Monthly Archives: August 2007

Today is a holiday-shortened session but that doesn’t mean that the markets will be on vacation. The day’s big event is Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech at the Fed’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, WY. Investors will dissect every … Continue reading →

Mortgage rates unexpectedly increased yesterday afternoon as the U.S. stock market staged a late rally. By the end of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.9 percent, or 247.77 points. This is a typical pattern. When stocks … Continue reading →

As mortgage guidelines loosened between 2002 and 2006, homeowners often used their home equity to retire credit card and other consumer debt. They did this by increasing the size of the mortgage and taking “cash out” from their home. As … Continue reading →

When the National Association of Realtors

This week is data-heavy so markets will finally get to focus on fundamentals instead of fear. For the past two weeks, uncertainty about the economy has led to psychologically-driven mortgage interest rate movements. Rising defaults devalue mortgage holdings and many … Continue reading →

In light of today’s New Homes Sales data and Monday’s forthcoming Existing Homes Sales report, let’s review a term that real estate professionals use to describe housing inventory. Absorption Rate is a real estate term for the length of time … Continue reading →

With tomorrow morning’s New Home Sales report, markets will get a look at the number of newly-constructed homes sold in July. The figure is expected to be in the 825,000 range. This is lower than June’s 834,000 figure. But — … Continue reading →

Suddenly, Private Mortgage Insurance is back in vogue. If only by default. The story background is well-documented in this Bankrate.com article from 2002. The article is five years old, but it still raises some salient points. What the article doesn’t … Continue reading →

Friday, the Federal Reserve lowered its Discount Rate by 0.50% in an effort to preserve liquidity among our nation’s banks. This has nothing to do with mortgage rates that people like you and I get for our homes. Well, not … Continue reading →

Again last week, financiers failed to answer the major question dogging Wall Street: What is the “right” risk model to use for mortgage lending? The models of the past are being proven to have been wrong. So, why do risk … Continue reading →