Wed, Jul 25 2012, 1:21 PM
Sales of new homes dropped significantly
in June according to information released this morning by the U.S. Census
Bureau and the Department of Hou...
Mon, Jul 23 2012, 10:19 AM
"Rob, do you think that there is any chance that investors will
start lowering their minimum net worth requirements?" In my opinion, no .
In this e...
Fri, Jul 20 2012, 11:41 AM
On Thursday, Fannie 3.5% securities (composed of 3.75-4.125% 30-yr
mortgages) traded at a 6 (yes, six) point premium . Put another way, 106.
Fannie...
Thu, Jul 19 2012, 11:32 AM
Existing-home sales declined 5.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted annual basis to 4.37 million from an upwardly-revised 4.62 million in May. Econom...
Thu, Jul 19 2012, 9:56 AM
Yesterday we all learned what lock desks and pricing engines already
knew: mortgage applications in the U.S. jumped last week by the most in a month....
Tue, Jul 17 2012, 11:44 AM
Builder confidence took its biggest leap
in nearly a decade according to data released this morning by the National
Association of Home Builders (...
Mon, Jul 16 2012, 11:17 AM
em·i·nent
do·main : Noun - "The right of a government or its agent to expropriate private
property for public use, with payment of compensation."
...
Fri, Jul 6 2012, 3:52 PM
The June
Housing Scorecard, a joint publication of the U.S. Departments of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) and Treasury, was released this after...
Thu, Jun 28 2012, 9:19 AM
Remember that scene in Apollo 13 when it dawns on the astronauts that
NASA doesn't know how to get them back? Regarding our economy, one can imagine
...
Wed, Jun 27 2012, 11:11 AM
Pending home sales in May bounced
back to match March numbers which were the highest seen in two years. The
improvement was broad-based, affecting ...
Wed, Jun 27 2012, 10:14 AM
I have been subtly warning groups during speeches, and writing in this commentary, about the implications of Basel III. Most of the focus is on servic...
Mon, Jun 25 2012, 11:21 AM
Sales of new single-family homes increased to a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of 369,000 in May from a rate of 343,000 in April
according to figu...
Mon, Jun 25 2012, 9:07 AM
The political climate is heating up. Jokes that we were able to tell on
the trading desk, regardless of political
affiliation , are flying around, ...
Fri, Jun 22 2012, 10:42 AM
Want some good news? My grades did not qualify me for admittance to Harvard
(that is not the good news), but that institution put out good research
...
Thu, Jun 21 2012, 11:52 AM
Sales
of existing homes fell in May, but that decline may have been due to a lack of
available homes rather than a lack of demand.
According to t...
Thu, Jun 21 2012, 10:39 AM
Mortgage rates are low.
But volume is a problem.
Raise our margins now!
(See Miss Hickox? Your 7th grade haiku section really paid off!) ...
Tue, Jun 19 2012, 10:29 AM
Do we really need Congress writing or approving the industry's disclosure
forms? Can't it pick on the rental car agreement forms that no one reads,...
Tue, Jun 19 2012, 1:13 PM
Thanks to
problems in Europe and the slowing of both the US and Chinese economies,
consumer attitudes have plateaued after several months of improve...
Mon, Jun 18 2012, 10:57 AM
The National Association of Home Builder's
( NAHB )/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) ticked up one point this month to
reach its highest poi...
Mon, Jun 18 2012, 10:03 AM
Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. Another ex-exec (the CFO) at
Taylor Bean Whittaker is now going to prison for five years.
Rates ar...
Thu, Jun 14 2012, 11:41 AM
Steadier job growth and improving
consumer confidence are now boosting home sales and home prices may finally
find a bottom this year according to t...
Wed, Jun 6 2012, 3:19 PM
The May
edition of the Obama administration's Housing Scorecard released today by the
U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) an...
Thu, May 31 2012, 8:47 AM
Sales of distressed properties once again accounted for more than a quarter of all home sales during the first quarter of 2012. Twenty-six percent ...
Wed, May 30 2012, 10:18 AM
Pending home sales fell in April, breaking a three month streak of gains according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). The Association's...
Tue, May 29 2012, 11:50 AM
Three measures of home prices issued monthly by S&P/Cash-Shiller declined yet again in March. The data released today showed that the national co...
Tue, May 29 2012, 10:01 AM
Fannie and
Freddie aren't the only companies involved in residential mortgage lending to
be seized by the government. Here's a taste of the situati...
Thu, May 24 2012, 12:55 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association ( MBA ) is projecting that mortgage originations in 2012 will be $200 billion higher than was originally anticipa...
Wed, May 23 2012, 12:01 PM
Sales of new single-family houses in April 2012 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 343,000 , according to estimates released jointly toda...
Wed, May 23 2012, 10:40 AM
Here is an
interesting note for debt market students: Germany is scheduled today to sell
two-year bonds that won't make set
interest payments . Th...
Tue, May 22 2012, 11:31 AM
The housing recovery is underway according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) which released numbers on Tuesday to back up that claim. ...
Tue, May 22 2012, 9:35 AM
Pick an
overwhelming percentage, like 80 or 90%. Remember when residential loan
production wasn't "that" percent agency? Non-agency loans are still ...
Mon, May 21 2012, 11:11 AM
Some
people are looking to fill their time - apparently they have too much on their
hands .
On the
other hand, some companies are looking to fi...
Fri, May 11 2012, 10:29 AM
Home prices as reflected in the Lender Processing Services Home Price Index ( LPS HPI ) "increased nationally for the first time since March 2010 and ...
Wed, May 9 2012, 11:36 AM
I saw a classified ad recently where a person had a vintage French military rifle for sale. The description said "Mint condition, never fired; only d...
Wed, May 9 2012, 4:16 PM
Home sales in the first quarter of 2012 were the highest seen in any first quarter since 2007 according to data released today by the National Asso...
Fri, May 4 2012, 6:02 PM
The Administration's Housing Scorecard for April claims progress on both home sales and mortgage delinquencies "but continued fragility overall." D...
Mon, Apr 30 2012, 12:49 PM
The RPX Monthly Housing Market Report says that both home sales and home prices increased strongly in the month ended February 16. The RPX Composite ...
Thu, Apr 26 2012, 10:15 AM
Pending home sales rose in March to 101.4 on the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index released this morning. This is a 4...
Thu, Apr 26 2012, 9:54 AM
I received
this note from a mortgage bank owner in Louisiana: "Hey Rob, get a load of
this! We had an investor come back to us, asking that we prov...
Tue, Apr 24 2012, 12:48 PM
New home sales fell sharply in March, dropping to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 328,000, down 7.1 percent from the February's numbers. Howe...
Tue, Apr 24 2012, 12:16 PM
Two major home price indices released this morning indicate that, while home prices are improving the changes are slow and relative . The Federal Ho...
Tue, Apr 24 2012, 10:40 AM
From the
New York Times Science sections comes, "While baboons can't read, they can
tell the difference between real English words and nonsensical o...
Mon, Apr 23 2012, 10:15 AM
In this business,
you can never have too much Dodd Frank, can you? The House Financial Services
Committee has unveiled the Dodd-Frank
Burden Trac...
Fri, Apr 20 2012, 10:32 AM
Do you
live in a small town? Many in the real estate and mortgage business do live in
rural communities (FNC, for example, with the slogan "Know You...
Thu, Apr 19 2012, 11:39 AM
Existing home sales decreased in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.48 million units, 2.6 percent below the February pace which was adju...
Thu, Apr 19 2012, 10:33 AM
The United
States is an amazing place - everyone is different! But here's an interesting
chart someone sent me on state's teen pregnancy rates, and ...
Thu, Apr 19 2012, 1:55 PM
After two years of bouncing around a bottom, remodeling activity is expected to pick up later this year, according to the Leading Indicator of Remo...
Mon, Apr 16 2012, 10:58 AM
Home builders shifted direction this month reversing the growing optimism they had been exhibiting since last fall. The National Association of Hom...
Mon, Apr 16 2012, 10:31 AM
This note
from Investor's Business Daily reminds me why day-trading stocks never works for
me - even if you had the better-than-expected news ahead ...
Fri, Apr 6 2012, 4:43 PM
The Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Treasury released the February edition of the Obama Administration's Housing Scorecard on...
