Orlando Mortgage Blog

If you ever wanted to know exactly where your property line is, just watch your neighbor cut their grass.

Today is it folks if you want to take advantage of the Home Buyers Tax Credit. April 30th is the last day to get a signed sales contract and it must close by June 30, 2010 to qualify. FNMA will still have a special offering through a few lenders in various regions for up to a 3.5% credit against closing costs paid, but the up to $8,000 ends today. Check the FNMA.com site for details.

If you are lucky enough to get the contract today, you can apply for a loan later. Just keep in mind the loan must close no later June 30th.

Good luck!

With all the minute-by-minute coverage of the latest "Blame Game Hearings" in DC that seem to have every politician looking to pillory everyone else for today's financial crisis I 'd like to remind folks of a few things. I seem to remember a covey of names that have been forgotten in what I have believed for years was the cornerstone of the financial behemoth we've found ourselves faced with lo these last 3 to 4 years. Though it's true there are many other ingredients baked in this cake, I believe this opened Pandora's box and let out or allowed much of what we face today. (There I go mixing my metaphors again)...

After the Great Depression a public outcry eventually pushed congress and the senate into passing strick regulation on what had become an out of control banking industry (sound familiar?), that set limits on what business a bank was able to participate in and not. It was called the Glass-Steagall Act. It effectively limited a bank's cross sell capabilities into other nontraditional banking areas such as securities, equities, insurance sales and underwriting of various products not considered "Bank" business. It worked well for 60 years or so. Big banks were against it from the start, seeing it as a tremendous roadblock to doing business. More competition was probably beneficial in many ways, but no one set limits or put on the brakes when it was shelved and the smartest folks in the room went wild with new product development.

I highly recommend reading the following link which is from a PBS documentary on this matter. Everyone today is in an uproar asking "How could this all happen" and this tells you exactly how it started and who many of the players were. Most of today's Great Recession could not have transpired if this law had not been put on the shelf. It was and it was a decade long party.

Please read this article...

When you are done please read the press release from October 22, 1999 thanking many of those who were "Helpful" in the process of killing the bill...

What does the IRS say about individual taxes on short sales? Read about it yourself. Click the IRS link below:

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=179414,00.html

"The gene pool could use a little chlorine"

From Today's Update

Comment: After the 10yr touching 3.72% yesterday for a low, rates are up...eventually it all keeps coming back to the Fed and whether it's medicine will cure us or make us sicker! The main tool in medicine 3 to 4 hundred years ago was "Leeches". Funny how some things haven't changed isn't it?

Friday's bond market has opened well in negative territory as yesterday's late selling continues into this morning. The stock markets are relatively flat with the Dow up 2 points and the Nasdaq down 3 points. The bond market is currently down 10/32, which with yesterday's afternoon weakness should push this morning's mortgage rates higher by approximately .375 of a discount point.

This morning's economic data certain has done little to make bonds appealing to investors. The Commerce Department reported that March's Durable Goods Orders fell 1.3% last month. This was significantly weaker than the slight increase that had been forecasted. However, if volatile transportation related orders were excluded, new orders rose a whopping 2.8%. This is nearly quadruple the increase that analysts were expecting in that reading, meaning that there is some strength in more stable channels of the manufacturing sector.

Today's second report was March's New Home Sales, but was the week's least important release. It showed a surprising 27% jump in sales of newly constructed homes that was the largest monthly increase in approximately 47 years. These results indicate that the housing sector is showing some signs of strength, which is considered negative for bonds. However, just how many of those sales are a direct result of temporary stimulus such as tax credits remains to be seen. The bigger question is if the housing sector can stand on its own without those incentives. This report usually has little impact on the bond market or mortgage rates because it covers only 15% of all home sales in the country, but this morning's results have contributed to the bond selling and part of the increase in today's mortgage pricing because of the large variance from forecasts.

Also worth noting are opinions forming about when the Fed may start selling its mortgage holdings that were purchased to help calm the financial crisis and make funds available in the market for new mortgage loans to be made. There has been plenty of recent discussion about the Fed ending its buying program of mortgage-related securities. As I mentioned previously, in my opinion the issue is more of when the Fed decides to sell holdings than it is about the fact they will stop buying them. The conclusion of the buying program was no secret and should have been expected in the markets. The unknown was when they would begin to sell the holdings. For them to be able to sell, there has to be buyers willing to buy.

In short, the supply the Fed would bring to the market would likely lead to higher mortgage rates because there is not an unlimited pool of buyers. The more supply available, the less appealing they become, which leads to bond prices falling and mortgage rates rising. Unfortunately, I foresee rates moving higher quickly if the Fed begins to sell its holdings sometime this year. The longer the Fed holds on to their portfolio, the better chance of mortgage rates remaining near current levels.

Next week brings us the release of a few important economic reports for the markets to digest in addition to an FOMC meeting and a couple of Treasury auctions. There is nothing of relevance scheduled for Monday, so I am guessing that the bond market will remain in cautious mode until we get to the important stuff. Look for more details on next week's events in Sunday's weekly preview.

If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Float if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now... This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.

A broker was dismayed when a brand new mortgage office much like his own opened up next door and erected a huge sign which read 'BEST LOAN OFFICERS.'

He was horrified when another competitor opened up on his right, and announced its arrival with an even larger sign, reading 'LOWEST TOTAL COSTS.'

The broker panicked, until he got an idea. He put the biggest sign of all over his own mortgage company office. It read: 'MAIN ENTRANCE'

The moral?. . .creativity can rule the day!

We've seen a definite jump in telephone and email inquiries in the last couple weeks. At first I felt that it might be evidence of a last minute rush to get a contract signed before the federal first time buyer credit expires April 30th and yes we have seen that too. But, we're seeing a real mix of customer situations coming in the door such as folks wanting to be pre-qualified to start shopping for a primary residence, second home and investment property, investor purchases, refinances for major home improvements as well as the old standby rate and term, consolidations and other purpose cash out refinance situations to name a few.

We haven't seen this much preliminary what-if activity in many months and it's actually exciting right now. So, maybe it's time we all put our thinking caps back on and started looking ahead once again. How much less expensive can our local real estate get before we are all looking in the rear view wanting to have one more shot at those great deals "back when"? Can't sell at a price you want right now. Think about upgrading to live in the home you want today and improve it for the future when you do want to sell. And all those bells and whistles are dirt cheap right now too like new cabinets, flooring and you name it. Something to consider. . .

You may be eligible for up to a $75 rebate if you have purchased a lawn mower, lawn tractor and various other gas engined yard devices. It's related to the horsepower advertised by various companies on their lawn equipment in recent years and if your lawn pony is on the list you may be eligible for up to a $75.00 cash settlement or extended warranty. So, if you own a home, or not, but own lawn equipment you may fit the slot. I did and my "Big and Mean" Deere tractor was on the list along with many other brands and engine versions. I confess I love the tractor, ok...it's a guy thing, but I have to confess I love saving money too! Here you go . . .

If you haven't already seen this in the mortgage news in the left column today this article sums up my blog comments for the last 3 to 4 months. I hate being right because what effects my customers effects my business. Let's see what happens the first of next week and that it verifies an over reactive lender rate hedge Friday. If you haven't jumped onboard the application train, purchase or refinance...WHY?

Read on...especially the first chart!

Here you go, NO GIMMICKS, according to the FTC:

"THIS NOTICE IS REQUIRED BY LAW. Read more at FTC.GOV. You have the right to a free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com or 877-322-8228, the ONLY authorized source under federal law."

Days like this drive me crazy! The stock market is closed for the holiday weekend and the bond market will be at noon. VERY light bond trading couldn't outweigh, and probably assisted, the knee jerk reaction to the tepid employment report. The 10yr raced from 3.86% yesterday to as high as 3.95% today and it closed at 3.69% back on March 19th just 2 weeks ago. Claims were down a smidge and net employment #'s above the "census hires" impact...were up a little; hours worked were up 0.1% while income was down 1.0% (notice the decimal place position there?) maybe due to trading down to a lower paid service job or temporary position, and yet the national unemployment number remained at 9.7% for the 3rd straight month this morning. So, days like this one historically tend to be proven to be skewed or weighted in the favor of over-negativity by lenders on their rate sheets as happened this morning. I'm in the, "It's getting better" line, but I remembered to bring my oxygen bottle today and a few MRE's...just in case.