No Bull Agent

Will this Week’s Housing Data Cause Mortgage Rates to Change?

Information in this post is provided by Greg Wickstrand, Home Loan Consultant for HomeServices Lending.  He is a guest blogger who provides us information from a lender’s perspective.  For additional posts by Greg, please visit his BLOG.

What’s Ahead for Mortgage Rates this Week:  July 26, 2010
By:  Greg Wickstrand

Mortgage markets worsened last week for the first time in 6 weeks last week. Investors were pleased with corporate earnings reports and the European bank stress tests results.  Stocks gained on the news, and bonds lost.

Mortgage rates rose last week, but only slightly. Rate are still hovering near their lowest levels of all-time.

Of the bigger stories last week was Existing Home Sales. As reported by the National Association of Realtors®, sales volume was down in June and home supplies were up. But figures were a bit better than expected, giving some hope for housing.

Notably, the number of move-up buyers outnumbers first-timers and the national median home price rose, suggesting that mid-to-upper home prices are getting some support.

This week, the market gets additional two pieces of housing data to add to the mix:

1) New Homes Sales (Monday)
2) Case-Shiller Index (Tuesday)

Both will have an impact on mortgage rates. In general, better-than-expected data should cause rates to rise ; worse-than-expected data should cause rates to fall.

Also this week, there’s two consumer confidence reports, the Fed’s Beige Book, and late-in-the-week inflationary data.  Mortgage markets should remain volatile with so much news headed down the pipe.

It’s too soon to declare the current 3-month rally over, Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: california, greg wickstrand, home buyer, july 26, kaplan, Lending, market, mortgage rate, nobullagent, prudential, san diego, update

Market Update and Forecast for the week of July 19, 2010

Information in this post is provided by Ron McGowan, Senior Mortgage Consultant with PrimeLending.  He is a guest blogger who provides us information from a lender’s perspective.  For additional information on Ron, please visit his website at ILoanSanDiego.com.

Inside Lending Newsletter from Ron McGowan for the week of July 19, 2010

Market Update
INFO THAT HITS US WHERE WE LIVE…Some analysts feel the homebuyer tax credits artificially boosted the housing market by pushing forward home sales that would have happened later.  Others feel most buyers would have bought anyway.  In any case, there’s now concern about a coming drop in sales.  Well, June sales figures should still benefit from activity spurred on by the tax credits.  And tax credit sales should even help monthly reports through September, now that buyers in contract on April 30 have been given until September 30 to close.

Nonetheless, we ought to keep an eye on monthly Pending Home Sales, which track signed contracts that turn into sales a few months out.  Even though we may have a sales dip after the tax credit, the fact remains that near historic low mortgage interest rates are getting people back into the market.  These rates, combined with today’s prices, have made homes more affordable than they’ve been in years, letting many buyers move up to better neighborhoods with more choices.

But buyers shouldn’t wait.  The National Association of Realtors chief economist sees the median home price rising nationally 2% to 3% this year. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: california, july 19, kaplan, market, mortgage, nobullagent, primelending, prudential, rate, ron mcgowan, san diego, update

What Is Mello-Roos and How Can It Impact California Home Buyers?

Depending on where your home search takes you within San Diego County and the state of California, Mello-Roos may or may not be a consideration.  So, what is it and why should you care?  The short answer is that it is a special tax on homeowners who live in a community that used bonds to pay for the infrastructure within that community.  The Mello-Roos is basically the repayment for those bonds.  When we take our clients around to view homes, Mello-Roos is often viewed as a four-letter word.  Are there advantages to living in a community with this tax?  This post will discuss both sides.

Mello-Roos, also known as the Community Facilities District Act (CFD), comes from the names of its co-authors.  Senator Henry Mello and Assemblyman Mike Roos were instrumental in getting this act passed through the California State Legislature in 1982.  It was developed in response to the passing of Proposition 13 in 1978 which made it more difficult for local governments to use property tax revenue for public facilities and services.  In searching for other options to pay for these services, Mello-Roos was created.  Who decides whether a community will have Mello-Roos?

The community in which this tax is considered decides.  The vote must pass in favor of becoming a Mello-Roos community.  Once the vote passes, bonds are issued to support services such as schools, roads, parks, utility connections, sewer, police, fire and life safety.  Mello-Roos is typically paid annually or semi-annually.  The amount and term length of this tax varies from community to community.  When you break it down on a monthly basis, we’ve seen it as low as $80 per month and in upwards of $400 per month.  The term length of Mello-Roos is, on average, between fifteen to twenty years from the year the community was built. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: california, faq, home buyer, kaplan, mello-roos, nobullagent, prudential california realty, san diego