The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) concluded its two day meeting today with a 9-1 vote to leave the Fed Funds Rate (the rate at which lending institutions lend to each other) unchanged within its current target range of 0.00%-0.25%. Some Key Points From the FOMC Press Release: “Economic growth strengthened somewhat in the third quarter, [...]

Although there was volatility in the market last week, when all was said and done, mortgage rates remained flat for the week. Last week it looked as though a deal was in place to prevent the much feared debt default in the Eurozone. This week there appears to be doubt about the proposed “solution”, which [...]

Yesterday, mortgage rates rose on news of a solution to the debt issues affecting the Eurozone. Also affected were the Stock and Bond Markets with the Dow surging 339 points. Today, data was released for September’s Personal Income and Outlays report, Employment Cost Index (ECI) and University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment for October. The Personal [...]

Earlier this week, President Obama met with homeowners in Las Vegas and announced new HARP changes that will help “underwater” borrowers refinance their mortgages at the more competitive rates that are available today. The FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Authority) announced these changes as well and have also provided a list of FAQ’s at the end of their press release [...]

Greece, Greece, Greece The market is closely watching and waiting for a resolution to the Greek debt default drama playing out in Europe. This headache for the markets, in addition to the continued fears about the United States’ economic health, have played key roles in pushing US mortgages rates to historic record lows over the [...]

Last week was fairly stable as mortgage rates leveled off a bit after weeks of slowly moving off of all time record lows. This week will see the market watching the data data that is being released for the Consumer Confidence Index, Case Shiller Index, New Home Sales and Pending Home Sales Index. Positive news [...]

Some good news for homeowners as the Senate voted yesterday to approve a measure that would restore the high balance conforming loan limit to $729,750 in high cost areas. The amendment was added to a spending bill by Senator Robert Menendez and was approved 60-31 in the Senate. If the larger spending bill is approved, [...]

The Federal Reserve issues the Beige Book, which is a snapshot or summary of business conditions in each of the Fed’s 12 regional bank districts, eight times a year. Since each district may contain different types of economic activity in various industries, each district lends its own unique feedback to the Beige Book. The Fed [...]

We’ve seen mortgage rates trend upward over the past two weeks coming off of all time historical lows. This has been fueled by a more clear and positive outlook for preventing Greece from defaulting and an increase in investor funds back into equities. This turn away from bonds is responsible for pushing most indices such [...]

The FED (Federal Open Market Committee) released its minutes for the September meeting today. The market has noted that several FED members considered future bond purchases and suggested the market might require it, a signal of the weakness they may be seeing in the US Economy. There were also signs of disagreement among members about [...]