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The Latest News from WFG National Title Company
ryantate
135
WFG News
March 2, 2015

Artificially low interest rates hurt job growth, housing sales

Companies get a better return on investment buying back shares than hiring employees or investing in capital equipment. Buying back a company’s own shares is so attractive, it even makes sense to fire employees and reinvest the savings to do so. But what are the larger economic consequences of this behavior…
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ryantate
156
WFG News
February 27, 2015

When Fed raises short-term rates, pray long-term rates don’t follow

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s testimony, inherently a forecast, overwhelmed all other forces on markets this week. Yellen did a fabulous job. When the future is deeply uncertain, it’s the job of the Fed chair to turn on the fog, and she did — in an expert rundown on the…
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ryantate
162
WFG News
February 20, 2015

Greek Band-Aid intercepts interest rate drop

Long-term Treasurys are sliding down in yield again, holding low-fee mortgages in the high-threes. This improvement has been caused by several things, all reinforcing each other, and is likely to continue. However, in the background lies an enormous contradiction that is clearly troubling long-term markets. First things first. Way back…
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ryantate
132
WFG News
February 17, 2015

Shift your mindset when selling to vacation rental buyers

The vacation rental market is in a period of massive growth. More vacation homes are being purchased; more owners are planning on renting; and more tourists are finding that this new mode of accommodation fits their needs better than a hotel or resort. This surge in supply and demand is…
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ryantate
156
WFG News
February 13, 2015

Coming Fed hike ups mortgage rate risk

After a wild six weeks from Christmas forward, the 10-year T-note stone-falling from 2.35 percent to 1.65 percent and then rebounding to 2 percent, global anxiety rising … this week’s news is an extended sermon from The Church of What’s NOT Happenin’ Now. Interest rates did not move. Low-fee mortgages…
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ryantate
154
WFG News
February 6, 2015

Don’t assume strong jobs numbers will trigger Fed rate liftoff

The U.S. 10-year T-note has jumped a quarter-percent in four days, half of the springboard this morning on wild news from the job market. Mortgage damage is limited, low-fee deals still just under 4.00 percent. The first Friday each month brings the immediately prior-month count of new jobs. And revisions…
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ryantate
133
WFG News
February 4, 2015

Is it really recovery when new car sales are up but new home sales down?

Consumers saddled with mortgage sized health insurance costs, rising food costs and car payments find it hard to buy over-priced used homes, never mind even more expensive new homes. After six years of quantitative easing that “ended” in October, we have been treated to media headlines touting “Recovery, Recovery, Recovery,”…
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ryantate
163
WFG News
January 30, 2015

Fed affirms plans for rate liftoff, but mortgages are another story

First the facts, then the ponderables. Long-term U.S. interest rates fell again today, now to a 20-month low. The 10-year T-note broke through the 1.7 percent prior low to 1.66 percent, down from 1.85 percent on Monday and from 2.3 percent in Christmas week. Meanwhile, on Wednesday the Fed affirmed…
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ryantate
191
WFG News
January 30, 2015

Chief economists mostly bullish on 2015 housing market

NEW YORK — Four chief economists from some of the nation’s most popular real estate websites are optimistic about the housing market this year, citing an expected increase in home sales, and low mortgage rates and oil prices leaving more money in consumers’ pockets. Still, low inventory, decreasing home affordability…
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ryantate
133
WFG News
January 29, 2015

Shrinking inventories could end up pricing more buyers out of the market

The number of homes on the market fell for the first time in 16 months in December, hinting at a potential acceleration in home prices in the months ahead. That might be good news for sellers, but not for buyers who could get priced out of the market or the…
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