Posted by Terry Brunner.  Terry is a Senior Loan Officer with Horizon  Financial.  Terry can be reached toll free @ (877) 627-9211 x150 or   email TBrunner@HorizonFinancial.org.  Visit Horizon’s website at www.horizonfinancial.org

God Bless Our Troops And Veterans!

Posted by Terry Brunner.  Terry is a Senior Loan Officer with Horizon Financial.  Terry can be reached toll free @ (877) 627-9211 x150 or email TBrunner@HorizonFinancial.org.  Visit Horizon’s website at www.horizonfinancial.org

The stock and bond markets of Wall Street are driven by unemotional numbers like profits, P/E ratios, return on investment, etc.  But they are also driven by emotions.

A New York broker once said, “Downtown, there are two emotions: Fear and Greed.  The rest is bull*$x&.”

Greed as in the late 1990’s when investors jumped to buy any stock that ended with a “.com”.  Of course that bubble exploded in 2000.

Fear as in the last week when the debt problems of Greece and Portugal and maybe Spain caught the attention of the investment community.  Will these problems spread to France and Germany?  Will the debt crisis affect the United States?  Are Europe’s biggest banks facing insurmountable strains?  Will the crisis have a negative impact on China’s exports to Europe?  What are the implications for the LIBOR?

The anxiety in the investment community has led both institutional and retail investors to flee the stock market and shift their funds to gold, bonds and money markets.

When money is poured into bonds the price of bonds goes up.  As the price of bonds goes up the yield or interest rate on those bonds goes down.  As a result mortgage rates have fallen dramatically.  The 15 year fixed rate is at its all time low.  And the 30 year fixed rate is close to its all time low.

If you have an adjustable rate mortgage or can benefit by refinancing, this may just be the time to pull the trigger.

Posted by Terry Brunner.  Terry is a Senior Loan Officer with Horizon Financial.  Terry can be reached toll free @ (877) 627-9211 x150 or email TBrunner@HorizonFinancial.org.  Visit Horizon’s website at www.horizonfinancial.org

The Dead Cat Bounce is a Wall Street term that refers to a brief recovery in the price of a declining stock, bond, security or market. The term is derived from the concept that “even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height”. This phenomenon may apply to the mortgage bond market in the near future.

First of all, remember that when bond prices go up, rates go down. When bond prices fall, rates go up.

In the latter half of 2008, 30 year rates moved in a range from 5.875% to 6.5%. 15 year rates moved in a range from 5.75% to 6.125%. That is until November 25th, 2008. On that day the U.S. Federal Reserve Board announced that it would initiate a program to purchase mortgage backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, artificially propping up the prices of bonds and keeping interest rates low. The very next day rates on a 30 year fixed went down to 5.125% and ensuingly headed further south.

Over the last year and four months, the massive purchases (1.25 trillion dollars worth) of mortgage backed securities by the Federal Reserve have kept mortgage bond prices up and interest rates down. The 30 year rate has fluctuated between 4.5% and 5.25%, while the 15 year rate has moved in a range from 4.25% to 4.875%.

Now the bad news. The Federal Reserve has officially stopped buying mortgage backed securities as of March 31st, 2010. Mortgage rates have started to move up. While there may be some short term volatility, some experts expect rates to rise by 1% this year.

If you need to get out of an adjustable rate loan, or would benefit by refinancing, this may be your last chance to do so at a great rate.

And lets hope for the “Dead Cat Bounce” or bounces. Because this cat is officially DEAD!

Posted by Terry Brunner. Terry is a Senior Loan Officer with Horizon
Financial. Terry can be reached toll free @ (877) 627-9211 x150 or
email TBrunner@HorizonFinancial.org. Visit Horizon’s website at www.horizonfinancial.org

Mortgage rates are down today and may improve even further tomorrow.   Floating your rate may save you money, but in this environment there are no guarantees.

A trio of mortgage rate friendly data was released today.

1. Consumer confidence is @ a 10 month low and consumer expectations is @ the lowest level since July 2009.
2. The FDIC announced the Problem Bank List grew 27% from 552 to 702 in the 4rth qt of 2009.
3. The NAR says no meaningful recovery in commercial real estate until 2011.

All 3 contributed to lower rates.  Remember, bad economic news is generally good news for mortgage rates.

The 3o yr fixed rate mortgage is in the 4.75% to 5.25% range for well qualified consumers.  15 yr fixed is 4.25% to 4.625%.  Rates are dependent upon credit score, loan purpose, loan to value, property type and whether you pay points / origination fees.

These low rates will not last.  Most expect a gradual rise throughout 2010.

To lock in on today’s low rates I’ll need a complete application and a current credit report.  Click Here to apply now!  Or, call toll free 877-627-9211 x 104 for a FREE, no obligation quote.

Posted by Scott Fowler.  Scott can be reached locally @864-527-8900 x 104, toll free 877-627-9211 x 104 or email SFowler@HorizonFinancial.org.  Visit Scott’s web page @ www.ScottFowlerTeam.com.

In the past year the government has enacted several new rules to protect consumers and stop appraisal coercion by evil bankers and brokers.

HVCC (the appraisal code of conduct) has already forced many experienced and qualified appraisers out of the business.  It has also helped to propel home values lower by allowing Appraisal Management Companies to seek out the cheapest appraiser (inexperienced, out of area appraisers who have no knowledge of the local market) so they can fatten their profits.

The new Good Faith Estimate has certainly helped to confuse more consumers when they try to compare financing charges for purchasing or refinancing a home.

Of course, the lenders and regulatory agencies (Fannie, Freddie, FHA) have helped too by tightening up on their financial requirements to purchase or refinance.

All this consumer assistance hasn’t been totally successful.  Consumers are still slipping through the cracks.

WILY, CUNNING AND DETERMINED CONSUMERS ARE STILL MANAGING TO PURCHASE OR REFINANCE HOMES AT EXTREMELY LOW MORTGAGE RATES!  THIS IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!

If the government really wants to help consumers, they could force everyone who wants to purchase or refinance a home to take a two month training course so that the consumer clearly understands how the government has helped them.  Consumers should have to pay for this training and a final test.  The training and test money could be used as a much needed income stream for further government housing assistance.

The government could get Homeland Security involved as well.  By requiring all consumers to provide fingerprints and hair follicle samples we might well prevent a covert terrorist cell from purchasing a safe house. And if Homeland Security coordinated with the local DMVs to collect unpaid traffic/parking tickets from consumers attempting to purchase or refinance, another income stream would be generated so that local politicians could go on more Global Warming junkets to exotic places.

Lenders and regulatory agencies could also assist consumers by demanding more skin in the game.  Instead of a 20% down payment, how about a 50% down payment?

I’m confident that, working together, we can force all of the greedy and diabolical loan officers, appraisers, inspectors, real estate attorneys, homeowners insurance agents, etc, out of the financing business once and for all.  We can shut down the housing industry altogether.  All we need is a little more “HELP”.

Posted by Terry Brunner.  Terry is a Senior Loan Officer with Horizon Financial.  Terry can be reached toll free @ (877) 627-9211 x150 or email TBrunner@HorizonFinancial.org.  Visit Horizon’s website at www.horizonfinancial.org

http://forecasts.org/fha.htm

-Gary Schoenholz (864)979-1111.  15+ Years of mortgage experience. Website:  www.GarytheMortgageExpert.com

The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) which regulates appraisals was the result of an agreement reached in March, 2009 between the Attorney General of New York (Andrew Cuomo) and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in exchange for the Attorney General’s office terminating its investigation into issues of appraisal coercion.

It seemed like a great idea.  HVCC addressed the need for sound appraisals produced free of any influence or coercion on the part of the lender or any other party involved with the purchase or refinance of a property.  Another great idea from the government!

Oops!

As usual, the devil’s in the details.  And the details have created havoc for everybody in mortgage lending.

A year ago you might have approached me for a refinance of your $200,000 mortgage loan on your property that you thought was worth $300,000.  The first thing I would have done is contact an honest and experienced appraiser and ask him or her to do a comparable search.  If the appraiser called me back and said the local market would only support a value of $200,000, I would contact you and tell you that a refinance would not work.  You would not be charged an appraisal fee.

In the same scenario today, I could not contact an appraiser.  In fact I cannot even order an appraisal from the honest and experienced appraisers I know.  I must order the appraisal through a third party AMC (Appraisal Management Company).  And you have to pay for the appraisal upfront, regardless of whether or not the refinance is possible.

The HVCC has hurt appraisers by reducing their fees since 40% or more of their fees are handed over to the AMCs.  It has also barred them from the business relationships and client relationships they developed over the years spent in their profession.  Many experienced appraisers have already left the business and others are just hanging on for dear life.

It has hurt consumers by increasing the cost of purchasing or refinancing a home and by being forced to pay for an appraisal when a refinance was a lost cause to begin with.

The only entities who benefited from this whole fiasco are the AMCs and the people who own them.

So, thanks Attorney General Cuomo.  You really thought this out.  Incidentally, I hear that the Attorney General is up for re-election.  I also heard that his opponent is looking for campaign donations.  

Posted by Terry Brunner.  Terry is a Senior Loan Officer with Horizon Financial.  Terry can be reached toll free @ (877) 627-9211 x150 or email TBrunner@HorizonFinancial.org.  Visit Horizon’s website at www.horizonfinancial.org