Thu, Apr 8 2010, 9:49 AM
You know the story. We forecast a test of 4.00% back in December. That test happened in extremely illiquid quarter-end conditions after a run of bett...
Thu, Apr 8 2010, 8:23 AM
In the footsteps of weak global markets, US equity futures are sharply lower this morning, further subtracting from yesterday’s losses. “Across-the-bo...
Thu, Apr 8 2010, 4:46 PM
I continue to favor floating one day at a time. Lenders are being very slow to pass along the price gains we have enjoyed over the last couple days. ...
Thu, Apr 8 2010, 4:21 PM
4.5's down 2 ticks on the day to 100-00. 10yr note up about 2.3bps at 3.886. Stocks back at 1187 in S&P. Bernanke speaks later this evening. Limited...
Thu, Apr 8 2010, 4:09 PM
It is a common belief that one must have a lot of equity in their home to qualify for a reverse mortgage. In reality, a reverse mortgage can be done i...
Thu, Apr 8 2010, 1:56 PM
The Treasury has successfully auctioned $13 billion 30 year bonds. Four of the last five long bond auctions have been at this size, so the market is a...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 12:54 PM
The National Association of Realtors is reporting that sales of vacation homes rose at a greater rate than overall home sales in 2009. Investment-hom...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 12:36 PM
Things are either going to get really great, really quick for MBS, or insanely volatile. EXPECT THE VOLATILITY! THESE ARE BIG TIMES IN THE BOND MARK...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 10:54 AM
Refinance application volume dropped as mortgage rates reached their highest level since August 2009. Purchase volume was essentially unchanged relat...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 10:16 AM
FHA net worth requirements; loan profitability study; primer on FHA Compare Ratios & Neighborhood Watch
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 9:58 AM
Production profits among independent mortgage bankers and their subsidiaries dipped slightly during the fourth quarter of 2009 according to survey res...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 8:30 AM
Stock markets are soft and bonds are better bid ahead of afternoon speeches by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and the lone FOMC dissenter Tom H...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 6:37 PM
As far as locking and floating, I'd probably take certain deals off the table if I promised some higher power that I would do so if they could just he...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 5:40 PM
Mortgage rates are slowly rallying away from the highs of 2010 after a two successful Treasury auctions. I continue to favor floating my loans, but wi...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 3:25 PM
"Today the financial crisis looks to be mostly behind us, and the economy seems to have stabilized and is beginning to grow again. But we are far from...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 1:46 PM
"Rate Sheet Influential" Treasuries and MBS are rallying after a very strong 10 year Treasury note auction. Reprices for the better are likely...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 12:15 PM
Stage 1 of the Fed's exit looks to be behind us with only minimal damage done. Rising mortgage rates have been more a function of higher benchmark yie...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 10:32 AM
Negative equity, high back-end ratios, and the existence of second liens are just a few of the problems the Solicitor General reports may impede the s...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 10:25 AM
More flood insurance updates worth noting; seller financing increasing; problems with modifying 2nds
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 10:01 AM
Overseas rates traders came back to work today to find much cheaper bond prices and higher "risk free" yields thus, "rate sheet influential Treasuries...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 8:22 AM
The dollar is stronger but equity futures and commodity prices are each trading lower. The economic docket is empty this morning but in the afternoon ...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 5:19 PM
Treasury yields did move lower today and MBS prices rose which has allowed lenders to offer better pricing. With that said, I continue to favor floati...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 3:08 PM
Overall, continued cautiousness is obvious. Much is still uncertain from their point of view, but there is plenty of weakness to warrant an exceptiona...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 2:23 PM
Consumers are still committed to owning a home, but are showing increased cautiousness, regardless of whether they rent, own their homes outright or h...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 1:23 PM
It's going to FEEL uncomfortable to float "on the edge" deals that you would prefer to float until tomorrow but IF we see any reprices, they won't be ...
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 12:27 PM
Loan Approvals Before Delegated Underwriting; Repurchase Liability and the Value of a Mortgage Company; Flagstar Stock Dilution; Citi and TARP
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 11:53 AM
Morning data was great for stock bulls but bad for bonds. After the date, the S&P hit new 2010 highs at 1,187, the 10 year Treasury note yield continu...
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 10:27 AM
UFMIP Reminder; HUD Shuts Down Two Lenders; REO Appraisal Guidance; Primary Dealers; Texas Laws Pay Off
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 8:34 AM
The Dow closed last Thursday at an 18-month high, and with equity investors now able to react to Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report, the market should o...
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 4:33 PM
The week ahead is fairly light on economic data with the highest impacting events coming starting on Tuesday with the release of the minutes of the mo...
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 2:51 PM
The bad news is that bonds are still at or near their weakest levels of the day, but the good news is that some semblance of support looks to be in ef...
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 1:42 PM
The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in February, rose 8.2 percent to 97.6 from a downwardly revised 90...
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 1:05 PM
The reverse mortgage industry started out as a fulfiller of dreams to the greatest generation. For its first 17 years of existence, regulators outside...
Fri, Apr 2 2010, 11:23 AM
Fri, Apr 2 2010, 11:13 AM
The Inspector General in charge of monitoring the TARP program has issued the first in a series of audits of the HAMP program. The report finds that ...
Fri, Apr 2 2010, 10:36 AM
FDIC Finds Buyer for $491 Million in RMBS; Freddie Selling Foreclosed Homes; Flood Insurance Directives; Condo News
Fri, Apr 2 2010, 9:22 AM
There's ammo for both bulls and bears in this data. Revisions to previous data add 40,000 more jobs than previously reported. Census workers spend mo...
Fri, Apr 2 2010, 8:19 AM
After months of waiting for the Employment Report to indicate labor growth in the economy, it looks like it will finally happen … on a day when equity...
Fri, Apr 2 2010, 5:42 PM
Mortgage rates had a terrible week! (like pulling a band-aid). The par 30 year fixed mortgage rate rose anywhere from .125 to .375% over the course of...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 12:36 PM
The Treasury Department has announced the terms of next week's auction cycle. In total, $82 billion in notes and bonds will be sold. This will raise a...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 11:11 AM
Total construction spending fell for a fourth straight month in February to the slowest pace since November 2002. While I do not doubt that constructi...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 10:54 AM
Freddie Mac's February Volume Summary, released on Thursday, shows that the value of both the corporations total portfolio and its investments portfol...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 10:27 AM
ARM rates can actually change; Wells changes name; Puerto Rico SAFE Act update; Option ARM's resurface
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 10:05 AM
While the benchmark TSY market is apathetically "so so" today, the scene is not pretty in "rate sheet influential" mortgage-land. The FN 4.5 is -0-10...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 8:17 AM
On the first day of Q2 2010, equity futures in the US are looking for a sharply higher open after investor sentiment was boosted by positive data in A...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 6:19 PM
With the charts relatively boring, here's a quasi-op-ed, quasi-"perspective amidst the chaos" from us to you. If you'd rather skip that, there are s...
