Nashville Real Estate Forum

Weekend Market Update

Aug. 28-29, 2010

Mortgage interest rates remain in a range of record lows, although Friday’s market action reversed the larger trend as stocks were up and bonds were down. On Friday revised GDP figures from the second quarter showed that the economy grew at a 1.6% pace, which was modest yet above analysts’ expectations.

Stocks rose in an oversold rally, and for a change money moved out of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities and into stocks. Strong buying interest at a key technical level and short-covering sparked the market's comeback, and the tone improved as investors took a more positive view of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments about the economy and the Fed's readiness to act.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 164.84 points to 10,150.65. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 17.37 points to 1,064.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 34.94 points to 2,153.63. Nonetheless, the Dow and S&P 500 racked up their third week of declines in a row. For the week, the Dow was down 0.6 percent, the S&P lost 0.7 percent, while the Nasdaq gave up 1.2 percent.

Bernanke supported stocks on Friday when he told central bankers at a conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that the recovery has weakened more than expected, but the U.S. central bank was ready to take further steps if needed to spur the recovery.

The 10-year Treasury note closed at a yield of 2.65%, although its yield was as low as 2.42% earlier in the week. Price moves opposite yield in bonds, and as investors’ money moves into these instruments, the price goes up due to increasing demand, while the rate drops as it requires less of a rate yield to draw investors.

Please call me with any questions about the market or to pre-approve you for a purchase loan or to run a free analysis of what a refinance---with cash out or not---would mean for your financial bottom line. Gary Moore 615-579-8658.

30-Year Conventional Fixed

4.25% $200,000-$417,000

15-Year Conventional Fixed

3.75% $200,000-$417,000


30-Year FHA-100% VA

4.25% $100,000-$393,300


30-Year Jumbo Fixed

5.25% $417,001-$900,000

(Interest-only available-Call me)

THDA Great Start

4.8% $100,000-$393,300

4% of sales price Gift

Call for free pre-approval and to discover

the best financing for you!

...by Gary Moore

Mortgage Planner, First Community Mortgage

...a subsidiary of First Community Bank

Cell: 615-579-8658 Toll-free fax: 866-321-6513

"The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser--in case you thought optimism was dead." --Robert Brault

Visit my real estate website:

http://www.RealCarte.com

Visit my mortgage website:

http://www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.com

(0% points, 1% origination. Market Update informs consumers and Realtors on market trends, offers subjective opinions and is not a quote for a unique borrower. Reply "remove" with your name and email address to discontinue Update.)

Tips from the Trenches

HomePath Can Lead Realtors and Buyers to Special Deals on Foreclosures with 3% down, no appraisal, no mortgage insurance!

By Gary Moore

Mortgage Planner

For Realtors, a market niche to develop and buyers to make happy.

For home buyers, a home priced low and too-good-to-be-true financing.

For investors, ditto on the home priced low, ditto on the financing.

We are offering HomePath financing for Fannie Mae’s foreclosed homes. Fannie has a scheme for moving their REO (real estate owned by an institution) off the books, and it involves financing not seen since the “good old days”---you know, 4 or 5 years ago. Actually, this special financing beats even the financing deals which pushed American homeownership to new heights…and new depths.

Here is the deal for owner occupants: 3% down, no mortgage insurance required, no appraisal required. Down payment can come from a gift, a loan from a non-profit, state or local government or an employer. Seller can pay up to 6% of sales price toward borrower’s closing costs.

For an investor, it’s 10% down, and seller can pay up to 2% of sales price toward buyer’s closing costs. Still no appraisal and no mortgage insurance.

To find the homes which are eligible, go to www.HomePath.com and search by state and county. From the Fannie Mae site you can also get set up to receive alerts on new HomePath-eligible listings. Currently, there are 178 eligible listings in Davidson County and six in Williamson County.

Condos are also eligible, even those that do not meet standard loan criteria.

Homes are sold “as is,” and buyers have a 10-day inspection period.

For the first 15 days of a listing, owner-occupants get preference and have what Fannie Mae calls a “First Look” period during which only owner occupants may submit purchase contracts. Following 15 days, if the home is unsold, it’s “open season” and non-owner occupants become eligible to purchase.

Some of these homes draw multiple offers and sell quickly.

For Realtors who are interested in listing these properties, go to this web destination: http://fanniemae.com/aboutfm/procurement/reobroker.jhtml.

Please contact me for additional information or to pre-approve you or your buyers and investors to own real estate at a great price and with a financing program that exists nowhere else.

(Check out http://BrentwoodHomeLoan.com. Mortgage Planner Gary Moore produces Tips from the Trenches, copyright 2002-2010, designed as a resource for consumers and for Realtors who seek ongoing improvement, from the perspective of business partner and teammate. Contact me at 615-579-8658 for group or personal training and to pre-approve your prospects into the program which best serves their unique picture.)

Weekend Market Update

Aug. 21-22, 2010

Bonds continue to draw investors’ money away from stocks as the markets ponder weak economic data and stock markets experience declining volume.

Stocks sold off on Thursday after disappointing unemployment numbers, followed through with selling on Friday morning and then made up some losses to end the day. The Dow average was down 0.9% for the week and the S&P was down 0.7%; the Nasdaq average was up 0.3% for the week.

Data from Credit Suisse showed institutional investors had adopted a more defensive stance in the second quarter, increasing holdings in areas such as telecoms and utilities along with food, beverage and tobacco---a trend which could continue due to weak data.

The government will report GDP next week, and it is expected to show a 1.4% increase in the second quarter, down from the 2.4% rise estimated a month ago. Data on home sales will also be reported next week.

Anemic volumes on Wall Street recently -- including the lowest volume tally of the year on Monday -- will also present another obstacle as they show apprehension by investors and are unlikely to improve without a significant catalyst.

In tough times, the rich get richer, and the big fish swallow smaller fish. If there is anything catching investors’ interest in Wall Street now it is speculation as to who will be the next merger-and-acquisitions matchup. On Thursday Intel announced it was buying software maker McAfee for $7.7 billion.

Money flowing into bonds sent yields lower this week. The 2-year Treasury note was yielding .45%---an all-time record low--- at one point in Friday trading, and it closed at 0.5%. The 10-year Treasury was yielding 2.62% after briefly touching 2.53%---its lowest reading since March 2009. The 30-year bond was yielding 3.67% for a 16-month low. Selling of large issues in Treasury auctions next week could compete for bids on the market, however, and could put the brakes on the latest rally in Treasuries.

As Treasuries have been gobbled up, mortgage rates have remained low, although mortgage-backed securities got rattled twice---Wednesday and Friday---this week and closed Friday down 28 basis points to end the week down 16 basis points per the Fannie Mae 4% contract. That mortgage rates are disconnecting from the trade in Treasuries is viewed as further evidence that mortgage rates are as low as they will go.

Please call me with any questions about the market or to pre-approve you for a purchase loan or to run a free analysis of what a refinance---with cash out or not---would mean for your financial bottom line. Gary Moore 615-579-8658.

30-Year Conventional Fixed

4.25% $200,000-$417,000

15-Year Conventional Fixed

3.75% $200,000-$417,000


30-Year FHA-100% VA

4.25% $100,000-$393,300


30-Year Jumbo Fixed

5.25% $417,001-$900,000

(Interest-only available-Call me)

THDA Great Start

5.35% $100,000-$393,300

4% of sales price Gift

Call for free pre-approval and to discover

the best financing for you!

...by Gary Moore

Mortgage Planner, First Community Mortgage

...a subsidiary of First Community Bank

Cell: 615-579-8658 Toll-free fax: 866-321-6513

“Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths.”

—Bertrand Russell

Visit my mortgage website:

http://www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.com

(0% points, 1% origination. Market Update informs consumers and Realtors on market trends, offers subjective opinions and is not a quote for a unique borrower.)

Weekend Market Update

Aug. 7-8, 2010

Stocks closed up for the week, but not after a tumultuous Friday which experienced sharp selling in the morning on the heels of a weak employment report and a recovery of most of the day’s losses by the close. Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities rallied at the expense of stocks, with the 10-year closing at a 2.82% yield, which was a low not touched since April 2009.

Jobs in the private sector increased by 71,000 in July, the Labor Department reported, but that was less than the 90,000 that the market had expected. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.5%. Businesses have added new jobs for seven consecutive months, but the gains are small and suggest the economic recovery will drag out slowly.

The Federal Open Market Committee meets next week, and markets will be reading the Fed’s tea leaves. Don’t expect much variation from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony before Congress last month in which he said the economic recovery would take longer than anyone would like.

Hewlett-Packard stock dropped almost $5 after the market’s close when CEO Mark Hurd was forced to resign for filing false expense reports to cover up a relationship with a female vendor and for seeing that the woman got paid amounts that she did not earn.

With the second-quarter earnings season completed for the most part, stocks may be hard-pressed to find wind for their sails in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, as Treasury yields and mortgage rates have dropped since May, we are experiencing what I call the “Limbo Rock factor.” The popular song from the 1960s posed this question: “How low can you go?” The answer seems to be: This must be it.

While news of low inflation and economic weakness favors Treasuries and mortgage-backeds, increased piling on of such bad news now seems to be having a diminishing effect and is unable to move the markets and rates as it did earlier in this month, Friday’s rally in Treasuries notwithstanding.

Please call me with any questions about the market or to pre-approve you for a purchase loan or to run a free analysis of what a refinance---with cash out or not---would mean for your financial bottom line. Gary Moore 615-579-8658.

30-Year Conventional Fixed

4.25%   $200,000-$417,000

15-Year Conventional Fixed

3.75%    $200,000-$417,000


30-Year FHA-100% VA

4.25%    $100,000-$393,300


30-Year Jumbo Fixed

5.25%    $417,001-$900,000

(Interest-only available-Call me)

THDA Great Start

5.35% $100,000-$393,300

4% of sales price Gift

Call for free pre-approval and to discover

the best financing for you!

...by Gary Moore

Mortgage Planner, First Community Mortgage

...a subsidiary of First Community Bank

Cell: 615-579-8658 Toll-free fax: 866-321-6513

“A friend to all is a friend to none.” --Aristotle

Visit my real estate website:

http://www.RealCarte.com

Visit my mortgage website:

http://www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.com

(0% points, 1% origination. Market Update informs consumers and Realtors on market trends, offers subjective opinions and is not a quote for a unique borrower.)

Weekend Market Update

July 24-25, 2010

Stocks rose more than 3% for the week, ending with up days on Thursday and Friday as the so-called “stress test” of European banks’ liquidity proved not stressful after all.

All of the three major market indexes registered strong gains for a week that included second-quarter earnings from a slew of big-name companies. The latest boost came on Friday, when General Electric raised its quarterly dividend by 20%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 102.32 points, or 1.0%, at 10424.62, up 3.2% for the week and just four points shy of where it started the year. If the blue-chip index can keep up its pace, July will be its best month in more than a year.

The S&P 500 index finished up 0.82% at 1102.66, advancing 3.6% for the week and breaking through the psychologically significant 1,100 level for the first time this month.

The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.1% to 2269.47, up 4.2% for the week and breaking back into positive territory for the year.

GE boosted the market after it announced its first dividend increase since cutting its payouts more than a year ago. The company also said it will restart stock buybacks this quarter after an absence of nearly two years. GE's shares rose 3.3%.

The “stress test” included a measure of liquidity and reserves of European banks, and the breath-holding for the announcement turned out to be unwarranted.

Mortgage interest rates treaded water for the week, although the current Fannie Mae contract lost 12 basis points, which was directional for “up” in rates but not enough to change rate pricing signifcantly.

Please call me with any questions about the market or to run a free analysis of what a refinance---with cash out or not---would mean for your financial bottom line. Gary Moore 615-579-8658.

30-Year Conventional Fixed

4.375% $200,000-$417,000

15-Year Conventional Fixed

3.75% $200,000-$417,000


30-Year FHA-100% VA

4.25% $100,000-$393,300


30-Year Jumbo Fixed

5.5% $417,001-$900,000

(Interest-only available-Call me)

THDA Great Start

5.35% $100,000-$393,300

4% of sales price Gift

Call for free pre-approval and to discover

the best financing for you!

...by Gary Moore

Mortgage Planner, First Community Mortgage

...a subsidiary of First Community Bank

Cell: 615-579-8658 Toll-free fax: 866-321-6513

"The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Visit my mortgage website:

http://www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.com

(0% points, 1% origination. Market Update informs consumers and Realtors on market trends, offers subjective opinions and is not a quote for a unique borrower. Reply "remove" with your name and email address to discontinue Update.)

Weekend Market Update

July 17-18, 2010

I hate using the term “no-brainer.” If you tell someone, “It’s a no-brainer,” they may take it the wrong way and feel personally insulted. So I am not going to say, “To refinance in this market is a no-brainer.” I’ll just say, “This market is a game-changer.”

Defying the experts, mortgage rates have gone down this year instead of up as widely predicted. When you get too many people all saying the same thing, you know Mr. Market will do the opposite just for spite.

For all the folks I have helped earlier in this decade to get an extremely low interest rate---like in the mid 5s or higher---I am no longer going to talk you out of refinancing due to costs, no matter how many mail pieces you get from unknown brokers promising pie in the sky.

It is time to seriously look at refinancing, even if you bought a home or refinanced as recently as eight months ago. Rates have stepped a full leg down during the past 75 days. 4.5% is the new 5.5%. Many people are opting to go to 15 years at around 4% or lower to save hundreds of thousands of dollars of interest over the term of the loan, and to have the imposed discipline to pay down the loan more quickly.

Conventional wisdom during my 34 years in real estate/homebuilding/mortgage banking was that you do not pay down your mortgage---that there are better investments. When you pay down your mortgage, it’s like burying money in the back yard. You don't get to dig it back up. You are avoiding interest and nothing more. But, with “safe” investments like CDs and Treasuries yielding a pittance, it suddenly makes sense to avoid paying interest at 5% or 6% or so.

Stocks sold off hard on Friday on more news about a weak economy, and according to script, Treasuries and mortgage interest rates benefited. The 4% Fannie Mae contract rose 41 basis points this week. A “point” in mortgage world equals 1% of the loan amount, and there are 100 bps (basis points) in one discount point. One point or 100 basis points generally translates into .25% in the interest rate. So, when somebody says “rates fell,” it is more accurate to say it costs less to get such-and-such rate than it did before.

The DJIA dropped 261 points on Friday to close at 10,097 and the S&P 500 lost 31.6 points to close at 1,064. The 10-year Treasury dipped back below 3% yield and closed at a yield of 2.94%. We are looking at the 3% yield mark as a confirming indicator of mortgage rate direction.

Viewing this from another angle, would you be surprised to know that all 15 of the Dow stocks yield more in dividend than the 10-year Treasury?

I do not have the crystal ball, but I do recognize that we are at an all-time low in mortgage rates right now, today, at this time, ahora. I lean toward the concept of locking a low rate while the getting is good. Gut feeling is that this extreme position cannot go on forever or go much if any lower.

Please call me with any questions about the market or to run a free analysis of what a refinance---with cash out or not---would mean for your financial bottom line. Gary Moore 615-579-8658.

30-Year Conventional Fixed

4.375% $100,000-$417,000

15-Year Conventional Fixed

3.875% $200,000-$417,000


30-Year FHA-100% VA

4.5% $100,000-$393,300


30-Year Jumbo Fixed

5.5% $417,001-$900,000

(Interest-only available-Call me)

THDA Great Start

5.35% $100,000-$393,300

4% of sales price Gift

Call for free pre-approval and to discover

the best financing for you!

...by Gary Moore

Mortgage Planner, First Community Mortgage

...a subsidiary of First Community Bank

Cell: 615-579-8658 Toll-free fax: 866-321-6513

"Human-nature will not change." - Abraham Lincoln

Visit my mortgage website:

http://www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.com

(0% points, 1% origination. Market Update informs consumers and Realtors on market trends, offers subjective opinions and is not a quote for a unique borrower.)

Weekend Market Update

July 10-11, 2010

Mortgage rates asked the limbo rock question this week---“How low can you go?”---and the market may have given its answer as rates ended their two-month slide to historical lows. If you are considering refinancing, now is the time to pull the trigger.

Stocks were up on modest volume for the four-day trading week, and the Dow Jones average was up 5.3% and 512 points, to log its best one-week gain in almost a year. The DJIA closed at 10,198.  Stocks had been beaten down and were oversold, which likely contributed to this pop.

The 10-year Treasury moved back above 3% yield, in the face of more news of a weak economy, which usually favors bonds and mortgage-backed securities. Inventories held by wholesalers rose in May for a fifth straight month, the government reported on Friday, while sales dropped for the first time in more than a year. Wholesale inventories rose 0.5 percent and sales dropped 0.3 percent. It was the first drop since March 2009, when major stock indexes hit a 12-year low.

Bond prices fell as stocks rose on Friday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.06 percent from 3.04 percent late Thursday.

Crude oil rose 65 cents to $76.09 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Thursday's report of a drop in the number of newly laid off people seeking unemployment benefits ended a string of bad news about the job market, and it likely contributed to investors' more positive mood going into earnings season.

Call me to get pre-approved for a purchase or to explore your refinancing options. Gary Moore 615-579-8658.

30-Year Conventional Fixed

4.5% $100,000-$417,000

15-Year Conventional Fixed

4% $100,000-$417,000


FHA-100% VA

4.5% $100,000-$393,300


30-Year Jumbo Fixed

5.5% $417,001-$900,000

(Interest-only available-Call me)

THDA Great Start

5.35% $100,000-$393,300

4% of sales price Gift

Call for free pre-approval and to discover

the best financing for you!

...by Gary Moore

Mortgage Planner, First Community Mortgage

...a subsidiary of First Community Bank

Cell: 615-579-8658 Toll-free fax: 866-321-6513

"A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it." - Bob Hope

Visit my real estate website:

http://www.RealCarte.com

Visit my mortgage website:

http://www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.com

(0% points, 1% origination. Market Update informs consumers and Realtors on market trends, offers subjective opinions and is not a quote for a unique borrower.)

Weekend Market Update

July 3-4, 2010

NOTE: EVEN IF YOU HAVE A LOW INTEREST RATE ON YOUR PRESENT MORTGAGE, DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL ME AT 615-579-8658 FOR A REFINANCE ANALYSIS TO SEE WHAT YOU CAN SAVE IN MONTHLY PAYMENT. MANY HOMEOWNERS ARE TAKING THIS OPPORTUNITY TO CASH IN THEIR 30-YEAR LOAN FOR A 15-YEAR AT A RIDICULOUS RATE OF 3.875% OR THEREABOUTS. ALSO, IT’S A GOOD TIME TO REFINANCE IF YOU WANT TO PULL SOME CASH OUT OF YOUR EQUITY.

Stocks fell Friday on the heels of more bad news about the economy and job creation, but Treasury yields and mortgage interest rates failed to drop, which could indicate we have gone as low as we can with mortgage rates.

The Fannie Mae 4% MBS August delivery coupon mortgage-backed bond lost 9 basis points on the day but gained 47 points for the week as mortgage rates continued to dwell in a range of historical lows. As basis points go up in price paid for the security, rates and yields go down, and vice versa.

The 10-year Treasury broke through resistance at around 3.1% yield earlier this week, and it closed on Friday at a yield of 2.98% after touching a low of 2.89% on Thursday. Money has flowed into Treasuries and caused lower rates during the last two months of weakness in equities and concerns over the global economy.

A disappointing jobs report sent stocks falling Friday and gave the Dow Jones Industrial Average its longest losing streak since the worst days of the financial crisis. The Dow dropped 46 points Friday for its seventh straight loss and its longest slide since October 2008. The Dow and other major indexes posted big losses for a second straight week.

The government said private employers added only 83,000 jobs last month, fewer than the 112,000 analysts had forecast.

The government cut 225,000 census jobs in June. Overall, 125,000 workers lost their jobs last month, more than the drop of 110,000 analysts predicted. The unemployment rate did drop unexpectedly, sliding to 9.5 percent from 9.7 percent. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had expected it to rise to 9.8 percent. However, the decrease came as some people gave up looking for work. That means they weren't counted among the unemployed.

The government also reported that factory orders fell in May for the first time in nine months. The 1.4 pCercent drop was the biggest since March 2009, when major stock indexes hit a 12-year low.

The Dow fell 46.05, or 0.5 percent, to 9,686.48, its lowest close since Oct. 5 2009. The Dow hasn't fallen for seven straight days since an eight-day loss that ended Oct. 10, 2008.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 4.79, or 0.5 percent, to 1,022.58.

The Dow is now down 13.6 from its 2010 high of 11,205.03, while the S&P 500 is down 16 percent from its high of 1,217.28.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 9.57, or 0.5 percent, Friday to 2,091.79.

For the week, the Dow dropped 4.5 percent. The S&P 500 index lost 5 percent, while the Nasdaq dropped 5.9 percent.

The S&P 500's two-week drop is the worst since early May.

Call me to get pre-approved for a purchase or to explore refinancing options. Gary Moore 615-579-8658.

30-Year Conventional Fixed

4.5% $100,000-$417,000

15-Year Conventional Fixed

3.875% $100,000-$417,000


FHA-100% VA

4.5% $100,000-$393,300


30-Year Jumbo Fixed

5.5% $417,001-$900,000

(Interest-only available-Call me)

THDA Great Start

5.35% $100,000-$393,300

4% of sales price Gift

Call for free pre-approval and to discover

the best financing for you!

...by Gary Moore

Mortgage Planner, First Community Mortgage

...a subsidiary of First Community Bank

Cell: 615-579-8658 Toll-free fax: 866-321-6513

"It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job. It's a depression when you lose your own." - Harry S. Truman

Visit my mortgage website:

http://www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.com

(0% points, 1% origination. Market Update informs consumers and Realtors on market trends, offers subjective opinions and is not a quote for a unique borrower.)