Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Monopoly

In my education, at a Junior College, State School and later Private University; something I learned in every business class I took was that competition is good. It is good for the consumer, good for the provider and is a desirable condition to have. Our government has worked diligently in past years to make sure companies like Microsoft didn't have a monopoly in the IT market. Why is it then, our government has backed every bill that will give the FOUR big banks a monopoly on mortgage lending. They helped to bail these companies out, or encouraged mergers or acquisitions and then made the rules different for banks versus brokers. Brokers are competition and with the new legislation, brokers are almost completely forced out of the market. Funny how the banks all backed that legislation. You can check out this link:
Big Banks Slashing Retail LO Compensation - 10.06.10 Real Estate News for Real Estate and Mortgage Professionals http://t.co/X5n18R0
from Think Big Work Small and see what others in this industry are saying.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Back in the Saddle again....Mortgage Insurance explained as an interest rate.

Here I am, blogging once again. But I do have loan news to share today. As of yesterday, 10/4/10, the new FHA upfront and monthly mortgage insurance premiums have been changed for any case numbers pulled on or after 10/4/10. Just looking at the numbers doesn't mean much, but seeing them as a percentage rate makes them more understandable. For a client who would like to purchase a home today they will end up paying approximately .375% higher for their loan than those whose case numbers were issued prior to Monday. Now of course it won't be in your interest rate, but that is what the new premiums do to the payments. I understand that FHA has taken losses over the past few years and that our industry is still reeling, but when interest rates start moving up, buyers will have less and less ability to purchase. Also, this new increase hinders current FHA borrowers to take advantage of these amazingly low rates, because the savings is negated in the almost double mortgage insurance. I hope this move does what the government thinks it will do.

Monday, October 4, 2010

October Already!

I desperately want to be a good blogger. But I have never been good at keeping a journal or a diary. So much changes daily in our lives; work, family, friends. We have this great new world of media that allows us to touch base, but do we have the social interaction that we really need? I wonder if in the years and generations to come we will see a bigger split from family and friends? Do we really know one another? How easy is it to be whomever you want on this great wide web that we post to? You can tweet, facebook, blog, etc...whatever you want, but can you hold a conversation. I wonder where it will all lead...