Holy smokes! Investors sold out of the Mortgage Backed Securities market today to preserve profit and partially in response to other positive economic indicators. For the fifth month in a row the "ISM" manufacturing index came in higher than expected. The indicator is STILL indicating "contraction" but since the numbers are higher...the rate of contraction is slowing. Since the number is higher than "expected" the markets reacted to the "positive news".
Alan Greenspan seems to think we are heading out of the recession and made comments to that effect today...money moved into stocks. The DOW is now over 9000 points and closed UP 114 points to 9286.
OIL gushed up over $71.00/barrel on anticipation of increased demand in the future...as well as weakening of the US dollar.
Rates are UP as the FNMA 4.5% LOST 56bps to close the day at $100.06 on the "positive" outlook and profit preserving selling by investors.
YO! Remember the HVCC thing that changed the way we do appraisals as of May 1st? Well, the 2nd part of that regulation went into effect on Friday 7/31/2009...and has us all hoping for the best despite the inconvenience it may cause in the short term.
The GIST: if the number on a person's "Truth in Lending Form" changes UP or DOWN by more than .125%: we will need to delay the closing by 3 days if it is a face-to-face and 7 days if it is a "mail out" closing. We also need to wait 3 days after mailing disclosures to order the appraisals. There are a few other stips...feel free to check out the attached .pdf for more of the picture. It is MORE IMPORTANT than ever to have your clients work with a qualified lender.
Chad
