Tue, Aug 28 2012, 11:03 AM
There's an old saying that there are no Republican folks songs. But now,
at least, there are Yiddish curses for Republican Jews: link
Continuin...
Mon, Aug 27 2012, 11:10 AM
Well, this is the week that many Secondary Marketing folks have been
dreading. It is the last week of the
month after a sell-off, and there are ple...
Fri, Aug 24 2012, 11:53 AM
As I've gotten older I've developed the unusual ability to stare at
something and not see it. I am particularly good at doing this with car keys on
...
Thu, Aug 23 2012, 11:57 AM
New home sales rose in July to a
seasonally adjusted annual rate of 372,000 units. According to a joint release from the U.S.
Census Bureau and th...
Thu, Aug 23 2012, 11:34 AM
I was in Kansas yesterday, and saw a sign, "Ladies, if a man says he is going to fix something, he will.
There is no need to remind him every six mo...
Wed, Aug 22 2012, 12:09 PM
Sales
of existing homes increased nationally in July to a seasonally adjusted annual
rate of 4.47 million units . This is an
increase of 2.3 per...
Wed, Aug 22 2012, 8:07 AM
In yesterday morning's article, we discussed the recent consolidation of 10yr Treasury yields in the context of "Flag/Pennant" formations ( Read It ...
Wed, Aug 22 2012, 2:24 PM
This is a frightening statistic, probably one of the most worrisome in
recent years: 25% of mortgage bankers and Realtors in the country are on
medi...
Mon, Aug 20 2012, 11:25 AM
If you have some spare change sitting around, a $1.7 billion portfolio of
non-performing, federally insured home loans will be offered for sale at
a...
Fri, Aug 17 2012, 11:53 AM
Yes, the mortgage volume pie is shrinking , but rest assured that the
pieces are growing larger for the remaining originators.
Psssst! Want a coo...
Wed, Aug 15 2012, 11:44 AM
Builder confidence as measured by the National
Association of Home Builders ( NAHB )/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index ( HMI )
increased for the fou...
Thu, Aug 9 2012, 9:32 AM
Despite what it termed "decidedly good
news over the past quarter" regarding house prices, Frank Nothaft, Chief
Economist of Freddie Mac said today ...
Fri, Aug 3 2012, 4:39 PM
The Administration's Monthly Housing
Scorecard for July contained little in the way of new information. The Scorecard is a summary of housing data
...
Tue, Jul 31 2012, 10:45 AM
The home price picture showed further improvement
with the release this morning of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices
(HPI) for May. Both th...
Mon, Jul 30 2012, 10:17 AM
"Rob, with the Wells news earlier this month, and FAMC's comp change
last week, I am hearing rumors of all kinds of price and investor changes .
On...
Thu, Jul 26 2012, 10:19 AM
To no surprise to the industry, Wells Fargo remained the largest
U.S. mortgage originator in the second quarter although its market share
dropped ...
Thu, Jul 26 2012, 10:14 AM
Pending homes sales declined in June,
slipping 1.4 percent on the Pending Home Sales Index released this morning by
the National Association of Rea...
Wed, Jul 25 2012, 10:09 AM
"Rob, I've read that wholesale lending accounted for only 5% of
Wells Fargo's volumes. Only 5%? What are you hearing about its remaining
business an...
Wed, Jul 25 2012, 1:21 PM
Sales of new homes dropped significantly
in June according to information released this morning by the U.S. Census
Bureau and the Department of Hou...
Mon, Jul 23 2012, 10:19 AM
"Rob, do you think that there is any chance that investors will
start lowering their minimum net worth requirements?" In my opinion, no .
In this e...
Fri, Jul 20 2012, 11:41 AM
On Thursday, Fannie 3.5% securities (composed of 3.75-4.125% 30-yr
mortgages) traded at a 6 (yes, six) point premium . Put another way, 106.
Fannie...
Thu, Jul 19 2012, 11:32 AM
Existing-home sales declined 5.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted annual basis to 4.37 million from an upwardly-revised 4.62 million in May. Econom...
Thu, Jul 19 2012, 9:56 AM
Yesterday we all learned what lock desks and pricing engines already
knew: mortgage applications in the U.S. jumped last week by the most in a month....
Tue, Jul 17 2012, 11:44 AM
Builder confidence took its biggest leap
in nearly a decade according to data released this morning by the National
Association of Home Builders (...
Mon, Jul 16 2012, 11:17 AM
em·i·nent
do·main : Noun - "The right of a government or its agent to expropriate private
property for public use, with payment of compensation."
...
Fri, Jul 6 2012, 3:52 PM
The June
Housing Scorecard, a joint publication of the U.S. Departments of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) and Treasury, was released this after...
Thu, Jun 28 2012, 9:19 AM
Remember that scene in Apollo 13 when it dawns on the astronauts that
NASA doesn't know how to get them back? Regarding our economy, one can imagine
...
Wed, Jun 27 2012, 11:11 AM
Pending home sales in May bounced
back to match March numbers which were the highest seen in two years. The
improvement was broad-based, affecting ...
Wed, Jun 27 2012, 10:14 AM
I have been subtly warning groups during speeches, and writing in this commentary, about the implications of Basel III. Most of the focus is on servic...
Mon, Jun 25 2012, 11:21 AM
Sales of new single-family homes increased to a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of 369,000 in May from a rate of 343,000 in April
according to figu...
Mon, Jun 25 2012, 9:07 AM
The political climate is heating up. Jokes that we were able to tell on
the trading desk, regardless of political
affiliation , are flying around, ...
Fri, Jun 22 2012, 10:42 AM
Want some good news? My grades did not qualify me for admittance to Harvard
(that is not the good news), but that institution put out good research
...
Thu, Jun 21 2012, 11:52 AM
Sales
of existing homes fell in May, but that decline may have been due to a lack of
available homes rather than a lack of demand.
According to t...
Thu, Jun 21 2012, 10:39 AM
Mortgage rates are low.
But volume is a problem.
Raise our margins now!
(See Miss Hickox? Your 7th grade haiku section really paid off!) ...
Tue, Jun 19 2012, 10:29 AM
Do we really need Congress writing or approving the industry's disclosure
forms? Can't it pick on the rental car agreement forms that no one reads,...
Tue, Jun 19 2012, 1:13 PM
Thanks to
problems in Europe and the slowing of both the US and Chinese economies,
consumer attitudes have plateaued after several months of improve...
Mon, Jun 18 2012, 10:57 AM
The National Association of Home Builder's
( NAHB )/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) ticked up one point this month to
reach its highest poi...
Mon, Jun 18 2012, 10:03 AM
Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. Another ex-exec (the CFO) at
Taylor Bean Whittaker is now going to prison for five years.
Rates ar...
Thu, Jun 14 2012, 11:41 AM
Steadier job growth and improving
consumer confidence are now boosting home sales and home prices may finally
find a bottom this year according to t...
Wed, Jun 6 2012, 3:19 PM
The May
edition of the Obama administration's Housing Scorecard released today by the
U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) an...
Thu, May 31 2012, 8:47 AM
Sales of distressed properties once again accounted for more than a quarter of all home sales during the first quarter of 2012. Twenty-six percent ...
Wed, May 30 2012, 10:18 AM
Pending home sales fell in April, breaking a three month streak of gains according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). The Association's...
Tue, May 29 2012, 11:50 AM
Three measures of home prices issued monthly by S&P/Cash-Shiller declined yet again in March. The data released today showed that the national co...
Tue, May 29 2012, 10:01 AM
Fannie and
Freddie aren't the only companies involved in residential mortgage lending to
be seized by the government. Here's a taste of the situati...
Thu, May 24 2012, 12:55 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association ( MBA ) is projecting that mortgage originations in 2012 will be $200 billion higher than was originally anticipa...
Wed, May 23 2012, 12:01 PM
Sales of new single-family houses in April 2012 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 343,000 , according to estimates released jointly toda...
Wed, May 23 2012, 10:40 AM
Here is an
interesting note for debt market students: Germany is scheduled today to sell
two-year bonds that won't make set
interest payments . Th...
Tue, May 22 2012, 11:31 AM
The housing recovery is underway according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) which released numbers on Tuesday to back up that claim. ...
Tue, May 22 2012, 9:35 AM
Pick an
overwhelming percentage, like 80 or 90%. Remember when residential loan
production wasn't "that" percent agency? Non-agency loans are still ...
Mon, May 21 2012, 11:11 AM
Some
people are looking to fill their time - apparently they have too much on their
hands .
On the
other hand, some companies are looking to fi...
