September 2, 2011 Week in Review

Once again, another month has passed. Economically the numbers favor slightly better rates due to the news regarding the lag in job growth (there wasn’t any). Though rates are holding steady this week as the numbers show we had a bit of improvement at about .08%. The difficult aspect to gage on refinances is the length of the lock. With the increased volume, many companies are forcing longer lock periods in order to handle the volume. Don’t fear though, the rates are still very low and we are poised to see them stay in this range for another couple of weeks. If you or someone you know needs to refinance, don’t wait too long, because well, as I always say…you just never know.

Weekly Review:

• Stock Market drops after Bad Jobs Report – When one set goes up, the other tends to go down. Those “sets” are the stock market and the bond market. They tend to follow an inverse path, though through these recent economic times that isn’t always the case. As you can see above, today that holds true. As the stock market goes negative, the bond market improves. So rate are edging lower and these low rates may continue this trend if the economic news worsens. You can read a brief article here.

• Boom in Refinances – One of my favorite financial sites is Bloomberg.com as you can see by this article, the volume of loans has increased significantly and has swamped lenders. Outside of just purchase business, my refinance portfolio has seen this same increase, which means more work involved. Another interesting note, the number of “mortgage industry jobs fell to 239,100 from 259,700 (last year) and more than 500,000 in 2003”. All of this is good news as that means the mortgage industry is professionalizing itself in such a way that only dedicated professionals work the business. Keep those refinances coming, they are good for the homeowners and good for business.

• Labor Day Weekend – Be safe and remember, when Labor Day weekend is upon us it signals the start of the NFL and College Football. I couldn’t believe it when I turned the TV on yesterday and there was ASU, playing its first regular season game. They won, which they should against UC Davis. In the NFL, we are out of pre-season and with it comes the hopes that the team that you support will not let you down over the next 4 months. It will all be over in a flash, but here is to hoping that our home town team, those Cardinals, will be good enough to keep us entertained into early February.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or if you know of any person that is considering a refinance. I would be happy to take a look at their financial picture to see if refinancing makes sense. I have helped a lot of newer clients recently with these low rates and would like to help those out who mean the most to you.