Michael Mauger NMLS# 1880687

New Data: Millennials & Gen Zs are eager to buy homes despite a challenging market, with 78% seeking personal service from lenders. As these generations enter the mortgage market as first-time buyers, they represent a massive opportunity for lenders to boost loan volume. To gain a deeper understanding, mortgage solutions provider Maxwell surveyed more than 1,000 millennial and Gen Z home buyers about their plans, sentiments on the mortgage process, and preferences in a lender. These results, along with tips on how you can reach this demographic, are available in Maxwell’s newest free eBook. There, you’ll find the up-to-date, sometimes surprising insight you need to capitalize on home-buying interest in today’s challenging market and earn the business of the largest borrower cohort. For the results of the survey and actionable advice, click here to download Maxwell’s 1H 2022 Millennial & Gen Z Borrower Sentiment Report for free today.

Rob Chrisman

“The Shift:” Larry Kendall on how brokers can help agents navigate market changes Larry Kendall of Ninja Selling discusses the latest housing market shift with over 300 attendees at the 2022 Gathering of Eagles.

Good to know

Renting vs. Buying: Which Is Better? Buying a home will build equity, but renting offers flexibility and lower upfront costs. Learn how to choose between renting or buying your home.

How To Qualify for a Conventional, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac Loan Find out how to qualify for conventional or conforming mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and what makes conventional loans better than others.

How Much House Can You Afford? There are many factors that go into calculating how much home you can afford to buy. But here are some guidelines you can use to estimate it for yourself.

Michael Mauger NMLS# 1880687 updated their phone number.

Mortgage Rates Only Modestly Higher Despite Market Volatility Mortgage rates are most directly affected by trading levels in the bond market--specifically those of mortgage-backed securities or MBS.  It was a somewhat volatile and generally weaker day for the bond market, but that weakness was far more apparent for US Treasuries for a variety of reaso...

Rising mortgage rates are causing more home sellers to lower their asking prices Weakening affordability is causing sellers to get more realistic about their asking prices. There are also more listings coming on the market.

Consumers Still Don't Get It When It Comes To Home Prices And Rates All too often, when it comes to consumer surveys about the future, the results tend to reflect what has already happened as opposed to what will continue to happen.  Of course, trends can remain intact, but other times, the writing is on the wall .   Looking back at the st...

8 Things First-time Home Sellers Get Wrong: Avoid These Rookie Blunders Being a first-time home seller is serious business, especially in a hot market. Here's how to avoid making rookie mistakes.

How and why U.S. mortgage market is more competitive now than... Excellent deep dive into all key stats driving competition and market share among U.S. mortgage lenders - by MBA chief economist Mike Frantantoni

Making Sense of Rising Rates And The Risks Ahead The bond market returned from a 3 day weekend to find yields surging higher on Tuesday.  That pushed mortgage rates to fresh 2 year highs and added emphasis to what has already been the sharpest rate spike since late 2016.   Why are rates rising so quickly? Mortgage rates....

Fannie Mae Forecasts a “Return to 'New' Normal” Fannie Mae’s Economic & Strategic Research (ESR) Group writes that it expects 2022 to be a year “of transition for both the economy and the housing market.” While it hedges its bet as to whether COVID-19 will end any time soon, it expects the market and policy choices driven by the pan...

Purchase Mortgage Activity Strong Despite Surging Rates Interest rates for fixed rate mortgage products shot up by at least a dozen basis points during the week ended January 14, still the volume of purchase mortgages rose significantly and, while refinancing declined, it still accounted for the bulk of application activity. The Mortgage Bankers Associat...

The window is closing.

MBA Says Rate Spike is Closing Door on Refinancing There was a small uptick in purchase mortgage activity during the first week of 2022. Refinancing held its own despite significant increases in interest rates. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 1.4 percent...

This trend is going to continue.

Mortgage rates just jumped again. Here's what that means if you're buying a home Mortgage rates continue to move higher, putting pressure on buyers facing an already pricey housing market.

Home flipping is getting more competitive – and less profitable The number of home flips is rising, but the profits are shrinking due to several headwinds in the housing market.

Rates are still at historical lows. The first Fed rate increase which is coming, things will be changing.

Mortgage Rates Moderately Higher For most lenders, mortgage rates edged slightly higher at the start of the holiday-shortened week. The exception would be among those lenders who made changes to their rate offerings on Friday afternoon in response to deteriorating market conditions. The unequivocal...

Mortgage Rates Only Modestly Higher After Fed Announcement Mortgage rates were fairly flat heading into today's important Fed announcement. Despite arguably receiving bad news, they didn't move too much higher by the end of the day. What was the bad news? In short, the Fed is doubling the pace of "tapering." That means...

Jumbo and Conventional Loans Easier to Obtain in November Access to jumbo mortgage credit continued to increase in November, but the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) says it is still down significantly from pre-pandemic levels . Overall access fell during the month according to MBA's Mortgage Credit Availability...

Omicron Helping Rates More Than The Fed is Hurting Several developments are converging on the global economy and financial markets at the moment. Each brings its own causes for concern. Together, they bring a significant increase in volatility. Should we be worried about Omicron? Answering such questions is...

Agents harness the power of social media to generate leads - HousingWire HousingWire takes a deep dive into the world of real estate social media, where agents are harnessing the power of TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn to generate leads HousingWire takes a deep dive into the world of real estate social media, where agents are harnessing the power of TikTok, Instagram and...

2022 Conforming Limits Rise 18 Percent to $647,200 The new conforming loans limits for mortgages that can be acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were announced this morning by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). As expected, the changes reflect the nearly unprecedented price gains over the last year...

Everyone have fun, safe Thanksgiving.

Why Did Rates Completely Ignore This Week's Bad News? This week, the Fed announced a reduction in its bond buying. In separate news, the big jobs report was much stronger than expected. Both of these events should have pushed rates higher. So why didn't they? Let's start with the Fed and its bond buying adventures...