Hello Friends, April saw mortgage interest rates fall back to the low levels from midFebruary with the 10-year treasury yield heading down towards 1.7%. If the yield on the 10-year treasury hits 1.5%, we should see rates fall back to the lowest levels seen in 2012. Lenders are still backed up with the large volume of refinances, but there has been some easing in turn times with the vast bulk of new transactions coming in February and March. The spring buying season is in full swing and I have been fortunate enough to help a number of clients with less than perfect credit or limited down payment purchase their first homes. Working with a great realtor has been very helpful in getting these types of clients into homes in this super competitive market and having access to the vast majority of available loan products has helped me close these deals for my buyers. I am getting feedback from some of my buyers that the realtors they are working
(Continued from front page) with are advising that waiting until after the spring/ summer buying season may be the only way for them to get into contract. I disagree completely with this and I have seen top flight realtors who are willing to work hard for their commissions help my buyers get into homes despite the current seller’s market where there are many multiple offers on each listing. Working with aggressive, hard-working professionals is the key when things get competitive and, with the current rate environment, this is just as good a time to buy a primary residence as any other. Interviewing more than one or two realtors is what I recommend to each buyer unless I know a particularly skillful realtor in the area my buyer is interested in. Having lots of loan products and lots of lenders is also very important since the loan is the linchpin to any purchase transaction.
Non-conforming products, also called Jumbo loans, will allow for loan amounts in excess of the conforming loan limits. The last couple of years the large institutional