MBS RECAP: How'd We Get Here and Where Are We Going?

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MBS Commentary

Pre-announced bond buying programs are really quite something. They have all ended up being well-telegraphed enough to allow investors to do their own bond buying well before the program starts, driving rates lower preemptively. This was the case throughout 2014 and even more so at the beginning of 2015 (when it became abundantly clear that Europe was set for QE. Once Europe finally started buying bonds, there was no more front-running left to be done, and rates paradoxically moved swiftly higher. To paraphrase all that: The European Central Bank (ECB) said it was going to buy bonds. Other investors bought bonds based on that expectation, pushing European rates to all-time lows in the process (which helped US interest rates get back near all-time lows). Once the ECB began buying, rates finally...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/549129.aspx

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October sees Seasonal Uptick in Distressed Home Sales Share

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

Sales of distressed properties made up 10.2 percent of total home sales in October CoreLogic said on Tuesday. The October number represented a slight seasonal increase of 0.2 percent from September but was two full percentage points lower than in October 2014. Sales of lender owned real estate ( REO ) constituted 6.9 percent of sales compared to an 8.5 percent share a year earlier and was the lowest for any October since 2007. Short sales made up 3.3 percent of sales for the month. Short sales have maintained a share within the 3 to 4 percent range since mid-2014. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Distressed sales hit a peak share of 32.4 percent in January 2009 with REO alone having a 27.9 percent share. The declining market share of REOs and short sales has contributed to the...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12292015_corelogic_distressed_sales.asp

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Mortgage Rates Sideways at Long-Term Highs

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates managed to hold steady today after moving up to the highest levels in more than 5 months yesterday. Rates had moved close to current levels even before the Fed rate hike earlier this month. Since then, they've been sideways overall, with a good balance between better and worse days. Yesterday's move higher finally upset that balance. For the first time since late November, rates are starting to look more predisposed to moving higher . There is a major caveat though. Mortgage rates are driven by the prices of mortgage-backed-securities (MBS), which are part of the broader bond market. Given the fact that bond markets often experience serendipitous volatility at the end of the year, we could take any end-of-year move with a grain of salt. That doesn't mean rates will necessarily...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/548721.aspx

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Mortgage Rates Edge Up to 5-Month Highs

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates moved slightly highe r today. While it wasn't a big move in the grand scheme of things, rates were already fairly close to their highest levels since early July . For most lenders, that means conventional 30yr fixed rates in the 4.125-4.25% range for top tier scenarios. The day began decently enough, with underlying bond markets mostly holding their ground--especially the mortgage-backed-securities (MBS) that dictate mortgage rates. The first rate sheets of the day were actually in line with--or slightly better than--yesterday's latest rate sheets. As the day progressed, MBS were eventually pulled down by significant weakness in the Treasury market, resulting in mid-day 'reprices' from most lenders. While this move higher could merely be an incidental byproduct of the year-end...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/548401.aspx

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MBS RECAP: Mortgages Outperform but Dragged Down by Treasuries

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Posted To: MBS Commentary

Treasuries were significantly weaker today as oil, Europe, and equities all bounced higher. The move was led by a reversal in European bond markets in the morning and by a weak 5yr Treasury auction in the afternoon. In fact, until the auction, bonds simply looked to be giving back yesterday's Europe-inspired gains. The fallout from the auction was good for another 3-4 bps of weakness in 10yr yields. MBS held their ground admirably, but more so in the morning hours. Before the auction, Fannie 3.5s and 3.0s had managed to hold inside yesterday's range (Treasuries were already well beyond theirs). All bets were off after the auction. Treasury yields moved sharply higher and MBS couldn't help but be dragged down. For what it's worth, volume remained "holiday light," with...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/548407.aspx

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Signs of a potential Foreclosure Scam

Since Pre-foreclosure is a matter of public record and there are plenty of people looking to take advantage of these situations, here are some signs you might be involved in a scam. Asking you to pay large sums upfront, guarantee to stop the foreclosure, proposed buyer is an LLC, told not to contact the lender are all signs of fraudulent activity. Contact AZ Home Help at http://goo.gl/oA17Zf if you are struggling to make your mortgage payments, we might be able to help. http://goo.gl/JF7HrY 

Signs of a potential Foreclosure Scam

Since Pre-foreclosure is a matter of public record and there are plenty of people looking to take advantage of these situations, here are some signs you might be involved in a scam. Asking you to pay large sums upfront, guarantee to stop the foreclosure, proposed buyer is an LLC, told not to contact the lender are all signs of fraudulent activity. Contact AZ Home Help at http://goo.gl/oA17Zf if you are struggling to make your mortgage payments, we might be able to help. http://goo.gl/JF7HrY 

TRID Causing Noticeable Delays -Ellie Mae

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

The new RESPA-TILA Know Before You Owe regulations, commonly called TRIID, was cited as a probable reason for a three day increase in the average time it took to close a mortgage loan in November compared to October. Ellie Mae said the average application-to-closing time of 49 days was the longest time to close a loan since February 2013 . Conventional and FHA loans each took 49 days while VA loans took an average of 50. Ellie Mae's Origination Insight Report also showed the average FICO score on loans originated in November was 721, a decrease of 1 point from October and the sixth month the average score has declined. Average FICO scores for all loans has dropped 10 points since January. Ellie Mae said the driver of the November reduction appears to be a decline, for the second month in a...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12282015_ellie_mae_loan_metrics.asp

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Mortgage Rates Flat to Slightly Lower

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates were sideways to slightly lower today as underlying bond markets continue to operate in holiday mode. While that can occasionally result in inexplicable volatility, market participants are generally trying not to rock the boat heading into the end of the year. That mission was accomplished today as bond markets stayed well within the confines of last week's range. The average rate sheet was almost imperceptibly stronger than last Thursday's, but in many cases, not enough to result in a noticeable improvement to quoted rates and fees. In fact, any lender who improved today only did so in the form of microscopically lower closing costs (as opposed to a change in the interest rate itself). The most prevalent conventional 30yr fixed quotes have been in the 4.0-4.25% range with a...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/548097.aspx

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Purchase, Refi Apps Both up Ahead of Holiday Season

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

There was, as expected only a minimal immediate impact on either mortgage rates or mortgage application volume in the few days following the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC's) long anticipated action hiking the fed fund rate. Rates were up slightly for fixed rate products but applications for both purchases and refinanced increased from the previous week. The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) Market Composite Index, a measure of application volume, rose 7.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended December 18 compared to the volume during the week ended December 11. On an unadjusted basis the index rose 7.0 percent. There were gains for both refinancing and purchase applications with the former rising 11 percent and the latter up 4 percent from the previous week...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12232015_application_volume.asp

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MBS Day Ahead: Early Close and Big Picture Considerations

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MBS Commentary

It's hard to look at the ultra long term correlation between Fed Funds and mortgage rates and NOT be concerned about rates moving higher in 2016. After all, this is the reason that everyone with a keyboard and a twinkle in their eye has seen fit to proclaim the inevitably higher rates in 2016. Sure, they proclaimed it would happen in 2015, but now their contention is that things just got started a bit later than they expected. But hey! They could be right this time. In my mind, the more interesting question is what does the end of 2016 look like? Bill McBride at Calculated Risk has done a great job of pointing out the absence of near term recession risks (despite a bit of a surge in recession speculation in some news clips and websites). I quite agree that nothing looks recessionary in...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/546150.aspx

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MI Still Deductible; Inclinations With Home Builders; Trends in Capital Markets

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Pipeline Press

As much of the nation reels from storms and their damage, and lenders review their disaster policies, there is one thing we don't have to worry about: changes in the status on MI tax deductibility. There were none, but as always borrowers should talk with their tax advisors regarding eligibility. The President signed a bill to renew the tax deductibility of mortgage insurance for those qualified. The deductibility can count towards refinance and purchase transactions that closed after December 31, 2014. MI premiums paid or accrued after December 31, 2014 through December 31, 2016 may qualify for tax deductibility. For borrowers with an adjusted gross income below $100,000 may deduct 100% of their MI premiums, for borrowers with adjusted gross incomes from $100,000.01 to $110,00, deductions...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/12242015-home-builders.aspx

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Marketplace Lenders - the Future or a Flash-in-the-Pan?

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Freddie Mac's Office of the Chief Economist takes an intensive look at marketplace lending in the December issue of its Insights and Outlook . A marketplace lender (ML) is a non-bank intermediary that provides one or more types of consumer loans, usually on line. Some but not all rely on peer to peer lending (shorthanded as P2P lending by Freddie Mac) and some concentrate on niches such as debt consolidation loans or small business lending. Some of the more well-known examples are Prosper, a peer to peer lender, and Lending Club, the first ML to announce an initial public stock offering. The borrowers served by MLs often have limited credit histories that make it difficult to tap into traditional lending sources and most loans are unsecured. However some MLs are now doing auto loans and some...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12232015_lending_models.asp

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Beware Today's Mortgage Rate Articles

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Almost any article you see today on mortgage rates will say the same thing: "rates are roughly unchanged from last week." Almost every article would be wrong , or at the very least, misleading. It is, by no means, the intention of those articles to mislead you, it's the unfortunate byproduct of the methodology behind the industry's most prevalent weekly mortgage rate tally. Freddie Mac puts out a report on Thursdays that compares this week's rates versus the previous week. The survey period runs from Monday through Wednesday. Most of the responses come in on the first two days, meaning the data is heavily skewed toward whatever rates were on those days. Problems arise when big changes happen on the last 3 days of the week--ESPECIALLY if Monday and Tuesday were also outliers in the previous...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/546366.aspx

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Highest Mortgage Rates Since July

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates moved up for the second consecutive day, but in an uncommon way. Mortgage-backed-securities (MBS) are the financial instruments that mortgages ultimately 'become' when they're grouped together with other mortgages and sold to investors. While the MBS market can be a complex thing to understand and explain, here's a simple fact: when MBS prices rise, rates fall, and vice versa. Bigger moves in MBS result in bigger moves for mortgage rates. With all that in mind, today's move in MBS was fairly small--the sort of move that would normally result in an almost imperceptible increase in rates. It's somewhat surprising, then, to see that rates moved higher fairly abruptly. In fact, today's average rate quote is as bad as it's been since July! What's up with that?! First of all, keep...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/545923.aspx

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November New Home Gain Overshadowed by October Revision

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

Newly constructed single-family homes continued to sell well in November however October's earlier robust report was scaled down dramatically . The Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that new homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 490,000 in November an increase of 4.3 percent compared to October and 9.1 percent above the rate in November 2014. October's sales numbers were downgraded from the 498,500 units originally reported to 470,000 turning a 10.7 increase over September into a more modest 6.3 percent gain. The November number was solidly within the range of 479,000 to 531,000 units predicted by analysts but fell below the consensus of 505,000. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis there were an estimated 34,000 homes sold during the month...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12232015_new_home_sales.asp

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MBS RECAP: Fairly Big Selling, But Irrelevant to Bigger Picture

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MBS Commentary

Super light volume and participation Data was overlooked (on-target GDP and weaker Existing Sales) Oil and European yields pushed US rates a bit higher US rates keep returning to narrow range centered on 2.22% 10yr yields Today's weakness simply corrects 2 days spent in stronger territory GDP was in line with the median forecast and the Existing Home Sales report was significantly weaker than forecast. On balance, that suggests bond market strength, but bonds sold off today. So right off the bat, we know we don't need to talk about market movement in the context of the data. From there, let's just skip to the conclusion: there really IS NO CONCLUSION to be drawn from market movement when trading is as light as it was today (one of the 5 lightest days of the year, INCLUDING half...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/545591.aspx

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TRID Hits Consumers and Industry; Wells and Chase Discuss Common Defects

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Pipeline Press

Yesterday I posted some USDA rural housing updates , and received a couple notes from astute readers on a couple errors. The upfront guarantee fee is not 2%, as was reported in a mortgage publication. The fee is currently 2.75%. And the same article reported that, regarding the maximum legal note rate, one can round the USDA fee up to the highest quarter. Currently, the USDA fee is allowed to be rounded up to the nearest quarter of one percent. If a lender locks the loan above the maximum legal note rate the loan is not eligible to be insured. Here is guidance from the USDA 3555 Handbook: "The lender and the borrower are free to negotiate any mutually acceptable fixed interest rate, as long as it does not exceed the interest rate cap established by the Agency. This cap is 100 basis points ...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/12222015-trid-defects.aspx

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Mortgage Rates Modestly Lower

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates continued a trend of small, steady improvements into the new week today. This marks the 4th straight day of a winning streak that began last Wednesday when the Fed announced its much-anticipated rate hike. If the notion of a Fed rate hike followed by falling mortgage rates doesn't make sense, don't worry. The Fed rate hike has drawn out lots of analysis on the implications for other interest rates, and much of it is missing two critical points. First , mortgage rates are not directly connected to the Fed Funds Rate. In fact, we've even seen them move in the opposite direction for months in the past. That doesn't mean rates went lower every day. There was plenty of variability day-to-day, but at the end of one particular 4 month period, mortgage rates had moved 0.5% lower while...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/545177.aspx

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Some States Still Near 50 Percent Cash Sales

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

Cash sales rose incrementally in September while continuing to diminish as a share of all sales on a year-over-year basis. CoreLogic, in it's monthly sales report, said that all cash transactions made up 32.5 percent of sales during the month, up 0.2 percentage points compared to August. According to the report, cash sales share typically increases on a monthly basis in September due to seasonality in the housing market. The cash share was down 3.4 percentage points from September 2014 when it was 35.9 percent. The cash sales share peaked in January 2011 when cash transactions accounted for 46.6 percent of total home sales nationally. Prior to the housing crisis, the cash sales share of total home sales averaged approximately 25 percent. If the cash sales share continues to fall at the same...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12212015_corelogic_cash_sales.asp

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Are there requirements to a Short Sale?

Many lenders won't consider a short sale offer unless there are signs of imminent foreclosure that they too would like to avoid. As the homeowner have you missed payments, had your lender arrange a repayment plan, mortgage modification fail? These are all things a lender looks at before accepting short sale. To learn more if you qualify for a short sale call AZ Home Help at 480-241-4406. http://goo.gl/TDOoX1

Are there requirements to a Short Sale?

Many lenders won't consider a short sale offer unless there are signs of imminent foreclosure that they too would like to avoid. As the homeowner have you missed payments, had your lender arrange a repayment plan, mortgage modification fail? These are all things a lender looks at before accepting short sale. To learn more if you qualify for a short sale call AZ Home Help at 480-241-4406. http://goo.gl/TDOoX1

TRID Bedeviling Primary and Secondary Markets, Impacting Consumers

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Pipeline Press

What are lenders talking about? Besides the CEO of Wells Fargo saying in a recent speech that he sees, "the wealth and investment management business as the biggest growth opportunity for the bank," pointing out, for the most part, that is one advantage that banks have over mortgage banks, the talk is about TRID and the CFPB . Lots more below! Remember when it was called RESPA-TILA? And it was swept up into the "Know Before You Owe" initiative - a well-intentioned move by the CFPB. And then TILA-RESPA so we could call it "TRID"? And then when the CFPB delayed it for two months because most lenders & vendors said they weren't ready, and even the ones that claimed they were ready really weren't? We are two and a half months into it and the CFPB is finding out that it is tough to change a...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/12172015-trid-problems.aspx

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Should We Reevaluate The Ideal of Homeownership?

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Should national housing policy move beyond its traditional emphasis on homeownership to focus more broadly on "shelter?" Faith Schwartz, CoreLogic Senior Vice President, presents that alternative in the current issue of The Market Pulse. She points to recent data from several sources to suggest that such a change could be necessary. The level of homeownership has been a concern for several years as it has drifted down from its 2006 peak of nearly 70 percent to a current level of 63.6 percent, a 40 year low. Now the National Association of Realtors (NAR) says that the share of first-time homebuyers is at 32 percent, a near 30-year low and the third consecutive year it has declined. Recent gains in home sales have come from repeat buyers , those with dual incomes according to NAR's senior economist...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12182015_housing_policy.asp

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Mortgage Rates Slightly Lower Ahead of Holiday Week

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates maintained their paradoxical descent following this week's Fed rate hike. The paradox can be accounted-for in several ways, but the easiest is to say that bond markets (which dictate mortgage rates) were erring on the side of caution leading up to the Fed announcement. Even though the hike was a given, the trading environment following the hike was not. Bonds were prepared for that environment to be more difficult than it has proven to be, and thus rates have managed to come back down to some extent. The movement over the past 3 days is far from extreme. Most lenders continue quoting conventional 30yr fixed rates in a range from 4.0 to 4.125% with the improvements seen in the form of slightly lower closing costs. Next Friday is Christmas and bond markets will be closed for the...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/544229.aspx

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1099 vs. W-2 for MLO comp - Which Won't Land You in Hot Water?

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Pipeline Press

Few people grow up wanting to be an LO or a capital markets gal. But plenty grow up wanting to be astronauts. Ever wondered what an astronaut earns, and what the job description looks like? Here you go: MajorTom - thanks to Carol K. who sent that along and pointed out that "this is a drug-testing designated position." (Keeping with the space theme, Dr. Matt Lind suggests that Quicken Loans' employees are having a "blast" with the Rocket Loan.) "Rob - what is the CFPB's stance on loan originator compensation and whether it can be via 1099 or W-2? Recently, I have noticed a surge in advertising by mortgage brokers promising to pay mortgage loan originators via 1099 instead of W-2, and some LOs leaving lenders to go to work for brokers believing they can be "1099'ed" (rather than W-2) allowing...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/12182015-1099-versus-w-2.aspx

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Mortgage Rates Continue Lower Following Fed Hike

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates continued modestly lower today as financial markets continue sorting out their reaction to yesterday's Fed rate hike. As a reminder, the Fed Funds Target Rate (the thing that got hiked) is not directly connected to mortgage rates, and a hike was never a guarantee of impending doom. The past two days have demonstrated that, but they have not necessarily given us the green light to expect more improvements. As it stands, mortgage rates are still in the middle of their recent range--still waiting on the first forceful move higher or lower in more than month. It's as if rates leveled off in anticipation of the Fed Announcement, but aren't quite sure how to react. The real reason for this phenomenon is the fact that the Fed made sure to painstakingly telegraph yesterday's move and...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/543661.aspx

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Fannie Mae Survey Points to Credit Easing

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Fannie Mae said Thursday there are indications that easing lending standards may help mitigate some of the loss of housing affordability moving into the New Year. The company questioned a sample of lenders about trends in underwriting as part of its fourth quarter Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey . The survey, conducted last month shows that more lenders reported they expected to ease rather than tighten credit standards for GSE-eligible and government loans over the next three months. Sixteen percent expect to loosen standards for GSE loans compared to 11 percent in the third quarter while only 2 percent expect standards to tighten. Expectations for easing of government guaranteed loans rose from 8 percent to 12 percent. The percentage of lenders who reported that standards had actually eased...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12172015_fannie_mae_lender_sentiment.asp

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MBS RECAP: Just Another Day For Bond Markets

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MBS Commentary

MBS traded less than a 3/8ths point range to end down an eighth of a point (Fannie 3.5) and 10yr yields traded an 8 bp range to end LESS THAN ONE BASIS POINT HIGHER on the day. This could have been any random day in the history of bond markets. Instead, it makes history as the day where the biggest shift in monetary policy was enacted to the smallest possible fanfare. As expected, the Fed raised it's target rate by a quarter point. Everyone knew they would and I haven't been shy about reminding you. What everyone didn't know was how the rest of the Fed's communications would read and how markets would react. It turns out the Fed wasn't keen to do anything surprising. As we might have gleaned from recent communications, the committee generally sees policy rates moving higher...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/543381.aspx

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Refinancing still Dominates Application Volume

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Refinancing remained strong relative to purchase mortgage activity during the week ended December 11 while application activity overall slipped. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage applications volume, dipped by 1.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis and was down 2.0 percent when unadjusted. The share of mortgage applications intended for refinancing moved above 60 percent for the first time since early October probably due more to a decrease in purchase activity than the small gain for refinancing itself. It moved to a 60.7 percent share from 58.7 the previous week and the Refinancing index was up 1 percent. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index fell 3 percent from the week ended December 4 and the unadjusted Purchase Index lost...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12162015_application_volume.asp

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A Real Conversation About The Fed and Mortgage Rates

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates jumped again today, moving to the highest levels more than a month ahead of tomorrow's hotly anticipated Fed Announcement. Many lenders are now back up to quoting 4.125% on conventional 30yr fixed scenarios, though quite a few remain at 4.0%. As I look out over the landscape of media coverage on "how the Fed rate hike will affect mortgage rates," I'm shocked out how frequently pundits seem to be getting this wrong. So let's get a few things straight--just the facts. First of all, I haven't seen anyone make a differentiation between Fed policy in general and the rate hike specifically. Reason being: elsewhere in the Fed's current policy framework, they are choosing to maintain reinvestments from their MBS (mortgage-backed-securities) proceeds. In other words, all the income they...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/542772.aspx

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Why do banks accept Short Sales?

The Banks have realized that pushing a home into foreclosure and taking possession of the property is not the best option for them. They acquire a "Non-performing asset" that studies show banks lose 20-30% more than accepting a Short Sale offer. If you are interested in Short Selling your Arizona home call our specialists today at 480-241-4406. http://goo.gl/mke9F

Why do banks accept Short Sales?

The Banks have realized that pushing a home into foreclosure and taking possession of the property is not the best option for them. They acquire a "Non-performing asset" that studies show banks lose 20-30% more than accepting a Short Sale offer. If you are interested in Short Selling your Arizona home call our specialists today at 480-241-4406. http://goo.gl/mke9F

256,000 Homes Regained Equity in Q3

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Ninety-two percent of mortgaged homeowners now have positive equity in their homes after more than a quarter-million emerged from being underwater in the third quarter of 2015. CoreLogic said, in its monthly negative equity report, that there are now approximately 46.3 million homes in the black and the dollar value of held by all homeowners increased by $741 billion during the three month period. Underwater or "upside down" borrowers, are those who owe more on their mortgages than the property is worth. Negative equity can occur because of a decline in home value, an increase in mortgage debt or a combination of both. At the end of the third quarter there were still 4.1 million homeowners without equity or 8.1 percent of those with a mortgage. That was down by 256,000 or 4.7 percent from the...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12152015_corelogic_negative_equity.asp

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Mortgage Rates Back to Recent Highs as Fed Week Begins

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates moved quickly higher today, more than erasing Friday's strong performance. If fact, most lenders are at their highest levels in more than a week. All that having been said, we're not talking about massive movements in the grand scheme of things The most prevalently-quoted conventional 30yr fixed rate remains at 4.0% for top tier scenarios. A few lenders had been quoting 3.875% late last week, but now there are fewer. Conversely, there were several lenders quoting 4.125% last week and now there are more. As we discussed after Friday's drop in rates, it doesn't make too much sense to pin down the source of this volatility on any one factor. Financial media gets a hold of a plausible story and it tends to get more credit than it deserves for doing something it probably isn't doing...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/542424.aspx

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Rhode Island Fraud; Ally Reentering The Biz; FOMC Week!

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Posted To: Pipeline Press

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." So said William Arthur Ward. Various examples of politics fits into each one of those, and here's an example of where the internet and politics intersect that my son Robbie sent along: www.jebbush.com . Are you making any money this year? I hope so, as most believe that margins will decline next year . Heck, why wait for next year? It appears that margins were lower in the 3 rd quarter for independent mortgage bankers versus the 2 nd quarter (although higher from the 3 rd quarter of 2014). Marina Walsh, the fabled VP of Industry Analysis at the MBA, summed things up: "In the third quarter of 2015, profits were $1,238 per loan (55 basis points), compared to $897 per loan (42...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/12142015-ally-mortgage.aspx

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Prison Time for Warehouse Fraud; Cybersecurity in a CFPB World; Problems with HOA & iInsurance

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Pipeline Press

Women who own small businesses in the United States are overall more satisfied than their male counterparts with their banking experience, according to the J.D. Power 2015 U.S. Small Business Banking Satisfaction Study released recently. The study measures small business customer satisfaction with the overall banking experience by examining eight factors: product offerings; account manager; facility; account information; problem resolution; credit services; fees; and channel activities. Satisfaction is calculated on a 1,000-point scale. J.D. Power even ranks real estate agents - congrats to Century 21. What is a "kill chain"? IT guys know what it is, and plenty of lenders are worried about it. Hackers dig into personal information about an employee, which is in turn used as a lure before eventually...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/12112015-cybersecurity.aspx

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MBS MID-DAY: Living In The Shadow of Treasury Snowball Rally

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MBS Commentary

Life isn't always fair for MBS. Sure, there was QE3 which specifically targeted MBS over Treasuries, leaving the latter out in the cold on a relative basis, but for the most part, Treasuries get to have all the fun. Case in point, the price on a 10yr Treasury note is currently up 28 ticks on the day versus a gain of only 14 ticks for Fannie 3.0s. If we want to talk yields, that's nearly 10bps for Treasuries. We'll be lucky to see a gain of more then 4bps in effective mortgage rates. What's up with that? First of all, Treasuries almost always lead the charge, whether it be higher or lower. They lose ground more quickly when the going gets tough, but they rally in a way MBS can only dream of when global markets are flying to safety or sidelines. Today is an example of the latter...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/541536.aspx

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Mortgage Rates Lower as Markets Grow Anxious Ahead of Fed

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates recovered yesterday's losses in many cases, and moved even lower in many other cases. The mortgage sector was one of the tamer performances of the day when it comes to financial markets. Even if we focus solely on the mortgage-backed-securities (MBS) that most directly affect mortgage rates, we see a lot more movement in the marketplace than we see on lender rate sheets. This dichotomy between market movement and rate sheets is fairly common when volatility increases or on the approach to a significant economic event. That's especially true of Friday afternoons. With a big increase in volatility on this Friday before next week's big Fed announcement, today meets all the conditions. Still, rates did drop--just not as much as we might like. The most prevalently-quoted conventional...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/541628.aspx

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MBS RECAP: Here's Why Bond Markets Rallied Hard Today

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MBS Commentary

If you didn't catch the mid-day commentary , it has a good recap of most of the day's activity. If you're not into links, here are the important parts, distilled into TGIF-style brevity: MBS underperformed Treasuries in a big way due to market volatility (which almost always sees Treasuries making the bigger move, regardless of direction) and because of the next bullet point. Treasury yields--unbeknownst to us without the benefit of hindsight--were set up to fall like dominoes today due to a preponderance of short positions (traders betting on rates going higher). Many market sectors saw investors move to cash or close out positions in order to be nimble ahead of the Fed. A short position in Treasuries is closed (or 'covered') by buying bonds. The short-covering rally in...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/541634.aspx

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CoreLogic: 2016 Housing and Mortgage Rate Forecast

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Over the next three weeks we will probably be subjected to more housing forecasts for 2016 than ads for Chia Pets. Here is the version provided by Frank Nothaft, senior vice president and chief economist at CoreLogic. Nothaft presumes, like most in the field, that the Federal Reserve will raise short term rates and predicts that increase will be about one percentage point, achieved gradually , by the end of next year. Homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages or home equity loans can expect to see their payments rise as will people who take on new fixed rate mortgages. The latter will probably rise by about a half-point which will put the 30-year fixed rate mortgage around 4.5 percent by the end of 2016. Household formation rose significantly this year and Nothaft expects that to continue,...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12082015_housing_forecasts.asp

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MBS Day Ahead: Judges Determined Not To Be Impressed

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Posted To: MBS Commentary

If this week's economic data and events were auditioning for some reality show, market participants would be like the judges. This would be like one of the weeks early on in the season, from a city on the tour stop that didn't end up generating much footage for the show. By the end of it, the judges are wondering why they came . At this point, it would take a truly tremendous performance to impress them. To be clear, we're talking about today's Retail Sales data and its role as the final performer in this week's line up of economic data. It would have to be either exceptionally strong or even more exceptionally weak to get the attention of market participants ('judges' in this case). Even if it manages to put in a suitably dramatic performance, the proverbial show...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/541367.aspx

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MBS RECAP: Bonds Weaken Steadily, but Stay Inside Range

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MBS Commentary

At 9am, domestic bond markets were just barely clawing their way into positive territory after an uneventful overnight trading session. That made for low yields of 2.206% in 10yr Treasuries--very much in line with the low end of the sideways trading range that we've been tracking ahead of next week's likely Fed rate hike. After hitting those lows, yields rose ever-so-slightly and very steadily throughout the day. MBS prices lost JUST enough ground for several lenders to put out negative reprices. The fact that at least as many lenders are still on the day's original rate sheets speaks to the equivocal level of bond weakness. For many, if the range isn't being meaningfully broken, nothing interesting is happening. Almost as if by design, 10yr yields topped out at 2.239. While...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/541246.aspx

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What is a short sale?

A short sale is when the bank agrees to accept less money for a property than what is owed. The bank agrees to get some of its money back and avoid them having to foreclose and sell it themselves. So if your mortgage loan is for more than your home is currently valued at and are looking at foreclosure, a short sale might be the best option. At AZ Home Help we are the top of the 1% of Short Sale Expert real estate agents in Arizona. Contact us at 480-241-4406 or visit us online at http://goo.gl/bAiCKb if you need some short sale advice or realtor.

MBS Day Ahead: Little to Inspire Big Moves Ahead of Fed

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MBS Commentary

My apologies for the commentary coming out later than normal a few times this week. I've been doing battle with water here in the Pacific Northwest, and spent most of last night swimming in my crawl space. Had I penned The Day Ahead in the wee hours of the morning as I normally do (a benefit of working with financial markets from the West Coast), I imagine it would have been substantially similar to what you're about to read. The only difference is that we can now talk about the data in retrospect as it's already out. (The data is out. It didn't matter) There is a fairly simple, ongoing theme intact on this week before next week's Fed Announcement. The last time the Fed lifted rates from a long stint at all-time lows was more than 10 years ago, and by their admission, should...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/541062.aspx

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Mortgage Rates Break Even After Bumpy Start

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates held steady for a second straight day, but only when considering the end-of-day rate sheets. The morning hours were similar on each of the past two days, with underlying bond markets weakening in concert with rising oil prices. The afternoon hours were quite different. Today saw bonds bounce back with a relatively strong move inspired by falling oil prices and a well-received 10yr Treasury Note Auction. Stronger bond markets imply downward pressure on mortgage rates. Indeed several lenders recalled rate sheets early this afternoon for a mid-day improvement . This was enough to bring the average conventional 30yr fixed rate quote back in line with yesterday's latest levels. Even then, the only differences between the two days had been to the closing costs associated with the prevailing...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/540895.aspx

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Modest Uptick in Mortgage Apps Following Holiday Week

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Mortgage application volume was higher across the board during the week ended December 4 as activity rebounded from the essentially three-day work week that led up to the Thanksgiving holiday. Results from that week were adjusted accordingly. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported an increase of 1.2 percent in its Market Composite Index, a measure of loan applications received, on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to the week ended November 27. The index surged by 43 percent on an unadjusted basis. The Refinance Index rose by 4 percent from the previous week and the share of all mortgage applications submitted for refinancing grew from 56.6 percent to 58.7 percent. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index eked out a 0.04 percent gain from the previous week while the unadjusted Purchase...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12092015_application_volume.asp

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Mortgage Production Profits Down in Q4, Still Much Higher Year-Over-Year

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Per-loan profitability fell in the third quarter of 2015 the Mortgage Bankers Association. (MBA) said today, but remained substantially above those profits a year earlier. Independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks reported a net gain of $1,238 on each loan they originated in the third quarter of 2015, down from a reported gain of $1,522 per loan in the second quarter of 2015. The third quarter 2015 profits however were nearly a third higher than the $897 per loan reported a year earlier. Marina Walsh MBA's Vice President of Industry analysis said the third quarter profits were equivalent to 55 basis points per loan , up from 42 basis points a year earlier. "The average production volume in the third quarter of 2015 was significantly higher at $614 million per company...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12082015_mba_mortgage_profits.asp

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Mortgage Rates Erase More of Last Week's Spike

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates continued lower at a decent pace today, further eroding the big move higher seen last Thursday. While the average lender isn't quite back to where they were before the spike, they're well over halfway. The most prevalently-quoted conventional 30yr fixed rate was getting close to 4.125% as of Thursday afternoon. It fell back to 4.0% on Friday. While you're still most likely to see 4% today, some of the more aggressively-priced lenders are back down to 3.875% on top tier scenarios. It's a much riskier proposition to buy into a bounce back on the first day. Now with today's additional day of strength, last Thursday's spike increasingly looks like an isolated incident , driven by the European Central Bank's policy announcement (which fell far short of market expectations, driving...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/540070.aspx

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Objective Recap of Accusations Levied at 'Big Banks' and MBA

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: MND NewsWire

The New York Times has fired the first salvo in what already looks like a battle of words between it and the mortgage finance industry with the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) leading on defense. Times reporter Gretchen Morgenson on Monday published a mammoth report - over 5,000 words, on what she claims has been a long-term campaign by big banks to end the role Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) play in mortgage lending. For its part, MBA called the newspaper's allegations "inflammatory and unfounded." None of the objective details should be a surprise, considering the administration's and the MBA's efforts on risk-sharing and common securitization are well-publicized. The surprise, or "news," in this case, is the accusation of wrongdoing. Morgenson does indeed make a number of allegations...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/12072015_mba_gse_reform.asp

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