Napa Mortgage News

Lower Payments, HARP, FED Report, Kiwanis 5K

March 21st, 2016 10:46 AM by Dale DiGennaro

More homeowners should take advantage of HARP!

In a recent meeting I had with some representatives from Fannie Mae, while attending the NAMB East Convention...it was mentioned that close to a million homeowners could still benefit today from their Home Affordable Refinance Program(HARP). Sadly, many have still to take advantage of this program, which allows you to refinance to today's great rates without having the normal amount of equity in your home.

Your loan must have closed prior to June 1st, 2009, be $625,500 or less and owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to be eligible. Strangely, the owner of your mortgage most times is not the same company you make your payments to. To find out if they DO own your mortgage, simply google both Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac. Once you answer a few minor questions...Whalah!

This program is slated to end in December of this year. We at Custom Lending Group, are currently advocating the extension of the program, to include all Fannie & Freddie Loans due to its overall success for our clients and American Homeowners.

We are the government and we're here to help!

To get more information on HARP just go to...

www.CustomLending.net/HARP

VISIT OUR WEBSITE

Fed Changes Guidance

Wednesday's Fed meeting resulted in positive news for mortgage rates. Mixed economic data released over the past week was roughly neutral. Mortgage rates ended the week lower.

As expected, the Fed did not change the federal funds rate. However, the statement contained guidance which reduced the expected number of rate hikes in 2016 from four to two. Reasons for this included a downgraded outlook for U.S. economic growth and inflation, as well as concerns about the pace of global economic growth. The statement was good news for mortgage rates, as this guidance pushes tighter monetary policy further into the future, including the expected timeline for the Fed to begin to reduce its large holdings of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and Treasuries. The added demand for MBS from the Fed helps to keep mortgage rates low.

Fed officials have stated that they would like to see inflation rise to their

target level of 2.0%. After holding steady for most of 2015,

core inflation has increased pretty quickly over the last few months. In February,

the core consumer price index (CPI), a widely followed inflation measure,

unexpectedly rose to an annual rate of 2.3%, the highest level since May 2012.

Core inflation excludes the volatile food and energy components.

However, Fed officials prefer a different monthly indicator, the core PCE price index. This index measures a broader scope of prices and rebalances the category weightings more frequently than CPI. The most recent reading for core PCE showed a 1.7% annual rate in January. The results for February will be released on March 28. Core PCE has generally run about half a point lower than core CPI.

Looking ahead, Existing Home Sales will be released on Monday, and New Home Sales will come out on Wednesday. Durable Orders, an important indicator of economic activity, will be released on Thursday. The third estimate of fourth quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will come out on Friday.

It turned out to be a great morning for the Napa

Marathon & Kiwanis 5K Fun Run/Walk a couple of weeks ago!

The rain broke just long enough for us to put on a very successful event!

My daughter Jenae' joined me again this year...it was a lot of fun.

Join us next year!!

Thank you for always trusting in us to do the best for you and your family and please feel free to call me anytime with your questions. I will be happy to share with you whatever information you may need!