OC Mortgage Planning

Freeze credit cards and ATM cards in a glass of water in your refrigerator freezer. Get spending on a cash basis and make notes/keep receipts on all purchases to help raise your awareness of where your money is going, day in and day out. Take some financial pictures of yourself. The big picture ...

1. Create a list to take shopping. Put anything you want on the list, but don't add to the list once you get to the store. Using a list will help plan for your needs in advance, so take advantage of sale prices and avoid impulse purchases. "Go alone after a meal". If you go shopping hungry or wit...

Mortgage bonds advanced 34bp following larger than expected weekly initial jobless claims. With layoffs in the service and construction industry it was no surprise that reports jumped by 38,000 to 407,000 reaching a two year high.  The more widely watched four-week moving average for initial jobl...

There were no economic reports scheduled for release today,  however at 1:30pm ET, Dallas Fed President and voting Fed member Richard Fisher was scheduled to speak.  I kept an eye on him, because the last time he made comments concerning inflation, he shook the markets sending mortgage Bonds to a...

Today is Wednesday, the 20th of February 2008, and there are several economic events due, nevertheless I will focus on the ones that (according to my personal opinion) have greater influence on mortgage rates. First of all, last month's Consumer Price Index (CPI) was higher than expected with the...

  Is a Fed rate cut really good news for mortgage rates? The facts may be surprising. The Fed can only control the Discount Rate and the Fed Funds Rate. This is very different from mortgage rates.  A mortgage rate can be in effect for 30-years while a rate set by the Fed can change from one day t...

I usually don't do weekly reports, however as I was getting organized after a busy week, I've noticed some things that I'll like to share.On February 13, the highlight was last month's Retail Sales report with an unexpected +0.3% The surprise was due to the fact that traders were almost counting ...

I've read mixed comments about the highly anticipated  "rebate." For example, on a  January 31, 2008 press release, the Financial Planning Association advice consumers to be carefull how they will spend their rebate checks. One of the strongest observations from the personal finance perspective i...

The existing dynamics between the financial market, and the solutions that mortgage professionals cater to borrowers to help them navigate on this volatile environment, is one of the reasons I love my career.Every day I look forward to see how economic reports influence the traders' investment de...

 The big day is almost here! President George W.Bush is set to sign the Economic Stimulus Plan on Wednesday. Here is the nitty-gritty of the Increased Loan Limits on Bill HR 5140. One of my trusted sources tells me that we'll be able to finance residential loans that were considered "Jumbo loans"...