The Chicago 77

24 June 2009 ? Mortgage backed bonds opened down 6 this morning and continued to trend down to -16. The 30-year and 15-year mortgage rates are priced off of mortgage backed bonds, not the 10-year Treasury bonds as many consumers mistakenly believe. Stocks rose after an earlier report from the Commerce Dept. showed orders for [...]

15 June 2009 ? After a few sharp increases, mortgage rates went down sharply late Thursday and early Friday. They aren?t down to the previous record lows, but at least it?s a step in the right direction. The Dow is up slightly, while the Nasdaq and S&P are down just a bit. The US dollar [...]

10 June 2009 ? Last Wednesday, and again on Monday, mortgage bonds have slipped terribly. Mortgage rates have jumped three times in the last two weeks. If you didn?t lock your 5% or less by now, you might be out of luck. After one severe swing, I was pretty optimistic that things would come back [...]

03 June 2009 – Monday afternoon was a blood bath with the mortgage bonds again, plummeting over 180 bps, and sending mortgage rates up again. Should you lock a rate?…read my post on the subject first. They have crept downward a little Tuesday and Wednesday, but not to where they were. The stock market is [...]

The first thing I learned as a transactional real estate attorney was the only sign of success to the parties involved is a successful closing. For many years the fact that the buyer and seller both signed the contract was an assumption of success. I was always confident that I could resolve most issues with [...]

Monday 01 June 2009 ? Mortgage bonds were up over 130 bps last Friday, after dropping over 180 bps last Wednesday, which would have really helped push mortgage rates back down, except that they are down over 70 bps again first thing this Monday morning. Saying rates are on a roller coaster would be an [...]

So, you are facing foreclosure, and are worried and scared and don?t know what to do? Well, you are not alone. Millions of people nationwide have been foreclosed on or will be soon. There?s been all kinds of blame and finger-pointing (see my Who?s to Blame post for further info on that), but that’s not [...]

27 May 2009 – Mortgage rates move up drastically Wednesday. This is the sharpest increase we?ve seen in a while. GM seems poised for filing for bankruptcy. The stock market has taken a sharp turn downward Wednesday, after stocks had rallied Tuesday.

22 May 2009 – Yesterday Great Britain got its AAA credit rating downgraded for the first time, sending investors on a selling spree. There is concern that the same thing might happen in US. Stocks, bonds, T-notes, the US dollar are all down, which is unusual to have everything drop at once. So, Thursday afternoon [...]

19 May 2009 – We are recommending that you cautiously float as mortgage interest rates test a definite strong level of support. Today, housing starts were reported significantly lower than expected, down 12.8% to 458,000 units from the expected level of 520,000! This is the lowest number of housing starts since January 1959, over 50 [...]

14 May 2009 – Mortgage interest rates have dipped just a bit Tuesday and Wednesday. Rates have been holding low since late November. The markets opened up just a bit higher Thursday morning, with the Dow just above 8300. GM and Chrysler announced plans to lay off thousands, and close thousands of dealerships across the [...]

There are two types of 203k loans: regular 203k, and a streamline 203k. A streamline 203k has a maximum of $35,000 in repairs, and is much, much easier to get done. If you must have over $35,000 in repairs and upgrades, it can get done, but those are much more tedious and time consuming.

6 May 2009 – Stocks have crept upward this week, with the Dow being above 8,400 Wednesday morning. Tuesday and Wednesday mortgage rates have inched downward very slightly. Did you know? 1) For quite some time now, conforming and FHA fixed rates have been as good, or even better than, adjustable rates. 2) Many parts [...]