Welp… this does not bode well: “CAUTION: Home buying conditions have collapsed to levels NEVER seen since 1960”
I hate it when that happens.
The above is from a post on X from Bravos Research; I suggest opening it, as the chart is foreboding at best.
But yet, we’re having one of our busiest Januarys in years…(a nice reminder that there’s still a lot of business out there).
I so badly want to say that it’s because we’re rock stars, but we’re really just doing the same things that other busy lenders are doing (I know this because I meet with several regularly).
This includes offering weekend availability and prompt callbacks, offering marketing assistance to agents (this is huge right now), facilitating temporary buydowns (also huge), and offering unique products, as I discussed in this recent blog: 40% Of Our Business Is Non-Traditional Financing.
Reminder: We also have a slide deck that we share with agents that refutes the housing doomsayers.
Temporary Buydowns Galore
This is what really makes me happy: we are finally seeing a huge influx of contracts with credits for temporary buydowns!
Offering rates in the 4% range works wonders for moving listings and getting reluctant buyers off the sidelines.
I am sharing a link to JVM’s cost of buydowns spreadsheet again, as we had dozens of requests for the spreadsheet last week (and we got RAVE reviews): JVM Lending’s Cost of Buydowns Calculator
Adjustable-Rate Mortgages (Arms) Are Back!
News surfaced recently that sent cheers across America. It was beautiful to behold too, as it was the kind of news that can unite us all!
The 10-Year Treasury Yield is now HIGHER than the much shorter term 2-Year Treasury Yield. I know – it gives me goosebumps too!
What this actually means is that the “yield curve” un-inverted and returned to “normal,” where bonds with longer term maturities have higher yields than bonds with shorter term maturities.
And what that means is that ARMs are back, as we can now offer 7/6 and 10/6 ARMs at rates that are as much as 1/2% lower than 30-year fixed rates.
When the yield curve is inverted, ARM rates are often similar to or only marginally better than 30-year rates.
Reminder #1: A 7/6 ARM is a loan that has a fixed rate for 7 years before rolling over to a 6-month adjustable.
Reminder #2: Very few people keep their mortgages longer than 7 years, making ARMs much less risky and more viable than most borrowers realize.
