March 19th: RESPA update, and lots of good news for mortgage prices!

March 19th, 2008 · No Comments

march-19th-respa-update-and-lots-of-good-news-for-mortgage-prices

In all seriousness, I met with a realtor Tuesday evening and she was very polite and enthusiastic.

I ordered a #2, supersized, and she told me to drive to the second window.

We had another roller coaster day yesterday after the Fed lowered overnight Fed Funds by 75 basis points. What’s wrong with that? Nothing, but they expressed concern about inflation, two Fed Governors dissented, and it wasn’t the 100 basis points that some were expecting. Suddenly mortgage originators began locking/selling production, driving prices down and rates higher. On top of that, stocks rallied. Some analysts believe that lately the Fed “euphoria” has only been lasting a few days. In fact so far this morning, with no news, the 10-yr’s yield is 3.45% and mortgage prices are better by roughly .250.

More good news for mortgage rates! As we all know, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have released eligibility and pricing guidelines for their new conforming-jumbo securities programs, and are expected to capture market share for newly conforming borrowers with LTV’s below 80% and FICO’s above 660, while weaker credit borrowers