Mark Holan's (markholan) Blog

Marquette BankLast week, I started with Marquette Bank as a Loan Originator. Why the switch? In today's environment, I wanted to be with a strong, progressive institution that understands the financial needs of my clients. Marquette Bank has assets totaling over 1 billion dollars and is one of th...

Myth #1: The Fed Cut Rates, Mortgage Rates Must Have FollowedThe media is doing a better job explaining what is affected by a Fed cut to the discount rate. In spite of that, I still receive a few phone calls asking me if long term rates are down a quarter or half percent due to the Fed move.What'...

High ExpectationsThe Cubs, and their fans, came into the 2008 season with high expectations. In 2007, they won their division before being swept by the Diamondbacks in the post-season. The goal was clear for this year: The World Series. Many of the pre-season polls picked them to win the division...

Dirty Secret ConfessionSo the mortgage business is not booming right now. I have a little extra time on my hands. Sometimes, when my wife thinks I'm slaving away in the home office, I look for a distraction. Since I'm online, naturally I dim the lights and set my computer to games. What did you t...

Not An Easy AnswerFor years when asked the question, "Is this a good time to buy a home?", my stock answer was "Today is good, yesterday was better." Most of the time, this question was related to interest rates. When rates were high, people wondered if waiting awhile was in their best interest. ...

We All Strive For Win-Win'sI've always thought that a real estate transaction is pretty basic: The seller wants to sell and the buyer wants to buy. The rest of us, lenders, Realtors, attorneys, title companies, etc., make this happen.Other AgendasBut what happens when we impede this process? Sure...

The State of The EconomyI either have your attention because you're interested in the economy or you're exiting thinking "not another schmuck giving us his take on what we already know!" Wait! Don't go anywhere yet! It's More PersonalTwo weeks ago, by 62 year-old brother died. Even though he had ...

The Mortgage MessI think by now, we all know about the mortgage crisis in our country. Many homes have gone into foreclosure and more will follow. Blog after blog have told the reasons for this problem, but just to recap: Lending guidelines were too loose. Fraud was committed. Housing prices rose...

What The Heck is a Staycation?So I googled the word staycation (mostly to see if I'm spelling it right!) and there were 222,000 entries! Wow, for a word I only heard of last month, that's pretty immense! So what is a staycation? It's taking vacation at home instead of going somewhere. My dad was ...

Easy Commute!Like many of you, I'm working more and more from home. My reason has to do with the commute. Late last summer, my company consolidated some branches and now my commute is over 40 miles each way to the office! I'm not talking "country miles", I'm talking "city miles". In country miles...