Specializing in Batesville Mortgages, Indiana Home Loans, Batesville Second Mortgages, Batesville Indiana Debt Consolidation

 Welcome to Flagship Mortgage Corporation's Mortgage Market Monitor

Jan 16, 2009

Good news in the mortgage rate department - rates continue to hover in the 5-5.25% range for 30 yr money with good credit.  Most experts see the range not changing a lot next 3-4 months then creeping up as Obama infusion of nearly A TRILLION dollars starts to drive inflation (oh and gas prices will probably head north again too :-(

BAD news - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are increasing fees and down payment required to get a "conforming" loan - down payments of at least 10-20% for credit scores under 660 are going to become the norm - FHA, VA and USDA continue to look like the safe haven for more and more people!

Refi boom underway and clogging the pipelines of most banks and wholesale lenders (good news, but nobody really wants a flood when they are praying for rain!) - be patient and be willing to take a longer lock at perhaps a slightly higher fee - that way you get protected if the process stays slow and the rates creep up.

Be on the look out for heated debate about Down Payment Assistance programs for FHA - these were eliminated last fall as part of the "modernization" act for FHA - but realtors and consumers groups are clammoring to have them reinstated.

As credit continues to tighten with lenders like JP MORGAN CHASE and CITIBANK be sure to protect yourself against cuts in credit lines or caps on your credit cards - FHA cash out refis to 95% could be a great way to preserve low rates on your debt.

Till next time!


Jan 9, 2009

Well 2009 is starting out with a BANG - mortgage rates are lower than ever in recorded history.  Who would have thought we might see 30 yr mortgage rates under 5%?  NOT this expert!

The good news is there is plenty of money to lend - don't believe for a minute that the "credit crisis" or mortgage bailout is limiting money for traditional mortgages!!

So if you are looking to buy a home or refinance one you have never seen rates this good before.

Property values in SE IN and SW OH are pretty stable at this point so refinancing should be straightforward in most cases - but it's good to get an expert's opinion on your credit situation and your home value- in some cases we are seeing values shrink by 5-10 since the peak in 2004.

Applications are up 5-6 times over what they were 45 days ago so be prepared for a longer than normal process - lenders are a bit shorthanded for this spike in volume after cutting back to severely during 2008.

As always, we offer free consultations and preapprovals.  And be aware - a rate quote over the phone or in a newspaper or website without knowing your COMPLETE picture of income, credit, home value, etc is NOT reliable.  Make sure you get it done right!!

Till next time!



ARCHIVES

The residential mortgage market is UNDER SIEGE and I am here to help you monitor it and guide you through it. 

First, a bit about our company relative to the current market mess.  Flagship Mortgage Corporation's Batesville, Indiana branch office is a relatively boring mortgage company.  Well over 90% of our lending is standard, vanilla mortgages that are supported by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or Fannie Mae.  These loans are fully documented and have a standard loan amount vs. home value ratio.  As a Company, our default rate, or the number of our loans that have ended in foreclosure is less that 0.02 or two tenths of 1%.  We do not place people into loans that they cannot afford and will come back to bite them.  Net, our business has been largely unaffected by the recent meltdown in the mortgage market outside of dealing with changes in mortgage interest rates. 

Thanks to our experience and expertise in staying out of risky home lending, we are well positioned to help people who are struggling with out of control mortgages or simply trying to take advantage of the outstanding buying market we are experiencing.

 

CAMERON'S MORTGAGE MARKET NEWS

For my $$$, the news feed below is the BEST for UNDERSTANDING what's happening in the mortgage markets vs. just reporting "news".   News is just set of facts.  These articles put learning around these facts.

Please read the articles below so you understand why the market is moving and how best to protect yourself or profit from these moves!

Mortgage and Housing at Seeking Alpha

  • Reality Check for Bank Investors, Mortgage Investors and Home Buyers
    Reggie Middleton submits:

    Last week I posted a Bloomberg news article supporting my suspicions that investors are putting bad loans back to the banks at an increasing rate. I used JP Morgan (JPM) as a specific example - Banks Swallow Another $30 billion or So in More Losses as Their Share Prices Surge (Again).

    A few commenters on syndicated sites appeared to have really underestimated the significance of this development. In the article, it is alleged that Freddie (FRE) and Fannie (FNM) are forcing banks to eat up to $30 billion in soured mortgages under the warranties and representations clauses of the sales contract. To highlight the significance of this development, let me remind all that Fannie and Freddie are benchmarks for mortgage lending in the US.


    Complete Story »
  • E-House Holdings: Beats Earnings Estimates, Raises Guidance
    Trader Mark submits:

    E-House Holdings (EJ), despite stellar earnings, seemed to go into a tailspin a few months ago due to fears of a percolating real estate bubble in parts of China. While the pace of news stories on that front has only increased of late (NYT - Skyrocketing Prices May Point to Real Estate Bubble in China) the stock has rebounded with the return of speculators into the US-listed Chinese small and mid cap stocks the past few weeks. It certainly seems that, based on these corporate results, the stock was unfairly hit the past few months, once more showing the market is less about reality and more about perception of reality. Companies in far worse fundamental shape have been skyrocketing for months without a care in the world. (Click to enlarge)

    Earnings reports for both E-House, and its subsidiary China Real Estate Information (CRIC) were released yesterday and were quite good. The full report for E-House is available here.


    Complete Story »
  • MBA Application Survey for March 10, 2010 Shows Limited Affects of Quantitative Easing
    Sold At The Top submits:

    The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) publishes the results of a weekly applications survey that covers roughly 50 percent of all residential mortgage originations and tracks the average interest rate for 30 year and 15 year fixed rate mortgages, 1 year ARMs as well as application volume for both purchase and refinance applications.

    The purchase application index has been highlighted as a particularly important data series as it very broadly captures the demand side of residential real estate for both new and existing home purchases.


    Complete Story »
  • Sources of Leverage in a Rational Housing Market
    Casey B. Mulligan submits:

    Houses are valuable because people like to live in them, or at least (as with many second homes) know that space is available for them to live in. The fundamental value-added of a house over, say a year's time frame, therefore depends on how effectively a particular structure satisfies that demand, as compared to alternative structures that existed that year.

    There are two fundamental, yet universally ignored, reasons why the purchase price of a house might vary more than the flow of value-added.


    Complete Story »
  • Barney Frank on Second Lien Mortgages: Time to Shoot the Messenger?
    Bruce Krasting submits:

    Monday, Barney Frank came out with a letter addressed to some of the big banks putting some muscle on them. He wants them to write off their second lien mortgages. He thinks the seconds are junk. His words:

    Large numbers of these second liens have no real economic value.


    Complete Story »
  • China's Housing Bubble Spells Trouble
    Rob Abbanat submits:

    I am loath to rent. I just can’t stomach the idea of paying for someone else’s mortgage. When I first arrived in China back in 2006, I fully intended to buy property once I got the lay of the land. But when I started looking, I quickly realized that residential real estate was pricey, even by Boston standards.

    And since then, it has only gone up. Conversely, rents are very reasonable and have increased only modestly. Renting here always seems to make more sense than buying. Anyway, after nearly four years in China, I spent the last two weeks looking for a new apartment to rent in a better part of town, which has opened my eyes to what appears to be a frighteningly large bubble. While I haven’t done any formal research, there is a tower of anecdotal evidence that suggests that the current market prices of residential real estate are unsustainably high, at least in Shanghai and other first-tier cities.


    Complete Story »
  • Addressing Second Lien Writedowns
    Rortybomb submits:

    R.A. (Ryan Avent!) writes in response to my previous entry:

    [Mike's thesis] places the government in a bind. If it forces banks to write down worthless second mortgages to clear the way for new modifications, then the banks suddenly look shaky again. If it doesn’t, then lots of homeowners are stuck in loans they can’t modify and may not be able to afford.


    Complete Story »
  • Analyzing the Real Forces Behind Current Housing Supply and Demand
    Jeff Miller submits:

    OK, here I go with another educational concept that has no immediate and actionable investment advice. I heard a couple of uninformed comments about housing. One was that the market needed to push prices down so that it would clear. This reflects ignorance. Markets clear at the current price.

    The other was about shadow supply. Let's take a closer look.


    Complete Story »
  • Two Years Until Market-Clearing Prices Hit Housing - Dan Alpert
    Edward Harrison submits:

    Ann Lee and Dan Alpert joined Bloomberg’s Pimm Fox Tuesday to talk about the housing market recovery. Lee, a professor of finance at New York University, was sceptical that population growth predicts any substantial increase in housing transactions and prices simply due to the continued pressure on wages and disposable income. and Dan Alpert, managing director at Westwood Capital LLC, said we are not looking at market-clearing prices in the near-term because home ownership percentages need to drop. This process will take two to two and a half years in his view.

    Short clip below.


    Complete Story »
  • Did Anticipated Government Subsidies to the Mortgage Market Magnify the Housing Price Cycle?
    Casey B. Mulligan submits:

    In 2008 I was of the opinion that easy monetary policy cannot explain much of the housing boom. When Professors Krugman and Delong came to agree with me, I immediately realized that I was likely wrong.

    Here was my reasoning in 2008:


    Complete Story »

 

Today is 03/10/2010

 

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