Blog - JVM Lending

U.S. Dollar at Record Highs & Twitter Is Panicking! Why?

September 26, 2022/in Interest Rates, Mortgage Industry, Our Blog

The U.S. dollar is again hitting record highs, and it is much stronger than it was even a few months ago when I last blogged about it: Why a Strong U.S. Dollar Is Terrifying! My favorite way to gauge the dollar’s strength is by watching the DXY Index. The chart at the bottom of this […]Read More

DEFLATION Coming Soon To A Theater Near You!

September 23, 2022/in Interest Rates, Our Blog

Stephanie Pomboy is the founder of a macro research firm called MacroMavens, and she was on this Wealthion Podcast recently, and it was so interesting I had to blog about it! I was fascinated by her insistence that we face DEFLATION as early as next year because everyone is talking about how entrenched INFLATION is […]Read More

The Fed Raised Rates And Something VERY UNUSUAL HAPPENED!

September 22, 2022/in Interest Rates, Our Blog

The Fed raised the Fed Funds Rate yesterday by 0.75% and long-term rates actually increased (a lot) after the announcement. This is very unusual for several reasons: The markets had long anticipated the 0.75% hike and had “priced it in” already. The Fed only controls short-term rates and not long-term (30-year fixed) rates, so long-term […]Read More

Where’s the Inventory Glut? A VW at 3% vs. A Porsche at 6%

September 21, 2022/in Homebuying, Mortgage Industry, Our Blog

I shamelessly stole my headline from Brian Stevens in his most recent The National Real Estate Post video. His point of course was that yes, rates are way up, but buyers in many markets can get way more house for their money in light of all the price reductions (something we are definitely seeing in […]Read More

Investors Dumping Inventory vs. Mortgage Rate Lockdowns!

September 19, 2022/in Homebuying, Interest Rates, Our Blog

BIG PROBLEMS AHEAD FOR REAL ESTATE INVESTORS! That was the title of this tweet from Nick Gerli, a real estate guru on YouTube. He said: “The 6-month US Treasury now yields…the same as Buying & Renting Out a House in America…Translation: Big Real Estate Investor selloff coming. Especially among Wall Street owners.” And, in response […]Read More

Rates at 2008 Levels! When Will Rates Fall?

September 16, 2022/in Interest Rates, Our Blog

Mortgage Rates Top 6% for the First Time Since the 2008 Financial Crisis The above is a WSJ headline for this article. Rates are also back to where they were … way back in June and somehow we survived July and August 😊 Rates shot up this week in response to higher than expected inflation […]Read More

Wedding Cash Gifts For Down Payments!

September 15, 2022/in Down Payment, Our Blog

This is a short blog, but it is a great reminder for every agent working with or catering to newlyweds! Cash received for a wedding gift can be used towards a down payment – without any of the paper trail or gift letter hassles normally associated with down payment gifts. This is for conforming (Fannie/Freddie) […]Read More

Is Tech Taking Over Real Estate and Mortgages?

September 14, 2022/in Our Blog, Real Estate

I have a very successful friend who owns a mortgage bank, and who still originates loans just to stay in the game. He spent six months pre-approving, educating and counseling a young millennial couple – only to see them leave for another lender offering an 1/8% lower rate after they got into contract. This was […]Read More

Provide Rental Comp Data to Appraisers (More Important Than You Realize)

September 12, 2022/in Appraisals, Our Blog

We have had numerous deals almost die or come close to dying over the years – solely because our appraisers could not find adequate rental comp data. There are several reasons why we often need to support the full market rent in an appraisal, including: The borrowers often need every penny of the rent to […]Read More

Inflation Drives Interest Rates – Except When The Fed Gets Involved

September 9, 2022/in Interest Rates, Our Blog

As most people know, inflation drives interest rates because investors do not want to accept yields that are lower than the inflation rate because they will effectively be losing money if they do. If you loan somebody $1,000 for one year at 5%, and inflation is at 8%, at the end of the year, you […]Read More

I Witnessed A Death…

September 8, 2022/in Our Blog, Self Education

And have to talk about it. And OK – it was the death of a very successful local business, and my subject line is too “click-baity” I realize, but this blog is very timely and interesting, I promise. The business was the local Italian restaurant that I have been visiting frequently for over 25 years. […]Read More

The Fed’s Raising Rates 3/4%! OMG! CoreLogic Predicting 4% Home Appreciation Still!

September 7, 2022/in Interest Rates, Our Blog

The Fed let it be known yesterday that it will definitely raise the Fed Funds Rate by 0.75% on September 21st… and the market yawned. As Barry Habib reminded us this morning, everyone used to engage in a huge guessing game – in regard to what the Fed might do. And – if the Fed […]Read More

Why’s Inflation Higher in U.S.? Scary LinkedIn Indicator! I Missed Something HUGE!

September 2, 2022/in Our Blog, Self Education

Today’s blog is a “random show” – hitting a few (really interesting) topics briefly. SOMETHING HUGE I MISSED: RISING INCOMES! In my blog yesterday about putting rising housing payments in perspective, I missed one of the most important points: RISING INCOMES! Incomes have risen sharply since 2015, particularly in the tech world, greatly offsetting the […]Read More

Rising Housing Payments – In Perspective!

September 1, 2022/in Interest Rates, Our Blog, Real Estate

The below chart was circulating on Twitter recently – and it of course made potential homebuyers unnecessarily apprehensive. Yes, payments have surged, but I want to put this in perspective. Interest Rates: While rates have risen sharply from the lows we saw during the COVID crisis, they are only about 2% higher than where […]Read More

This Ain’t 2008 – Again

August 31, 2022/in Homebuying, Mortgage Industry, Our Blog

I COULD ROTATE MY FOOT 270 DEGREES – SO NATURALLY, I PANICKED About 15 years ago, I turned my entire knee into butter while I was skiing at Squaw Valley (now Palisades Tahoe). I was skiing with a bunch of way-too-cautious boomers that day, so I escaped during lunch to do one fast run. Wanting […]Read More

The True Cost of “Low Rate” Commercial Bank Mortgages

August 29, 2022/in Homebuying, Interest Rates, Our Blog

Some regional commercial banks are buying the jumbo loan market right now with very aggressive rates. BUT – they come with an enormous cost that most borrowers do not take into account. At one of the more prominent banks – that cost is a mandatory deposit equal to 15% of the mortgage! In other words, […]Read More

Fed: “We’re Going to Beat The Shit Out Of You Until Inflation Goes Away”

August 26, 2022/in Interest Rates, Our Blog

Fed Chair Powell spoke today in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in a much-anticipated speech – and it roiled the markets. Here is a brief summary in case readers are interested. CONTINUED RATE INCREASES/0.75% HIKE LIKELY. Powell implied that the Fed is going to continue raising rates aggressively, despite “some pain to households and businesses” (hence my […]Read More

Housing As A “Nest Egg” – Why Homeowners Have Far Higher Net Worths

August 25, 2022/in Financial Planning, Homebuying, Our Blog

The average net worth of Americans who own homes is $1.1 million. The average net worth of Americans who don’t own homes is about $96,000 – according to this Business Insider article. Do homeowners have high net worths because they came from wealth, or do they have high net worths because they bought homes? I […]Read More

Free Refis Aren’t Free

August 24, 2022/in Interest Rates, Our Blog, Refinance

An agent recently told us he only refers his clients to “one loan officer” because that loan officer “offers a ‘free’ refi to all of his clients in 6 months, if rates fall.” We tried to explain to the agent that there is no such thing as a free refi, and that every lender in […]Read More

The Car Wash Indicator (Scariest of All)

August 22, 2022/in Our Blog, Real Estate

We are sharing these stories from a local car wash, which has been 'ground zero' for a local indicator for looming recessions.Read More

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