Mortgage Rates Update, 4.85%, 3.22.10

Good Morning,

Last night, the House of Representative passed the Healthcare Reform bill.  The vote was certainly not unanimous. Although the markets are not sure how to react just yet, the news could be a big factor over the next days and weeks depending on how everything shakes out.

This week the Fed will invest the last of its $1.25Trillion into Mortgage Backed Securities.  The money has been systematically buying up mortgage pools since late November 2008.  As you can see from the graph below, the PRICE paid for mortgages on Wall Street has been held nice and high during this time, resulting in low mortgage RATES offered to our borrowers.

Time will tell how long this holds out.  For now, my 30 year Conventional is at 4.875% and FHA is at 4.75%.

Let’s have a great week!

Jeremy Plouzek, CML, ALM

Security Home Mortgage

576 South State, Orem Utah 84058

Office: (801)764-0111

Who's to blame for the boom?

mortgage_longview.gifSo, real estate values have been steadily increasing over the past decade or so, and then we had the boom.  Who is to blame for the boom?

A closer look at who is actually making the loans in insightful.  As you can see, 4 major players are in the market:  1)  Government Sponspored Entities (Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (and FHA)), Commercial banks, thrifts, and ABS issuers.

Who are ABS issuers?  Well, they weren’t even born until the mid 80′s, and they quickly crashed.  But it can be argued, and well documented, that ABS issuers contributed to, and largely influenced the CRASH that we are paying for today. [Read more...]