Getting Easier!

August 22, 2009

Statistics Don’t Lie It looks like banks are less scared of mortgage loans these days. In its quarterly survey to member banks, the Federal Reserve asked senior bank loan officers whether “prime” residential mortgage guidelines had tightened in the last 3 months. Just one-fifth of banks said guidelines tightened last quarter, a dramatically lower figure […]

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Little Time Left for $8,000 Tax Credit!

August 21, 2009

It Takes Time to Close! If you plan to use the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit program, time is running out.  The program expires November 30, 2009 and closing on a home can take up to 60 days. That leaves you 6 weeks from today to find a home and go under contract. What It […]

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This Week Mortgage Rates Will Watch Unemployment

August 3, 2009

Volatility Will Continue, Based on a Unique News This week, markets will digest a host of new data.  Rate shoppers can expect the volatility to continue. Monday afternoon, Auto and Truck Sales data is released.  We normally don’t track this report, but because of the auto industry’s role in the economy right now, strong numbers […]

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Treasury Auctions Moved Mortgage Rates Last Week

August 3, 2009

Rates Improve as Weak News Hits the Street Mortgage markets improved last week despite a series of volatile trading sessions. A combination of weaker-than-expected economic data and massive-sized Treasury auctions kept investors guessing and mortgage rates moving. Weak data nudged rates lower Treasury auctions pushed rates up By Friday, however, momentum was in favor of […]

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Watch For Good New To Translate Into Bad News for Mortgage Rates

July 15, 2009

Traders Want To Know How Banks are Doing This week, rates should be moving somewhere with traders watching 3 things. The first is these is Earnings Season reports. Big Banks JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup are reporting quarterly earnings this week.  If balance sheets look healthy and markets are encouraged by the results, […]

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A Skeptical Market Led To Lower Mortgage Rates

July 15, 2009

When Traders Are Skeptics, Mortgage Markets Win. Mortgage markets improved last week on fresh concerns about the U.S. economy. Data showed neither big strength or big weaknesses.   Since earnings season is about to start, traders decided to be defensive with their money and buried it in bonds. As a result, mortgage rates fell in mixed […]

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This Week, Smart Money is Looking at the US Dollar

July 6, 2009

The Market Matters This week, there isn’t much new data due out.  General market momentum could push rates even lower.  In general, perceived weakness in the economy will be good for mortgage rates and strength will be bad. However, there’s a wildcard. The US Dollar and Mortgage Rates This week, some of the world’s largest […]

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