Mortgage Update for the Week of December 12, 2010

December 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

iStock-000020911287XSmallMortgage rates continue to be very low levels. Freddie Mac has been reporting average interest rates for 30 year at under 4% for the last year with 15 year fixed rates being under 3% for the last six months.

While the Fed works at keeping rates at artificially low levels, Congress is considering increasing the guarantee fees to new conventional mortgages to help fund programs that have nothing to do with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or even the housing recovery. The guarantee fees (aka g-fees) are factored into the pricing of a mortgage rate. FHA mortgage loans are also becoming more expensive in 2013 with the increase of mortgage insurance premiums.

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Mortgage Rate Update for the week of December 3, 2012

December 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment

mortgageporter-economyNot everything that impacts mortgage rates are scheduled economic indicators, like what I’m sharing with you below in this post. Sometimes Congress tacks on fees that are priced into interest interest rates too. For example, the House of Representatives just passed a new “G-Fee” to help fund an Immigration Bill, HR 1629. This “G-Fee” will impact new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages. Why new home buyers and people refinancing have to pay for this bill which does not relate to mortgages during a time housing is trying to recover puzzles me. Click here to see how your House Rep voted on this bill.

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Mortgage Rate update for the Week of November 19, 2012

November 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

mortgageporter-economyCan you believe Thanksgiving is this week? I’m in a bit of shock that the holiday season is upon us. Mortgage Master Service Corporation will close on Thursday, November 22, 2012 and reopen on Monday, November 26, 2012.

Here are a few of the scheduled economic indicators that may impact mortgage rates this week:

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Mortgage Rate update for the week of November 13, 2012

November 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

mortgageporter-economyMortgage rates continue to provide many the opportunity to reduce their mortgage payments or to qualify to a home at extremely low rates. With the re-election of President Obama, it’s also likely we will see expansion of the Home Affordable Refinance Program to HARP 3.0 as well as the governments prolonged purchasing of mortgage backed securities, manipulating mortgage rates at these historic low levels.

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Mortgage rate update for the week of October 15, 2012

October 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

mortgageporter-economyHere are a some of the economic indicators scheduled to be releases this week which may impact the direction of mortgage rates.

Monday, October 15: Retail Sales and Empire State Index

Tuesday, October 16: Consumer Price Index (CPI); Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization

Wednesday, October 17: Building Permits and Housing Starts

Thursday, October 18: Initial Jobless Claims and Philadelphia Fed Index

Friday, October 19: Existing Home Sales

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APR is not the best tool for shopping mortgage rates

October 3, 2012 by 1 Comment

MortgagePorter-APRAPR was created by our government to help consumers select a mortgage rate. It was intended to be a tool that would allow someone to simply compare various mortgage scenarios and shop mortgage lenders for the “best rate” at the lowest cost. Unfortunately, APR is probably not providing an accurate view of what the true cost of the mortgage, whether it’s for a home purchase or refinance, is. [Read more…]

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Mortgage rate update for the week of October 1, 2012

October 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

mortgageporter-economyI cannot believe it’s October, can  you? Perhaps it’s our extended summery weather we are experiencing in Seattle. This being the first week of a month means that we have the Jobs Report being released this Friday. The Jobs Report tends to impact mortgage rates as it indicates how the economy is doing and the potential for wage inflation. It is anticipated that 120k jobs were added last month – we’ll see how the numbers pencil out on Friday when September’s Jobs Report is released. Wednesday is loaded with both the ADP National Employment Report and the release of the FOMC minutes.

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Major Bank Jacks up the Cost to Extend Rate Locks

September 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

When a mortgage rate is locked, it’s committed for a certain period of times, such as 30, 45 or 60 days. When a mortgage refi or purchase that has been locked does not close by that date, the lender may charge a fee to extend.  The fee is essentially the cost to buy additional days to add to the original lock commitment. 

I just received this notice from one of the lenders we work with that they’re dramatically increasing their extension fees and, even worse, they’re only giving us ONE DAY’S NOTICE!  Kind of stinky if you ask me. This is the same bank that increased their fees just over a month ago.  The bank is doing this as a result of the 0.10% increase to G-Fees by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Extension Fees 001

Thankfully we work with several lenders and we’re not limited to only working with this bank.

More often than not, it’s better to error on having a longer lock period than a shorter one and paying for an extension.

UPDATE: Another bank just announced they are increasing their pricing by 0.500% basis points to their rates (not extension) as a result of the “G Fees”.

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