Author: Lending Agent
Major holidays typically involve a full day market closure along with an “early close” on an adjacent day. This matters to rates because mortgage lenders decide what they can offer based on trading levels in the bond market. Mortgage lenders also need a certain amount of activity in the market if they hope to set competitive rates. As you might imagine, those “early close” days don’t tend to have as much activity, so lenders aren’t making as many adjustments as normal. In today’s case, that ended up being helpful as it limited the amount of negative adjustments. Specifically, the average…
There’s good news in the housing market to close out 2024: There’s a lot more supply on the housing market. The bad news: A lot of that supply is stale, sitting unsold for much longer than usual. Active listings in November were 12.1% higher than they were in November 2023 and hit the highest level since 2020, according to a new report from Redfin.More than half of those homes (54.5%), however, had sat on the market for at least 60 days without going under a contract of sale. That is the highest share for any November since 2019 and is up…
Because mortgage rates are determined by trading levels in the bond market, when the market is closed, lenders don’t update their rate offerings. As such, there were no rate updates last Wednesday for the Christmas holiday and the same will be true this week for New Year’s Day. In addition, it’s common practice for the bond market to close early on the day before a major holiday observance (or the day after in the case of Thanksgiving). Most mortgage lenders are still technically open on those half days, but many of them are making more conservative adjustments to rates. In…
The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) has seen a whirlwind of legal developments in recent weeks, leaving real estate investors and small-business owners grappling with uncertainty. Just days after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a federal court injunction, the same court vacated its own reversal. As of December 27, 2024, businesses impacted by the CTA are no longer required to submit beneficial ownership information reports—at least for now.This legal back-and-forth highlights the ongoing battle between transparency regulations and the rights of business owners to privacy. The tug-of-war underscores critical questions about compliance, privacy, and the potential ripple effects on…
When someone talks of a traditional lender for construction loans, they usually mention banks. Banks were the go-to for construction loans for a long time, with their low interest rates and fair turnaround times. Unfortunately, times have changed, and it is becoming harder for an average real estate investor to get a loan through the traditional route.Non-bank lending is the newer construction loan model. It offers several advantages over banks, but these non-bank or private institutions primarily have less red tape. For example, Dominion Financial Services is a leading non-bank lender. Our primary aim is to help investors and developers…
Mortgage rates didn’t move much today, and markets have been very quiet due to the holiday week. So we’ll take a quick moment for a retrospective. In September 2022, 30yr fixed mortgage rates crested 7% for the first time in more than 2 decades. The following year saw rates move momentarily under 6% and over 8% before returning to 7% by December. Surely, that broadly sideways performance in 2023 meant that a corner had been turned. Up until the past few months, 2024 indeed looked like a decisively more hopeful year. To be fair, it was still better than 2023,…
Mortgage rates are based on trading levels in the bond market and bond market activity has been extremely slow, as is normally the case during the Christmas holiday week. The side effect of the slow activity is the risk of more random volatility. In other words, bonds (and thus rates) can move in either direction (or in both directions on the same day) for no apparent reason. Today was one of those “both directions” days. At the start of the day, bonds were at their weakest levels in months. As such, it was logical to see mortgage rates begin the…
Holidays have inconsistent impacts on mortgage rates because holiday’s have inconsistent impacts on the bond market (and rates are dictated by the bond market). Bond traders (the people buying and selling the bonds that ultimately determine mortgage rates) are people too. They take vacations, or tack an extra day or two onto a scheduled holiday market closure to make for an extended holiday weekend. When more than a few traders are absent, the balance of remaining traders can make for different dynamics than would normally be seen. This can cause some distortion in rates around the holidays, typically in the…
The week’s big story is still the big jump in rates that took place after Wednesday’s Fed announcement. And while rates remain noticeably elevated on the week due to that jump, they’re set to end the week at slightly less elevated levels. Credit this morning’s inflation data for that development! Part of Wednesday’s Fed Day drama involved a renewed focus on inflation reports. That added to anxiety because Friday’s PCE inflation index is one of the two big inflation reports that come out each month. The bond market that underlies day-to-day interest rate movement is most focused on what’s known…
Real estate is built on local relationships. Information about upcoming property sales is often shared only within a trusted circle — friends, family, and close connections.Experienced investors know the best opportunities come through word of mouth. A property usually circulates before hitting a listing site, and great deals often disappear within days.Building Strong PartnershipsAccording to a study from the National Association of Realtors, over 70% of sellers choose the first agent they speak to. That means the realtor’s partners find out about the property first. As an investor, it’s important to work on relationship-building to know what’s going on in…