Maryland Mortgage Loans

Here in Las Vegas (Why did the Dalai Lama go to Las Vegas? Because he loves Tibet) the population is about 650,000 with all manners of housing, subdivisions, and lifestyles. But around the nation and world, there are numerous ways and places to live. Here’s a story about a former NFL star who says he saved money by living inside Cincinnati Bengals stadium. What do Stowe, Vermont, Whitefish, Montana, and Lake Placid, New York have in common? The three U.S. towns made Travel & Leisure’s 25 Most Beautiful Small Towns. If you only want a house for part of the year, with elevated mortgage rates and home prices having risen considerably, the solution might be buying 1/6 of a house. Or sharing equity, which is what some of your borrowers and homeowner clients consider. “An Unlock HEA gives you cash in exchange for a portion of your home’s future value.” Or one can live underwater. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by Built Technologies. Construction and real

One of the many reasons to buy a home is that it’s a major way to build wealth and gain financial stability. According to Freddie Mac: http://dlvr.it/Sk43fQ

On November 9th, 2022, the average lender was quoting 30yr fixed rates well over 7%.  On day later, that figure dropped to 6.625%.  It was one of the best individual days for rates on record and it was driven by an economic report that showed an unexpectedly large drop in inflation. Inflation and several other key sectors of the economy had pushed the Federal Reserve to hike rates at the fastest pace in decades.  When it looked like the data might provide some relief, rates quickly moderated. Strangely (or so it seemed at the time), the Fed was highly reluctant to read too much into several months of generally more palatable data.  They said it was too soon to draw any conclusions other than "it's a start."  With that, markets hesitated to push longer term rates any lower until the data made an even stronger case of that. Unfortunately, the data since then has made a case for rates to turn around and head right back up toward previous highs.  February has been particularl

Existing home sales data was released this morning by the National Association of Realtors for the month of January.  It was fairly close to forecasts, but nonetheless slid to the lowest levels since 2011 for the second straight month (just edging out the initial lockdown lows of 2020).  It's no surprise to see sharp declines in sales given the massive shift in rates and housing sentiment that unfolded over the course of 2022.  While there had been a glimmer of hope for a bounce over the past few months, rates are once again ripping up toward 7%.  As such, it makes sense to ask: how bad is it? We can all already see how bad it CURRENTLY is.  So the better question is how bad could things get.  Alternatively, we could ask when things will get better.  The second question is easy, but the answer isn't a huge relief in the short term. Things will get better when inflation is firmly under control and the economy stops periodically showing signs of "running hot."  Yes, I k

Heading into the 3 day weekend, we knew there was a risk that Friday's rally was driven by position squaring (i.e. traders buying bonds in order to cover short positions). Heading into the new week, new short positions are back in fashion.  While a certain amount of this selling pressure may have been our destiny regardless, it received a clear boost from stronger Eurozone services PMI data.  Yields were already testing their weakest levels since early November.  Then when US services PMI numbers came in stronger than expected, bond market weakness kicked into an even higher gear.   All of the above pertains to scarcely a few drops of paint against the broader backdrop of February.  This month has delivered a harsh new reality that has taken many market participants by surprise.  Surely, the rate spike of 2022 would be taking a bigger toll on economic data and the softer numbers would combine with tamer inflation to help rates ease back to lower levels. But in 3 short weeks w

Not every house is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, single story subdivision home. Appraisers and underwriters aren’t big fans of places that aren’t, due to the lack of comps or the problems in “salability” should something go wrong. Inventive housing? Watch this house slide open to reveal Flexible Spaces (and an open-air bathroom). Some people have a home theater, but here’s a theater home for sale. And, finding homeowner’s insurance aside, what do kids do in this house when told to clean their room? Housing prices, just like mortgage rates, have at their base the influences of supply and demand. So this story is particularly interesting: “Investor purchases of U.S. homes fell by 45.8 percent on a year-over-year basis, with the largest declines occurring in pandemic boomtowns such as Las Vegas and Phoenix.” In other housing and finance trends, Seattle-based Flyhomes’ mortgage division is offering a “Buy Now Refi Later” promotion, where a homebuyer who takes out a loan with the company can refinan

The biggest challenge the housing market’s facing is how few homes there are for sale. Mark Fleming, Chief Economist at First American, explains the root causes of today’s low supply: http://dlvr.it/SjlbdP