Nashville Real Estate Forum

Weekend Market Update

Feb. 14-15, 2009

NOTE TO REALTORS AND BUILDERS: Enhance your value to prospects by forwarding Weekend Market Update to them. It's also a good way to keep in touch and keep you in the pole position of their thinking about real estate. Print these and spread out at your open houses as a possible ice-breaker or converation starter. Leading questions to prospects: "Do you know where mortgage rates are today?" or "Do you like to keep up with interest rates and the markets?"

ANOTHER NOTE: If you have a listing outside Williamson or Davidson County---or a listing in Williamson County in Fairview, Thompson's Station, College Grove or Nolensville---please contact me to see if it is eligible for a USDA Rural Housing Loan. It could be your secret weapon to getting a buyer.

Bonds opened in negative territory and stayed that way through Friday's early market close ahead of the President's Day holiday on Monday. Mortgage rates were pressured upward in tandem with bond yields. Stocks were weak, too, as the DJIA closed down about 82 points at 7,850, its lowest close since Nov. 20. The 10-year Treasury note closed at a yield of 2.88% after Treasuries enjoyed a mid-week rally and mortgage rates in concert presented refinancing homeowners a window of opportunity to lock at 4.75%.

What could push rates up? Market players are wary of massive amounts of debt the Treasury Department will need to auction in the future to fund government bailout and stimulus expenditures. Treasury may have to increase yields on bills, notes and bonds-at some point, sooner or later-to attract foreign and domestic investors if the market gets flooded with an over-supply relative to demand.

Another factor that could pressure rates up is the prospect that stocks will rally when Congress and the President finalize the stimulus package. That would likely pull money from bonds and mortgage-backed securities and into stocks. We will have to wait and see on that one-that expectation may be a topic for conjecture for traders today, but the opposite view is that the stimulus bill in already priced into the market, and the finalization will not move markets and could spark sell-the-news action.

The University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment was Friday's only relevant data on the schedule. It showed a reading of 56.2 that was well below forecasts of 60.2. This shows consumers were much less optimistic about their own financial situations than analysts had expected. That is usually good news for bonds and mortgage rates because it indicates consumers are less likely to make large purchases in the near future.

Mortgage world is currently rattled by the flood of refinances which have been slammed against lenders who have trimmed staff to brace for continued slow times. There is a way to "game" this market and win, be you a refinancer or buyer of a home or investment property. I have the way to do it. It involves having the self-discipline to listen to good advice and following it, rather than applying the thought processes and logic you have learned from the rest of the world, which has no correlation to the way this market behaves.

30-Year Conventional Fixed

5% $200,000-$417,000

FHA-100% VA

5.5% $100,000-$393,300

100% Guaranteed Rural Housing w/no MI

5.5% $100,000-$417,000

30-Year Jumbo 3/1 ARM (10% down, No MI)

5.45% $417,001-$600,000

30-Year Super Jumbo Fixed

6.15% $750,000-$1,500,000

Call for free pre-approval and to discover

the best financing for you!

...by Gary Moore

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

"O gold! I still prefer thee unto paper which makes bank credit like a bank of vapour." - Calvin Coolidge

Visit my real estate website:

http://www.REALCARTE.com

Visit my mortgage website:

http://www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.com

(0% points, 1% origination, 30-day lock, subject to program. Market Update informs on market trends and is not a quote for a unique borrower.)