Long Beach California Real Estate Loans

Long Beach, Ca. There isn't much news today, which is good because Denny's announced, during the 3^rd quarter of the Super Bowl, that it will give away a free Grand Slam breakfast to any customer visiting its restaurants today between 6AM and 2PM.  The only problem with this is that when I drove by the local Dennys  this morning, the line outside was only a half mile long...

No wonder the S&P 500 had its worst January ever. The S&P declined 9% for the month, exceeding the 8% record drop in January 1970. From its peak on January 6^th, the S&P is down 12%. It feels like Groundhog Day - the version that Bill Murray made popular.

The Countrywide name will bow out officially on April 1st.  By April 27^th, Bank of America hopes to have the merger in full swing.  At that time, all new loan applications will They will  go through, Bank of America Home Loan Center.

Deflation has the potential to get some very real traction going forward. Why? Because all over the world, we built too much of almost everything. Too many houses, too many manufacturing plants, too many retail stores - just too much stuff. 

And now for the numbers: 

We had a nice little Treasury rally yesterday, and although mortgage prices didn't keep up, it was positive - especially in the face of the supply that will soon hit the market and the unemployment data coming out Friday. The only news today is Pending Home Sales for December. Tomorrow we have the "ADP Employment Change" always of questionable worth compared to the actual government job statistics, along with the ISM Services number. Thursday is, yes, you guess it, weekly Jobless Claims, along with some productivity, labor cost, and factory order figures. On Friday we have the Unemployment Data (the workweek and hourly earnings are expected unchanged, but Nonfarm Payrolls are expected to drop about 525,000 and the unemployment rate go from 7.2% to 7.5%). The 10-yr is up to 2.77%, and 30 year fixed mortgages are opening worse this morning by .125% at the moment.

Here is a brief commentary we received this morning on the direction of mortgage rates short term.  The 10-year Treasury yield is up 0.50% in two weeks, but deflation - not inflation - remains the biggest risk. Rates are up mostly because the Fed whipsawed the market. The Fed hinted that it was going to buy longer-term Treasury debt, but it did not follow through with any purchases, and traders hit the market hard. The recent run-up in rates has throttled the mortgage refinance boom. Mortgage rates are pushing in to the mid-5% range. Volume has slowed and origination profit margins have backed off from record highs. The purest measure of margin, the spread between mortgage rates to the consumer and mortgage securities yields, has shrunk by 0.125% in recent weeks. But don't give up on low rates just yet.

Kirk Mulhearn, a Long Beach Real Estate Broker and Professional Mortgage Planner, can be reached at 562-989-4608 ext. 110

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