A lot of people are nervous about what they are reading in the newspaper and hearing on TV. But how can you blame them? The media is bombarding people with reports about the housing decline and the sub-prime mortgage mess. However, Chief ECONOMIST for the National Mortgage Bankers Association,
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10/23/2007
While the "adverse effects" the Fed expressed concern about may ultimately show themselves, the collective economic picture has been fair to even pretty good, overall. Even with recent revisions suggesting that hiring remains soft, there has been no outright decline in hiring, and reasonably full
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10/18/2007
Now that the Fed's move to lower interest rates has been more fully digested, inflation concerns have arisen anew. Joining gold and oil in flashing inflation signals have come other commodities, notably corn and now wheat. Core measures of inflation, which exclude much of the effects of the risin
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10/04/2007
The Federal Housing Administration will prohibit borrowers from using seller-financed down payment assistance programs that have helped hundreds of thousands of people buy homes but have come under the scrutiny of federal authorities. Such programs allow home sellers to give money to charities, w
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10/02/2007
A lot of people are nervous about what they are reading in the newspaper and hearing on TV. But how can you blame them? The media is bombarding people with reports about the housing decline and the sub-prime mortgage mess. However, Chief ECONOMIST for the National Mortgage Bankers Association, Do
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09/28/2007
The Fed also lowered the cost of borrowing directly from the Fed itself via the "Discount Window," where banks can pledge assets as collateral and receive loans of cash against them. In the past couple of weeks, those infusions of liquidity have helped ease the logjam in credit markets to a degre
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09/26/2007
In a kind of reversal of fortune, conforming 30 FRM averages moved up this week, while jumbo 30 FRM averages edged down, narrowing the gap between them to "only" 85 basis points. Given the extraordinarily wide markup over a comparable 10-year Treasury, there is plenty of room for fixed mortgage r
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09/25/2007
Your past customers are the most powerful people on your sales and marketing team. Don't you wish they could sit on your shoulder and tell everyone how great you are; how you helped them with their mortgage; how you changed their lives!The single most powerful method of subtle endorsement is the
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09/25/2007
Part of being a success as a loan officer is creating a brand by making your product memorable in the minds of your current and future clients. In the mortgage industry you are the product. What is an effective way to make yourself memorable?The Generic ApproachUsing a generic approach in your bu
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09/24/2007
But, as investors wait for the next shoe to drop, there is some hope that August might have been the bottom for hedge funds. With the Federal Reserve expected to cut interest rates next week, there has been some optimism that the markets will soon begin to reverse course and become more favorable
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09/13/2007
