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Let me save you a web search tomorrow: 1-800-butterball. A web search turned up a misconception: It appears that robber Willie Horton, when he was asked why he robbed banks, never said, "That's where the money is." But banks are where the money is, and it is certainly catchy. You don’t think someone is making money off your money sitting in that bank? Another web search shows that the 1-year CD national average is 0.43 percent. The current 1-year risk-free Treasury bill is yielding 4.75 percent. How can you get around that spread where the bank earns 4.75 percent for a year but pays you less than .5 percent? Tip of the day: Go to https://www.treasurydirect.gov/ and see the yields of what you can buy directly from the government and the minimums required. I don’t recall anyone predicting 1-year rates would be near or at 5 percent by year end (or per loan costs would be over $11,000 per loan). Still, there’s a lot of planning going on for 20 ....
Mortgage rates dropped after mid-June. Momentarily switching gears, given their role in cakes, breakfasts, custards, and breads, if eggs didn’t exist, would a food scientist have to had invented them? I mention this because the benchmark price of eggs in the U.S. was down to $2.16 a dozen two weeks ago, down 37 percent from the record high $3.38 a dozen in mid-July. These lower prices should be reflected at grocery stores with prices dropping by a dollar a dozen or so. The cause for the spike in the price of eggs was an avian flu that ravaged the U.S. population, killing 30 million commercial and wild birds, and the successful recent moves to repopulate the hens. The downward trend in prices is expected to continue. Homeowners and real estate agents don’t mind a return to “normal” inventory in markets and historical price appreciation rates. But this sensationalist headline will grab some readers: “Home prices plunging in ‘pandemic boomtowns&#x ....
Real estate agents love it when loan officers give them referrals. That’s not always easy. Is giving a real estate agent a book on becoming a productive and well-respected real estate agent a RESPA violation? How about an all-expense paid trip? Attorney Brian Levy points out in his latest Mortgage Musings (chock full of Rolling Stone song references) how it matters whether the “thing of value” is offered in return for referrals or is just ordinary business promotional activity. LOs know that working with real estate agents is a numbers game. (How many loan officers contact the listing agent when a property goes on the market to ask for a referral?) Did you know that on any given day there are about 61,000 people in airplanes above the United States? (I think that number is light.) I mention this because Heathrow Airport in London is taking the unconventional step of capping the daily number of passengers at 100,000 per day for the rest of the summer. Heathrow was h ....