Fall Brings Market Changes

Good morning,

Okay, back at writing to the blog after a very busy August and early September.  You can really feel the crispness in the morning air here in Minnesota, the tell-tale sign of the changing seasons.

A lot of change in place in mortgage finance.  I'll begin writing in more depth on these topics in the coming weeks.  For now, here is a quick overview of the topics that are catching my interest and thoughts.

Syria
The global politics and potential unrest from military conflict are unknown.  Need to keep an eye on developments here.  Weird days when Putin seems to be doing better statesmanship than Obama.

Fed Taper
September 18th is this week and this is where I fully expect the taper to begin.  With Summers now bowed out of the options for a replacement for Bernanke the equity and bond markets are rallying this morning.  Yellen is the favored pick now.

Dodd-Frank
More implementation of new rules coming from the Dodd-Frank legislation looms come January 1st.  The industry is abuzz about the Qualified Mortgage rules and Loan Officer compensation models out in the marketplace.  Lots to digest here.

Conforming Loan Limits
Expect these to be lowered come January 1st.  They were moved up to $417,000 back in 2006, stayed there and now look to be going lower.  This will further tighten underwriting and change the marketplace.

Mortgage Rates
Today, mortgage bonds are up strong on the news that Summers is out.  This price action breaks the downtrend so we might see lower mortgage rates for a few weeks.  Great time to be locking in  if you have a mortgage application in process.


Those are the big buckets of thought for me.  I'll be sharing more in the coming weeks.

Have a great day!
BG

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