According to the Federal Reserve’s quarterly Senior Loan Officer Survey, it’s getting easier to get approved for a home loan.
Between July – September 2012, fewer than 6% of banks tightened mortgage guidelines — the fourth straight quarter that’s happened– and roughly 10% of banks actually loosened them.
The Federal Open Market Committee voted to leave the Fed Funds Rate unchanged within its current target range of 0.000-0.250 percent Wednesday.
For the ninth consecutive meeting, the vote was nearly unanimous. And, also for the ninth consecutive meeting, Richmond Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Lacker was the lone dissenter in the 9-1 vote.
The Fed Funds Rate has been near zero percent since December 2008. At the close today, Mortgage Backed Securities ended the day a little worse (rates/fees went up a bit) on the news… Continue reading
With mortgage rates at all-time lows, purchase and refinance activity is climbing. And with guidelines tight, and pipelines full, you will want to be properly prepared up front to mitigate some of the horror stories you have probably been hearing about.
Home sales are at their highest levels since May 2010 as home buyers take advantage of favorable economic conditions. Home prices are low, household income is rising, and rents are up in many U.S. cities.
Low rates have stoked mortgage refinance applications throughout Sacramento, too. Continue reading
Sometimes, things just have a way of working themselves out. My wife hates when I say that, but in this circumstance it is true. If you read my blog a few days ago, I braced my clients for fees to increase on all conventional loans. But thankfully, the news today from The Federal Open Market Committee drove rates right back down. It’s like the fee increase never happened. Why?
Because the Fed voted to leave the Fed Funds Rate unchanged within its current target range of 0.000-0.250 percent. For the eighth consecutive meeting, the vote was nearly unanimous (9-1 vote).
The Fed Funds Rate has been near zero percent since December 2008. Continue reading
I get this question daily from my prospective buyers. “Do you have to pull my credit? I don’t want you to hurt my score that I have worked so hard to maintain.” A great question for today’s home buyers and refinancing households, the value of “good credit” has never been higher.
Years ago, that concern made more sense. Today, it doesn’t, because having a mortgage company pull your credit is very different from having Walmart do it. Continue reading