Current Market Update

Real Estate Home Mortgage interest rates seem lately to be "a tail of two cities."  Recently, FNMA Mortgage-backed bonds have been seeing a bit of a nice run.  This bodes well for rates.  It also is most applicable to what is known as Conventional Conforming rates.  However, Nonconforming, Jumbo, Sub-prime and other type rates are seeing some risk.

The main player in the risk for alternative loan types continues to be the implosion within certain elements of the mortgage industry itself.  Because of the liberal lending standards of the past few years, a lot of people who could not qualify for "normal" mortgages obtained financing through non-conforming or alternative financing. 

Welcome to Econ 101!  The lesson the mortgage industry should learn is that if someone cannot qualify for a standard mortgage, shoving him or her into alternative financing may not be the best thing for anyone.  Too many people have now suffered payment shock and/or foreclosure, the housing market is now burdened on a national level, financial institutions are hemorrhaging, home-owners are seeing slow, no, or negative appreciation, many good professionals are seeing a slowdown in their livelihood, and the overall economy is slow.

And the lenders who did these bad things, while making a buck at the time, have betrayed the trust of their clients who thought they were doing the right thing at the time.

Mortgage interest rates recently have stayed very steady in general after bumping up a ½% in recent months.  The two predictable factors that continue to affect rates are 1) Economic Data Releases and 2) the performance of the Stock Market.

Locally, here in Colorado, we appear to be setting the stage for some good economic prosperity.  Unemployment is very low in many areas and some large organizations are ramping up hiring for high-paying jobs.  Real Estate prices appear to continue to be stable with most pockets seeing slight to moderate appreciation, but certain areas (typically a bit on the lower end of real estate) are continuing to struggle and seeing a slight decline in value.  Overall however, the local real estate market looks promising for the foreseeable future.

For more information and other topics, please browse my blog.  If you have questions, or if I may be of service to you or anyone you know, especially in the Douglas County markets of Castle Rock, Castle Pines, Lone Tree, or Highlands Ranch, please feel free to contact me. 

Greg Polashock is a Real Estate Home Mortgage Loan Consultant and Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist with Cherry Creek Mortgage and resides in Castle Rock, Colorado.  He can be reached via email at Greg@GregIsFinancingSolutions.com, by phone at 303-887-0672 or on the web at http://www.gregisfinancingsolutions.com/.