Washington Mortgage Planner-straight up mortgage advice and commentary

Hello all: I sit here typing and the thermometer is still above 100 degrees. It was Ethel Waters who stated it best in the song "We're havin' a heat wave". By the way, this is according to Google. I think Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye may have reprised the song in "White Christmas".

Today the thermometer hit 102 in Seattle, an all-time record since temperatures started being recorded. Seldom are we warmer than most parts of the nation but I'm sure we are now.

Today I was at 2 events in Seattle and they both closed early. One was at the library and the second at a cafe for lunch. And the trend is supposed to continue through tomorrow. We've had five consecutive days of 90 degree plus weather.

What's the weather like in your neck of the woods? Hopefully you're staying cool. Have a nice evening!

Good morning all: I hope you're enjoying your summer so far. We've had the nicest summer weather-wise I can ever remember. It actually is rivalling the great summers I remember as a boy in my small town.

The topic du jour is golf and real estate. I was thinking about the similarities this morning. I recently played golf again after a nine month hiatus. And I played pretty well. A friend of mine exlained that I had no memory of all the bad habits I'd developed before. I could just go out and play. I think the same can be said for our real estate careers.

The last couple of years haven't always been fun. I've kept my eye on the ball pretty well but, at times, have wondered when my business will start reaping the rewards of my labors (I've been doing loans for slightly over 3 years now). Last Friday, I popped in one of Brian Buffini's Turning Point tapes. It had been a while. For those of you who don't know who Brian Buffini is, he teaches real estate and other professionals how to build their business through referral.

But I digress. The reason why I wanted to listen to Brian Buffini is I knew I needed to get back to the basics. Golf is similar. I think one of the reasons I've played better this year is I relaxed, kept my eye on the ball and didn't get upset if I hit a bad shot.

Our real estate career is similar. Most or all of us love what we do. But, sometimes, we forget what got us to where we are. That's when it's time to get back to the basics. Pop that inspirational tape in, have coffee with a referral partner, hold that Open House, write that overdue Thank You, call your database to check in. And don't sweat things so much!

Golf is a beautiful game meant to be enjoyed. Our real estate career can be too. What do you think? What are you doing to enjoy and prosper at your job? Thanks for reading! Have a great day!

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Hello all: I must be in vacation mode. This is a shot of Upper Priest Lake in northern Idaho. My family has had a lake cabin here since 1982. I've decided it's my favorite place on earth and feel fortunate to spend vacation time there. What do we do while we're there? Not too much. Obviously, we boat and we swim. We also hike, pick huckleberries and look forward to Happy Hour every day at 5!

If you've never been to Priest Lake I encourage you to go. It's about a 6-7 hour drive from Seattle and a couple hours north of Spokane. What you'll find is the most amazingly beautiful place on earth. It's like stepping back in time where cell. phones and computers don't work all the time. This is where I'm headed next week for a week. Tell me what your vacation plans are. I'm curious. And if you're ever in the area, stop in. It's our little slice of heaven! Have a great weekend!

 O.k. So I couldn't figure out how to get the picture to upload. I'm a beginner. Trust me, this lake is beautful if you've never been there. 22 miles long of unspoiled wilderness!

I'm sitting here on an absolutely glorious day in Bellevue, Washington writing this mortgage market report. We've had the nicest summer I can remember and there appears to be no letup. I hope the same can be said of you wherever you are.

I think the market is picking up, albeit slowly. We're probably always the last to get hit and the last to turn around. That being said, things were probably never as difficult as in other parts of the country. But we did have a big slowdown here just like everywhere else. This summer marks the first time since 2007 that there has been increased activity.

My company, The Legacy Group, is having a banner year. Refinancing activity has almost stopped but the purchase market is heating up. I think it's a combination of things. One, the first-time homebuyers tax credit of $8000 will expire on December 1 of this year. So first-timers want to get in on that. Two, existing buyers (move-up buyers) are sensing an opportunity to get the house of their dreams for much less and with a lower payment than before.

Our Puget Sound market is still flooded with bank-owned, short-sale, and foreclosure homes. The estimate is up to 40% of the inventory is distressed property. And the builders aren't building yet. I suspect the ones left will start again slowly next year. In other words, I'm seeing more confidence and interest in our local area. With interest rates expected to remain low for the balance of this year and inventory plentiful, home sales should continue to recover.

What are you seeing in your neck of the woods? We'd all like it to be a little more normal but I'm encouraged nonetheless! Thanks for reading this Bellevue, Washington mortgage market report!

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Good afternoon all! I hope you're well. A little over a month ago, I blogged about mortgage rates increasing drastically in the space of a few days. They literally went from 4.75% for a 30 year fixed mortgage O.A.C. to 5.5%. The reasoning seemed to be that the government stopped guaranteeing the purchase of mortgage backed securities. Thus, the sudden rise in rates.

Fast forward to today. Rates today are at 5% for a 30 year fixed conventional mortgage which is actually 1/8 point worse than yesterday. So rates have improved again. Expect continued volatility as the markets (especially oil) try and find their medium. My apologies to Kathy Toth who commented here. She asked me for an update the following week after I blogged about rates rising in late May. I thought mortgage interest rates might come back down fairly soon. In reality, it took a little over a month.

So what happened? Why the sudden downtick in rates? The big news was the economy where things didn't appear to be recovering as quickly as the pundits hoped. Once again, the stock market is off and oil prices have plunged by $10/barrel as of today. My company recently had Barry Habib (many of you may know him as one of the foremost mortgage analysts in the country) in for lunch and he predicted that mortgage interest rates may go back down to what we got used to this past Spring (think close to 4.5% for a 30 year fixed). Granted, Barry has been wrong and admits it. But I do agree with him about the fundamentals.

So...hold on to your hats! I think we may see lower rates again. But this will probably be the last time. As Barry Habib said, our worst enemy is inflation. And that's probably going to rear it's ugly head sometime next year. To combat that, the Federal Reserve will probably raise short-term borrowing rates to combat that. Yes, I know this doesn't have anything necessarily to do with mortgage interest rates (they're determined by the price of the 10 year treasury note) but if the economy starts recovering, look for mortgage interest rates to rise. I personally expect rates close to 7% or above a year from now. I will keep you posted. Those of us in the business would frankly like a little more stability but that's the nature of the game right now! Take care.

Hi all: I hope you're well. I just got off the phone with a borrower who didn't want to comply with what we needed to close their loan. I emailed the section of the underwriting handbook to him; hopefully that will get him to cooperate.

Things have changed drastically on the underwriting side the last couple of years. Borrowers who haven't had a loan in a while remember the good old days where a high credit score and lower loan-to-value was all that mattered. I hear comments again and again about how they've never had to provide this much information.

Today, I was accused of "information gathering". Frankly, that's ridiculous. Those of us in the business know that information is only shared with the lender and that's it. Almost all of my borrowers have been very understanding of what is needed to get a loan these days. I was talking with one of my co-workers recently and we actually agreed that it's easier to have cooperative customers because their mindset is they're excited they can get approved at all!

That being said, understand that we in the loan business are as frustrated as you are. If you think for one minute we enjoy asking you for that one additional piece of information, you're crazy! We do it because compliance is everything and the risk is too high if we don't have a complete file. In closing, thanks for your cooperation and understanding. There will be a time where we might not need so much from you. That will be welcomed by everyone. In the meantime, we'll get your loan done. It just may take a little more patience than usual. Thanks for reading!