California Mortgage News: August 2006

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Mortgage Rates Continue Up and Down Pattern

And this week, they are down.

Mortgage rates, that is. The one week up, two weeks down, two weeks up pattern continues as the markets try to outguess where the Federal Reserve is going with rates, fewer people apply for mortgages, and housing sales in some parts of the country also slide.

This is a holding pattern design to signal the markets not to panic. Aggressive moves in either direction would signal panic. Begin cutting rates and the market would perceive that the you are trying to jumpstart the housing sector again. Raising rates would also be equally problematic. So expect the continued pattern of up/down.

Peer-To-Peer Lending: A Prototype For The Future Of Mortgage Lending

Newsweek Magazine's Tip Sheet section last week featured two Web sites that have nothing to do with real estate or mortgage financing but may illustrate the future of the mortgage lending game.

It is not such a stretch to see a prospective homebuyer logging on to (example) Helpmebuy.com or some such with a request for the $250,000 he figures he needs to buy a home and the rate he is willing to pay and be pre-approved by a single lender or 1,000 of them in a matter of hours. This would truly be "lenders bidding for your business".

Per to per lending is more viable when dealing with business proposition. For example getting micro loans for a new startup. I have considered using Prosper.com for various projects. Using them to buy a loan just isn't viable I think since it's apparent raising $20,000-$30,000 this way simply isn't viable for most people. Most stories tend to be hard luck cases or attractive females.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Housing Bubble Watch: Building Stats Slip As Does Builder Confidence

The two monthly reports that measure the health of the home construction industry were released this week. The U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued its report on housing starts in June and the National Association of Home Builders in conjunction with Wells Fargo published their monthly Housing Market Index (HMI) for July. Taken together the two reports are...