The topic of last week's poll was: Which President will do more for average homeowners?
Surprisingly the results were that 33% of the respondents felt that Senator Barack Obama would do more and 66% of the respondents felt that Senator John McCain would do more for the average homeowners.
This does not follow the polls we are seeing play out with the major news networks. Perhaps your seeing some breaking news from our little corner of the internet world that will herald unexptected results at the polls next Tuesday.
We plan to provide detailed information about the person that is elected next week and their proposed financial plans. We will post their plans here for all to see in laymans terms so that we can hold them to their word on the issues!
Thank you to all the participants. We would like to recognize and possibly interview one respondent from each topic choice each week. If you take the time to take the poll please leave a comment and include your contact information so we can highlight you, your company, and your views here on the blog!
Thanks to all who continue to visit and help us shape this resource into a forum for what you need. Make sure you vote on the poll of the week!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Mortgage rates drop with new confidence
Finally!
For weeks we have been hovering around the 6.5% 30 year fixed. Yesterday we saw a path to the 5.5% rates we enjoyed for a very short period when the Feds took over conservatorship of Fannie & Freddie. Yesterday par was slighly below 5.875%. We believe that possibly by the end of the month we can get back to the sweet spot of 5.5% par rates!
The way these rates rise and fall can be a complicated subject. We will stive to keep you abreast of the most up to date information available as always. Confidence thanks to many outside factors has help MBS (mortgage backed securities) gain footing in recent days with banks and investors.
Could it be? Is it possible? Is rational thinking coming back to the markets? Probably not, but lets all take advantage while it lasts. This may be part of the "dead cat bounce" you hear about where we get a few glimmers of hope amongst our downward spiral.
We tend to be a bit more optimistic and think we may have seen a floor in recent weeks and the markets are trying to stratch their way back to normalcy.
Stay tuned and we'll continue the discussions with you as always about whats happening and how it affects you!
For weeks we have been hovering around the 6.5% 30 year fixed. Yesterday we saw a path to the 5.5% rates we enjoyed for a very short period when the Feds took over conservatorship of Fannie & Freddie. Yesterday par was slighly below 5.875%. We believe that possibly by the end of the month we can get back to the sweet spot of 5.5% par rates!
The way these rates rise and fall can be a complicated subject. We will stive to keep you abreast of the most up to date information available as always. Confidence thanks to many outside factors has help MBS (mortgage backed securities) gain footing in recent days with banks and investors.
Could it be? Is it possible? Is rational thinking coming back to the markets? Probably not, but lets all take advantage while it lasts. This may be part of the "dead cat bounce" you hear about where we get a few glimmers of hope amongst our downward spiral.
We tend to be a bit more optimistic and think we may have seen a floor in recent weeks and the markets are trying to stratch their way back to normalcy.
Stay tuned and we'll continue the discussions with you as always about whats happening and how it affects you!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
The tranformation of mortgage jobs in Florida
Five Stars Mortgage has released a new commentary on the state of mortgage jobs in Florida. In it they offer tips and strategies for mortgage professionals attempting to survive this unprecedented downturn. Here is in excerpt from the article:
"The effective of the global credit crisis has hit particularly hard on the financial sector and in particular with mortgage jobs. It has been estimated that as of September of 2008 we have lost a minimum of 65,400 jobs in the mortgage industry! While job numbers accross the nation have also declined, this number of jobs in the mortgage industry has hit many families very hard.
In previous articles we have addressed the underlying causes of the housing bubble and subsequent meltdown. We have seen how the blame flows from top to bottom in the mortgage industry. Our thoughts and prayers however, must go out to the over 65,000 workers and their families who have had to start over in a brand new career due to no fault of their own in most cases... "
click to read the article entitle "The Future of Mortgage Jobs in Florida"
"The effective of the global credit crisis has hit particularly hard on the financial sector and in particular with mortgage jobs. It has been estimated that as of September of 2008 we have lost a minimum of 65,400 jobs in the mortgage industry! While job numbers accross the nation have also declined, this number of jobs in the mortgage industry has hit many families very hard.
In previous articles we have addressed the underlying causes of the housing bubble and subsequent meltdown. We have seen how the blame flows from top to bottom in the mortgage industry. Our thoughts and prayers however, must go out to the over 65,000 workers and their families who have had to start over in a brand new career due to no fault of their own in most cases... "
click to read the article entitle "The Future of Mortgage Jobs in Florida"
Friday, October 17, 2008
Results of weekly poll: Do you support the $700B bailout bill?
Well the results of our latest poll are in. The question was "Do you support the $700B bailout bill?". The results represent exactly what we expected to see:
- 40% of responders said yes
- 40% of responders said NO
- 20% of responders said they didn't understand it
We feel this is probably pretty indicative of the state of the country. People are split right down the middle as to whether this was a good idea or not and a large portion of the country doesn't really understand this whole problem or this particular fix for it at all. No doubt it is a complicated problem but it is one we hope to help those 20% wrap their heads around so they can make educated decisions at the polls regarding the issues as they relate to our economy & more specifically the mortgage markets.
We welcome any and all questions from those 20% so that we can help explain in simple terms exactly what the major causes of our current dillema are. No question is too dumb! People need to talk more about the situation and help our elected officials in making the RIGHT choices in fixing this mess.
Thank you to all the participants of this week's poll and please continue to participate in the polls and with questions or comments.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Big Ben Bernanke and Sir Henry Paulson speak - Markets react
Mr. Bernanke and Mr. Paulson both spoke this morning about their plans to utilize the tools empowered unto them to avert our financial meltdown from further damage.
Both speakers spoke with a confidence that we have not seen in quite some time from either of them. The markets appear to also gain confidence from their speach. The short of it is that they do indeed intend to buy commercial paper as backstop for banks as well as invest taxpayers money in shares of banks. Bernanke still feels that the root of the problems are confidence on the part of investors. Mr. Paulson agrees and feels that lack of confidence in mortgage backed securities is the biggest concern. All of their efforst are meant to restore confidence to the market and get lenders back to lending again.
We have seen EXTREME tightening from lenders with regard to conditions and hanging up loans trying to find ways not to fund them. These are not risky loans we are talking about my friends. These are poeople ranging from 700-800 FICO's that are having problems getting simple refinances done.
Rates remain fairly unchanged with some slow progress toward dropping. This is extroardinary when stocks are rallying and a good sign we feel for short terms rate watchers. Most lenders have not released rates this morning yet be we suspect 6.25% or so to be par on a 30 year fixed. Stay tuned and we'll keep you up to date.
Both speakers spoke with a confidence that we have not seen in quite some time from either of them. The markets appear to also gain confidence from their speach. The short of it is that they do indeed intend to buy commercial paper as backstop for banks as well as invest taxpayers money in shares of banks. Bernanke still feels that the root of the problems are confidence on the part of investors. Mr. Paulson agrees and feels that lack of confidence in mortgage backed securities is the biggest concern. All of their efforst are meant to restore confidence to the market and get lenders back to lending again.
We have seen EXTREME tightening from lenders with regard to conditions and hanging up loans trying to find ways not to fund them. These are not risky loans we are talking about my friends. These are poeople ranging from 700-800 FICO's that are having problems getting simple refinances done.
Rates remain fairly unchanged with some slow progress toward dropping. This is extroardinary when stocks are rallying and a good sign we feel for short terms rate watchers. Most lenders have not released rates this morning yet be we suspect 6.25% or so to be par on a 30 year fixed. Stay tuned and we'll keep you up to date.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Columbus day ends with biggest one day gain since 1933!
Well the investors have spoken. They apparently feel that the worst of the credit crisis is finally behind us. Lets all hope they are right.
Investors rallied and the DOW was up more than 900 points! This is the largest one day point rise in a single day in history folks. Just another day in the volatile market we are becoming accustomed to. One day we might see one of our biggest banking firms go down and less than two weeks later the biggest one day increase in points in history. Everyone having fun yet?
Experts think that the world focus and steps announced to help ease the afflicted global credit crisis was one of the major contributors to todays meteoric rally. Of course today was a holiday and there was no technical data to help shower us with the usualy wonder news.
Lenders were closed today so no interest rates were released. We will have to wait and see how this new confidence will play out with the rates tomorrow. Experts are hot & cold depending on who you listen to. We tend to be optimistic and hope that last week marked the literal bottom of this whole credit crisis and we can at least hold that mark or improve on it from here on out.
Check back tomorrow and we'll see how rates look and get a whif of some techinical data to see how strong this rally will be!
Investors rallied and the DOW was up more than 900 points! This is the largest one day point rise in a single day in history folks. Just another day in the volatile market we are becoming accustomed to. One day we might see one of our biggest banking firms go down and less than two weeks later the biggest one day increase in points in history. Everyone having fun yet?
Experts think that the world focus and steps announced to help ease the afflicted global credit crisis was one of the major contributors to todays meteoric rally. Of course today was a holiday and there was no technical data to help shower us with the usualy wonder news.
Lenders were closed today so no interest rates were released. We will have to wait and see how this new confidence will play out with the rates tomorrow. Experts are hot & cold depending on who you listen to. We tend to be optimistic and hope that last week marked the literal bottom of this whole credit crisis and we can at least hold that mark or improve on it from here on out.
Check back tomorrow and we'll see how rates look and get a whif of some techinical data to see how strong this rally will be!
Columbus day mark a glimmer of hope for stocks and interest rates?
Happy Columbus Day!
Stay tuned for round two of the bailout feedback here on our little blog.
Stock Markets are set for a bit of a rally as global meetings over the weekend addressed the global recession concerns.
Rates rose last week from 5.875% to 6.125% on a 30 year fixed! Generally when stocks do well interest rates rise... so what does a small rally mean for rates today? Stay tuned and we'll keep you up to date as the information begins to roll in today.
Stay tuned for round two of the bailout feedback here on our little blog.
Stock Markets are set for a bit of a rally as global meetings over the weekend addressed the global recession concerns.
Rates rose last week from 5.875% to 6.125% on a 30 year fixed! Generally when stocks do well interest rates rise... so what does a small rally mean for rates today? Stay tuned and we'll keep you up to date as the information begins to roll in today.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
AHL LENDING HARDMONEYDIRECT FL BASED LENDER ANNOUNCES NEW HARDMONEY WEBSITE
(AHL LENDING) A TAMPA BASED HARDMONEY LENDER - Announces its newly released state of the art hardmoney website to meet the increible demands of hardmoney applications for residential and commerical hardmoney projects across the united states. Our website is a resource tool to submitt loans for the seasoned mortgage professional and a learning tool for the inexperienced hardmoney loan officers.
www.harddmoneyloans.com Is a valuable resource for hardmoney professionals nationwide that giveS loan officers 1 hour prequalifcations 24/7, it's a learning center, marketing and sales tips -for find marketing hardmoney residential and commerical loans. We provide hardmoney loans from 25k to 250 million dollar projects nationwide, single family residences, jumbo luxury homes, hotels, strip malls. making us the number one rated hardmoney site on googledirect national lenders.
Mr Granger says "" We our offer Commerical, Residential HARD MONEY, LAND LOANS, AND LARGE PROJECT DEVELOPMENTLOANS, RANGING FORM 30 YR FIXED TO 2-3 YR ARMS WITH RATES AVERAGING AROUND 12%--- We fill a void for clients who or self employed, our business is up 1000% we or equity driven, and the hardmoney lending arena fills a huge void left by the subprime lenders.
All programs ,rates, tools, and products can be veiwed at AHL new website: Nationwide Hard Money Lender. WE also have a state of the art INVESTOR SECTION FOR INVESTORS LOOKING TO INVEST IN 1ST TRUST DEEDS WITH 13% ROI, VISIT OUR INVESTOR PAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION
SOURCE: http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/pr/pressrelease.cfm?PRID=25240
www.harddmoneyloans.com Is a valuable resource for hardmoney professionals nationwide that giveS loan officers 1 hour prequalifcations 24/7, it's a learning center, marketing and sales tips -for find marketing hardmoney residential and commerical loans. We provide hardmoney loans from 25k to 250 million dollar projects nationwide, single family residences, jumbo luxury homes, hotels, strip malls. making us the number one rated hardmoney site on googledirect national lenders.
Mr Granger says "" We our offer Commerical, Residential HARD MONEY, LAND LOANS, AND LARGE PROJECT DEVELOPMENTLOANS, RANGING FORM 30 YR FIXED TO 2-3 YR ARMS WITH RATES AVERAGING AROUND 12%--- We fill a void for clients who or self employed, our business is up 1000% we or equity driven, and the hardmoney lending arena fills a huge void left by the subprime lenders.
All programs ,rates, tools, and products can be veiwed at AHL new website: Nationwide Hard Money Lender. WE also have a state of the art INVESTOR SECTION FOR INVESTORS LOOKING TO INVEST IN 1ST TRUST DEEDS WITH 13% ROI, VISIT OUR INVESTOR PAGE FOR MORE INFORMATION
SOURCE: http://www.fastpitchnetworking.com/pr/pressrelease.cfm?PRID=25240
New Software Product helps Mortgage Companies create a “Green” Business Environment for a paper intensive industry.
ATLOS, LLC (Automated Tracking Loan Origination System) loan software is a new web-based mortgage loan processing and document management system that provides a completely paperless environment for any mortgage company...Big or Small. This is one of the first truly green solutions specifically tailored for a paper intensive mortgage industry. ATLOS was originally an internal system for a New Orleans based mortgage company. After Hurricane Katrina destroyed this company’s office, the owner knew his internal software was something many other mortgage companies could benefit from. It allowed his company to retain all customer loan data when most mortgage companies in New Orleans lost everything including their paper files. Today, ATLOS, LLC has launched and is having a great response in the mortgage industry.
ATLOS includes a host of features not readily available to mortgage companies. These features allow mortgage companies to streamline workflows thereby reducing costs. Loan fraud prevention is also built into ATLOS.
In today’s mortgage lending industry, real-time answers and online functionality are crucial for survival and success. With web-based technology, ATLOS finally gives mortgage companies the freedom of anywhere/anytime functionality.
Below is a description of the main features:
- Web-Based Loan Origination With ATLOS mortgage companies have access to their loan information any time anywhere. There is no cumbersome installation. Mortgage companies can greatly reduce IT expenses. All that’s needed to utilize ATLOS is a PC and the Internet.
- Hosted Paperless Loan File Manager With ATLOS mortgage companies get online electronic storage of all loan files. Mortgage companies can eliminate all paper files, along with the timely and costly delivery fees that can be associated.
- Integrated Payroll & Billing Features With ATLOS, mortgage companies can automate all payables and receivables. Mortgage companies can create fast commission calculations through a completely customizable platform.
- Web Conferencing With ATLOS, mortgage companies can communicate with anyone, directly through ATLOS using video, audio, chat, and desktop sharing.
- Much More ATLOS incorporates an Integrated Internet phone, message board, calendar, contacts, reports, and fraud alerts.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Bailout Bill Passes!
The house passed the bailout legislation today. The vote for passage of the Senate-amended bill was 263 to 171.
Remember that the Dow dropped over 700 points the last time they couldn’t get this bill passed and so today’s passage marks a possible turnaround for the economic slowdown we have been seeing.
Some of the major benefits we expect to start to see once implemented include:
- Once the Government purchases the mortgages from Banks they will have the flexibility that the banks DO NOT to modify loans which will help stem the surging foreclosures that we have been experiencing.
- Confidence will slowly return to wall street which will lead to lower 30 year interest rates spurring more home purchases
- Banks will have more liquidity and hopefully will be able to approve more credit worthy borrowers for new loans also decreasing the glut of housing on the market today.
These three major points will all with the underlying problems that at dragging down the economy. That is that there are too many homes available on the market and not enough qualified buyers to purchase them up. The rising foreclosure both adds to this as well as hurts the banks and their ability to lend.
We will keep you updated with the actual results as they become live as the bill goes into effect. Watch next week as we delve into the other major legislation that recently went into effect regarding the changes to FHA and the new HOPE initiative!
SOURCE: http://www.fivestarsmortgage.com/mortgage-articles/15/
Remember that the Dow dropped over 700 points the last time they couldn’t get this bill passed and so today’s passage marks a possible turnaround for the economic slowdown we have been seeing.
Some of the major benefits we expect to start to see once implemented include:
- Once the Government purchases the mortgages from Banks they will have the flexibility that the banks DO NOT to modify loans which will help stem the surging foreclosures that we have been experiencing.
- Confidence will slowly return to wall street which will lead to lower 30 year interest rates spurring more home purchases
- Banks will have more liquidity and hopefully will be able to approve more credit worthy borrowers for new loans also decreasing the glut of housing on the market today.
These three major points will all with the underlying problems that at dragging down the economy. That is that there are too many homes available on the market and not enough qualified buyers to purchase them up. The rising foreclosure both adds to this as well as hurts the banks and their ability to lend.
We will keep you updated with the actual results as they become live as the bill goes into effect. Watch next week as we delve into the other major legislation that recently went into effect regarding the changes to FHA and the new HOPE initiative!
SOURCE: http://www.fivestarsmortgage.com/mortgage-articles/15/
House barely passes vote to move Bailout bill vote forward today
This is not encouraging news at all. Many house republicans have come out speaking optomistically about the passage of the legislation, but this vote to move forward with debate and vote today barely passed!
We are hoping that this is not a sign of the fate of the bill's vote today. Leaders have said that they would not bring the legislation for vote without having enough support to pass it, but the fact that President Bush and his VP have been placing frantic calls to the house Republicans to garner last minute votes is scary.
A decision by the House to amend the bill would delay enactment of the proposal because the Senate, which passed a bill late Wednesday night, would have to go back and vote again.
If House leaders at any point think they don't have the votes for passage, they could pull the bill from the floor rather than vote on it.
We as well as the rest of the country will be keeping a close eye on this afternoon's planned vote. Either we may very well be seeing the bottom of our financial crisis this week or... it was nice knowing you all. We stand ready to see where we go from here.
We are hoping that this is not a sign of the fate of the bill's vote today. Leaders have said that they would not bring the legislation for vote without having enough support to pass it, but the fact that President Bush and his VP have been placing frantic calls to the house Republicans to garner last minute votes is scary.
A decision by the House to amend the bill would delay enactment of the proposal because the Senate, which passed a bill late Wednesday night, would have to go back and vote again.
If House leaders at any point think they don't have the votes for passage, they could pull the bill from the floor rather than vote on it.
We as well as the rest of the country will be keeping a close eye on this afternoon's planned vote. Either we may very well be seeing the bottom of our financial crisis this week or... it was nice knowing you all. We stand ready to see where we go from here.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
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