Below is an example from this week of what you can expect each Monday...
Greetings from casa de Cowen,
Our hearts are full…….. kind of…… or at least for the second. The boy came home yesterday. VT had a nice win Tuesday against Stanford and then didn’t put up much of a fight against Clemson. Met him back at Blacksburg to grab some things. He had his exit interview and by 4pm yesterday he was home. It’s great to have both home but then the anxiety levels quickly rise. There is more laundry than I can describe in the foyer. Will take a week to work through that. Friday morning I’m trying to get things done before an 11am meeting and I get the “ Hey dad, can you make Pancakes for breakfast” ? Get a text about 3pm after his workout, “hey dad, what’s for lunch” ? Since June of last year, he has access to one of the best college cafeterias in the country. Now, it looks like my second job will be feeding the boy. I mentioned last week the challenges of changing my routine at my age. Lots of change up in here at me Casa 😊.
Real quick reminder on one of our premier Portfolio product offerings. Was introduced to a Doctor this week from a referral source. Our Doctor Program allows for 100% financing up to $1mm, 95% to $1.25mm, and 90% to $1.5mm with no MI. It’s a 10/1 Arm ( rate fixed for 10 years ) and currently prices at 6.75% with no points / discount fees. Happy to discuss that program or any of our other niche programs we have here with our portfolio.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, another choppy week in the mortgage market. As mentioned last week, we came into the week with some uncertainty after Moody’s downgraded the US Credit rating late last Friday. Early Monday losses faded with prices / rates relatively flat by the end of Monday. Wednesday, we have a 20-year treasury auction that met with somewhat lackluster demand which helped push yields fractionally higher. By the end of the week, we are looking at rates being fractionally higher than last week getting back to about two-month highs. So where does that leave us from a rate perspective? Its simple ( kind of ), For rates to begin to move notably lower, one of threes things needs to happen:
- A sharp and sustained decline in Inflation
- A sharp and sustained decline in economic activity
- A sincere, bipartisan effort to reduce the deficit
I don’t like to talk politics, but I think regardless of what side of the isle you lean, neither side has shown a willingness of late to reduce the country’s deficit. Although a bill was passed in the House this week, that certainly did not show any meaningful impact on the national debt. The higher our national debt, the more the Treasury must auction off bonds. The more auctions, the lower the price, the higher the yield or rate. We will keep an eye on things and keep you posted but for now, no notably relief in sight for rates I am sorry to say.
Enjoy a great holiday weekend! We are around and happy to assist with any mortgage related questions or needs.