Friends,

The Fed left the funds rate unchanged last week and removed wording from their notes about policy not being restrictive enough (signaling the intent is to not raise the fed rate) but stopped short of saying when they want to do their first rate cut. Jerome Powell also said that a March rate cut  is unlikely as inflation is still too high.

Jobs report comes in WAY over expectations

The jobs report came out Friday and came out with 353k jobs created vs the 180k forecasted. These reports tend to be adjusted two weeks later once the data is correct, so it begs the question 'Was the jobs report real and what are the lasting implications?'

It is very likely that these numbers are inflated, however the bond market was not a fan of the initial report, resulting in higher rates. 

Mortgage Rates 🔼

Speaking of the jobs report, the mortgage backed securities (MBS) market had the worst one day jump in rates that there has been over the last year. The combination of the jobs report with the Fed notes/Powell's press conference made last week a tough week for interest rates. 

Issues Continue For Home Insurance

The last few years has been very tough on the home insurance market with premiums across the country skyrocketing. Allstate and State Farm are even pulling out of insuring areas that are fire or flood prone, making it tough for people living in those areas to get coverage. Not only that, but it could affect their property values in the long run as well. 

Loan Product Highlight - Cross Collateral Loan

There are so many great loan products in the market, I am going to start including specialty ones in these newsletters to help bring awareness to them. Today, wanted to talk about the cross collateral loan. A cross collateral loan is a product similar to a bridge mortgage that someone can utilize to make offers on new homes without having it be contingent on the sale of their current home.

If the client has a good amount of equity, it is very possible that they could get the new home without any out of pocket expense as the cross collateral loan would cover everything and they would pay down the loan balance of the new loan once the previous home sells. There isn't a timeframe required either allowing for maximum flexibility. For more information on this product, email me here.

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence." - Vince Lombardi"

Good luck to the Chiefs and Niners this weekend.