Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae)

The benchmark 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 2 basis points, to 4.45 percent. The benchmark 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage fell 1 basis point, to 4.46 percent. This is the lowest average for the 30-year fixed in 2010.

Debate rages as to whether mortgage rates will rise as a result of this program ending   -Bob Walters

 

The rate of home foreclosures in Cowley County remains relatively high, and the original purchase price of homes in foreclosure has risen, a Courier survey of filings showed. Five foreclosures were filed in the first half of March. The Courier survey showed two of the five March foreclosures were on homes originally priced at over $125,000.

There are a lot of good opportunities out there right now   -Wells

 

RISMEDIA, March 20, 2010—(MCT)—As the spring real estate season kicks in and the tax credit deadline for sale agreements approaches, the government is ending a program that has kept interest rates low and housing-affordability levels high for months. On March 31, the Federal Reserve will stop buying mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, returning control of interest rates to private investors. For months, industry observers have predicted that once government supports are removed

Not a single one has expressed concern about interest rates   -Cheryl Miller

 

For those trying to figure out how much further U.S. house prices could fall, it would help to know how many more foreclosed homes banks need to sell. Alas, no one has found a way to track precisely how many of those properties are owned by banks, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (which ends up with homes when FHA-insured loans go bad) and mortgage investors, including securitization trusts and the government-controlled mortgage firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. All of these entities  

There are 7 stages to executing a successful sting operation. Whether this is the modus operandi behind the Sultans of Swap operating in the $605 Trillion OTC Derivatives market or just simple coincidence, I will leave it to you shrewd reader to determine. The seven stages do however offer us an instructive theater guide to better understanding these murky instruments called Interest Rate Swaps.  

"It is well enough that people … do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning." "It seems to me that Europe, especially with the addition of more countries, is becoming ever-more susceptible to any asymmetric shock. Sooner or later, when the global economy hits a real bump, Europe's internal contradictions will tear it apart." "The normal functioning of our economy leads to financial trauma and crises, inflation, curr  

Stacy Carlson's life has taken many high-powered turns since she grew up in Bakersfield in the 1970s, graduated from Highland High School and earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Cal State Bakersfield. But even Carlson was stunned -- and at times a bit overwhelmed -- when she landed in the middle of the U.S. economy's "perfect storm." In "You, Me & the U.S. Economy," Carlson writes about her experiences as former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's speech writer from 2007 to 2009, when th  

I have done this once before and got great feedback. Let me know if you found this recap useful. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) met for a one day meeting on Tuesday.  

 

T here are two theories about Robert Zoellick, and they'll be tested next month by a World Bank vote on a massive South African coal-fired generator loan. The 57-year old Bank president is a nerdy man who served as number two at the Bush State Department and then in 2007 replaced the disgraced, nepotistic Paul Wolfowitz. One theory is that Zoellick is brilliant and effective.