Extended Stimulus, Unemployment Claims, New Homes Selling
Brief conversation with Gary Cohn, former executive of Goldman Sachs and former advisor to President Trump. When asked what he would advise on the economy: ‘We need an all-hands-on-deck virus stop methodology. That would be the most important thing we could do right now because instead of going through this cycle of stopping and starting…Once […]
Student Loan Secondary Market, Jobs Update, Strong Home Sales & Appreciation
Many of us wonder why rates on student loans rates are much higher than the market rates for cars, mortgages, or HELOCS and why you can’t re-finance student loans without moving them to a private bank and losing many of the hardships benefits or repayment options. Here’s a brief story of someone who sued Navient […]
Fed Meeting, Jobless Claims, Remarkable 10-Year Change in Home Equity
Rates – moved back down to historic lows near after Fed meeting on Wednesday that rocked equity markets. Jobs – the number of people filing for unemployment for the first time continues to decline but remains at an alarming 7X pre-covid numbers and over 2X previous recession highs (600K). Fed – the Fed met on […]
Disney Shanghai, Jobs Report, Forbearance Numbers
Social Distancing – in China is extremely deliberate. To enter the Disneyland park you need to: wear a mask, pass a temperature check, & pass an individual QR code check which provides data on your recent travel and spits out an algorithmic score of your infection risk based on movement. Rates – increased nominally this […]
Back Open? Unemployment, Appreciation, Tepid Rates.
After 97% of the country implemented some type of ‘stay at home’ guidance in various states businesses began to reopen this week. The question of how to reopen safely and at what capacity is a fine line people will be negotiating. Rates – the price of Mortgage Backed Securities fluctuated nominally during the month of […]
Conservative Guidelines, Stable Bond Market, Jobless Claims Double
Guidelines – First the positives: e-notarization should be coming soon in Oregon. A written bill has been languishing and the opportunity is finally ripe! Sometimes it takes a crisis to spark cooperation. Currently it is easier to get an appraisal waiver and in certain areas it is also possible to go with a Desktop or […]
Virtual Interaction, Stimulus Package, Jobless Claims
Many people are turning to the plethora of free software like Zoom for virtual meetings, conferences, and basic human interaction. Early this week my family played Pictionary using the Zoom ‘whiteboard’ function and a pictionary random word generator. If you prefer more complicated or resource driven games try the link above! Rates – continue to […]
Mortgage Forbearance, Rate Rodeo, Jobless Claims, Fed Funds
Forbearance: Fannie, Freddie, the department of HUD and other banks have announced temporary forbearance for mortgage payments. What does that mean? Well it will depend on your servicer’s terms (who you pay your mortgage to). If you are considering utilizing this, call them immediately. Investopedia provides a basic definition – the lender allows you to […]
Corona Data, Treasury Decline, Fed Emergency Cut
Coronavirus – the larger 40 page report can be found here. There is plenty of memes and noise circulating about the virus, here is a report from the World Health Organization. In this study of over 44,000 infected individuals 3.4% died. Certain factors heightened chance of fatality including: gender (males 4.7% vs 2.8% female), age […]
Solar Cheapest Energy Source, Delinquencies Low, Rates Tepid
Solar – in 2006 Solar energy cost 20 times the price per kilowatt hour of natural gas or coal. 15 years later, due to Federal and state subsidies that brought more companies into the market and fostered competition, solar panels are: twice as efficient, cost $150 per panel (vs. $1,000), and produce a kilowatt hour […]