For its last move in an action-filled year, the Federal Reserve announced it will begin buying its pledged $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities next month. For home buyers and mortgage rate shoppers, the timing couldn’t be better. Because December 31 is one of Wall Street’s most thinly-traded days of the year, low volume is exaggerating [...]

Mortgage markets are like any other market — in order for goods to change hands, a buyer and a seller must first reach an agreement to “trade” at a specific price point. In general, the more buyers and sellers there are for a particular item, the easier it is to find that “fair value” and [...]

In a week defined by low volume and lack of conviction, mortgage markets idled ahead of the holiday last week. Friday’s post-holiday action was even slower. After falling for two consecutive weeks, mortgage rates held flat last week. It’s somewhat surprising that mortgage rates didn’t rise considering the flow of negative economic news last week: [...]

With home prices falling across most parts of the country, investors in real estate are finding good value in certain rental properties. Unfortunately, they’re also finding it harder to get approved for a home loan. After getting stung by defaults, conforming mortgage standards for non-owner occupied home loans tightened dramatically last quarter. One major change [...]

For the first time in over a year, the sales of “used homes” fell below the 5-million unit trendline, helping to push the total home inventory higher by 0.1 percent nationwide. Based on the rate at which homes are selling nationwide, it would take 11.2 months for the existing housing supply to be exhausted. For [...]

In late-November, the Federal Reserve pledged $600 billion to buy mortgage-backed securities. The announcement drove down mortgage rates and started the Refi Boom. Then, the Federal Reserve made a second series of statements after its scheduled meeting last Tuesday, causing mortgage rates to plunge again. This started the Refi Boom’s second wave. Because of the [...]

Mortgage markets improved last week for the second week in row. After the Federal Reserve said it would use “all available tools” to stimulate the economy, traders responded by driving mortgage rates to 50-year lows. It didn’t last long, however. After bottoming out early-Wednesday morning, mortgage rates trended higher all the way into Friday’s closing. [...]

During the holiday season, retailers bombard shoppers with at-the-register offers to “open a charge card and save 15%”. It’s an immediate money-saver, but for Americans in the market for a new home loan, taking advantage of the in-store savings could be a long-term loser. This is because new credit card applications are damaging to credit [...]

When it comes to mortgage rates, sometimes it’s better to “act now”. On Tuesday, mortgage rates fell to their lowest levels in 4 years. It happened because the Fed said it would “employ all available tools” to resuscitate the economy. On Wednesday, however, the markets had second thoughts. After considering the long-term implications of a [...]

The Federal Open Market Committee voted to cut the Fed Funds Rate by at least three-quarters percent today. The benchmark rate now rests in a range of 0.000-0.250 percent. In its press release, the FOMC identified three key economic sectors in which activity has weakened since October. The FOMC noted that: The U.S. job market [...]