Mortgage Life

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Today's Economic News.

Economic data was plentiful this morning, but tilted towards the weaker side as the reports streamed in, while inflation at the consumer level declined. The weaker than expected data gave a boost to the Bond markets as investors shifted over to more safer assets.
The Commerce Department gave a mixed reading on the housing market as the sector continues to recover. Building permits, a sign of future construction, surged by 14.3% in April, but housing starts declined by 16.5%. It was a minor setback on the road to recovery and one report doesn't constitute a trend. The breakdown showed that single-family starts fell 2.1% while multi-family dwellings plunged by 37% from March to April. From April of 2012 to April 2013, housing starts were up 13%...the long-term upward trend continues, but there will be bumps in the road along the way.
The labor markets also received a bit of bad news this morning as Weekly Initial Jobless Claims rose by 32,000 in the latest week to 360,000, the highest level since late March. A spokesman from the Labor Department said there was no unusual activity for the survey and that the sequester had no effect on the numbers.
The Last economic data point today was a report from the Philadelphia Fed showing that manufacturing in the region weakened in May and all of the components were also negative. The Philly Fed Index decreased from 1.3 in April to -5.2 this month. The employment component fell 2 points to -8.7, its second consecutive negative reading. The weak report comes after yesterday's worse than expected manufacturing data from New York.

Feel free to contact me at My Email Address with any questions that you may have.

Sincerely,

Gerald Chamblin
Senior Mortgage Loan Originator

NMLS# 200286 GAMLO# 27770
Office:      (770) 279-0222 ext. 363
Toll Free: (800) 344-8788 ext. 363
Cell:          (678) 598-5998
Fax:          (770) 279-9141
Email:       Gerald.Chamblin@SoutheastMortgage.com
Website:  www.SoutheastMortgage.com

Click Here To Learn More about Southeast Mortgage and Gerald Chamblin.

Monday, May 13, 2013

IRS under the microscope

This week’s economic calendar is packed full of reports that could surely impact trading in the capital markets. Readings on manufacturing, inflation at the wholesale and consumer level, housing figures, weekly claims and consumer sentiment will give investors a broad look at the U.S. economy. Both Stocks and Bonds are lower this morning to start the trading week. Losses can also be seen in the price of oil as a report showed that demand declined in China along with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries boosting output.
This morning, a report showed that the consumer is still alive and kicking and spent money on a broad array of goods in April. The Commerce Department reported that Retail Sales rose unexpectedly last month by 0.1%, above the -0.3% that was anticipated by economists. A spike in car sales was also a contributing factor in the rise. Consumer spending is an important economic barometer as it accounts for more than 2/3s of overall economic activity.
A troubling report of government branches over stepping their authority has surfaced. It was learned late Friday that tax agents at the IRS singled out several non-profit groups seeking tax exempt status and looked for such words, such as Teat Party or Patriot. The agents then took that one step further and looked for key words from groups like "how the country is being run". The agents would continually change their criteria of groups and would target them for closer examinations. The agents also focused in on phrases from groups that focused on making "America a better place to live". The findings were contained in portions of an investigative report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Please feel free to contact me at My Email Address with any questions that you may have.

Sincerely,

Gerald Chamblin
Senior Mortgage Loan Originator

Saturday, May 11, 2013

USDA Eligible Properties Saved From 1st Quarter Cut

Thursday, May 9, 2013

It's nice to be appreciated!!!

I wanted to share an email that a recent client forwarded to the owner of our company. See below.

Hello Mr. Haupt,

My name is Letonya Bush and I recently purchased a new home through Southeast Mortgage. My Lender was Gerald Chamblin and although it's been over a month since I closed on my new home, I went online to search for the President of Southeast Mortgage to express my wonderful experience working with Gerald Chamblin.

As you know, securing a mortgage loan and anticipating the purchase of a new home can be very stressful. And although there were many challenges with the builder, the onsite agent and the construction project itself, I can honestly say that I would have decided against new construction had I not had the pleasure of working with Gerald Chamblin. His patience and dedication is inspiring.

Gerald treated me as an individual which means more to me than anything. Although this wasn't my first time purchasing a home, in10 years, many things have changed that can actually detour even the most viable candidate from wanting to purchase a home.

From day one of the process, Gerald was honest, available and provided feedback even when there weren't any updates just to make me comfortable as that is the type of client I was. Additionally, having started a new job did not make the process any easier to cope with. But Gerald took that stress into consideration and provided the type of Customer Service that I would hope is the Standard within your Organization.

I am proud to say that I am the owner of a new home and only because of Gerald's diligence and understanding will I not only recommend friends and family to consider new construction, but will only refer them to Gerald.

Please forgive the delay in providing feedback as this is customary for me and especially when the service is exceptional. Feel free to contact me either via phone at xxx-xxx-xxxx or email if you have any questions.

Thank you for your time and having Gerald Chamblin on your team!

Sincerely,

Letonya Bush

This is truly what this business is all about. Feel free to connect with me at my email if I can ever be of service to you.

Sincerely,

Gerald Chamblin
Senior Mortgage Loan Originator

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Today's economic news

Home prices continue to accelerate across the nation as the housing market rebounds from one of its worst downturns in history. Corelogic reported yesterday that home prices rose by 10.5% year-over-year in the month ended in March, the largest annual increase since March 2006 and the 13th consecutive increase in prices. From February to March, home prices rose by 1.9%, but home prices nationwide remain 25% below the peak levels from April 2006. CoreLogic is a leading property information, analytics and services provider in the U.S. and Australia.
Due to the uptick in home prices and a better outlook on the job market, credit reporting agency TransUnion reports that the percentage of late payments on mortgages has been declining. In the first quarter of 2013, the number of mortgage holders behind on payments for at least two months dropped 21% from the same period last year. It was the largest decline since TransUnion started collecting the data back in 1992. Across the nation, every state posted an annual decline in the late-payment rate.
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported today that its Market Composite Index, a measure of total loan application volume, surged by 7% in the latest week as home loan rates continue to hover near record low levels. The refinance index made up most the activity rising by 8% while the purchase index gained 2%.
In corporate news, Freddie Mac, the number two provider of U.S. mortgage money reported today that profits in the first quarter of 2013 rose to $4.6 billion, up from $577 million in the same period last year. It was the second largest profit in company history and it sixth straight quarter of profits. Fannie Mae and Freddie combined drew a total of $187.5 billion in bailouts and they must turn over most of their profits to the government.

Plase contact me at My email address with any questions that you may have.

Sincerely,

Gerald Chamblin
Senior Mortgage Loan Originator

Click Here To Learn More about Southeast Mortgage and Gerald Chamblin.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Today's mortgage news

Big changes may be ahead for the mortgage markets. Today, the head of the Mortgage Bankers Association stated today that he feels that federal policy makers should merge the Mortgage Backed Securities issued by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in an effort to begin replacing the Government Sponsored Entities (GSEs) and coming up with one new company. Regulators say that merging the two could begin the transition toward a much larger mortgage market overhaul.
In addition, this could be the first step in what will be a long process to have private capital play a larger role in the mortgage market. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac don''t issue the cash for home loans but instead guarantee the mortgages that they pool into mortgage backed securities, which they then sell to investors. The GSEs account for nearly 2/3s of all mortgages in recent years.
There were no economic reports today and the rest of the week''s calendar is a non-event with just weekly initial jobless claims being released on Thursday. Stocks and Bonds opened the week near unchanged levels due to the light economic calendar and in the absence of any major geo-political headlines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 closed at record high levels on Friday after positive data on the job markets along with the continued support from the Federal Reserve''s stimulus programs.
The summer driving season will be quickly upon us as the unofficial start to the summer happens at the end of the month with Memorial Day Weekend. The American Automobile Association (AAA) said last week that families looking to take long driving vacations this summer will most likely see lower prices at the pump than last year. The current national average for a regular gallon of gasoline is currently $3.53 after dropping 13 cents in April. AAA says that we could see average prices between $3.20 and $3.40 a gallon this summer due to lower oil prices, decreased motorist demand and decent refinery production. Click her to apply for a loan online

Sincerely,

Gerald Chamblin
Senior Mortgage Loan Originator

3496 Club Drive, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30044

Phone: 770-279-0222 Fax: 770-279-9141 www.southeastmortgage.us

Friday, May 3, 2013

Today's economic info and it's impact

The job markets received some positive news this morning after the Labor Department reported that employers added 165,000 new jobs in April, above the 155,000 expected. In addition, the number of jobs created in February and March were revised higher by 114,000, signaling that the economy could be avoiding a spring slowdown.
Within the report it showed that the Unemployment Rate fell to 7.5%, the lowest level since December of 2008, but that number has been declining as the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) has dropped, which is currently at a 35-year low of 63.3. The fall in the LFPR is due to Americans becoming discouraged and have stopped looking for work. The LFPR is the percentage of working-age persons from 16-64 who are employed or are unemployed but looking for a job.
To round out the economic data today was a report from the Institute of Supply Management detailing the current state of the service sector of the U.S. economy. The sector grew in April for the 40th consecutive month registering at 53.1, but below the March number of 54.4. The service sector accounts for nearly 2/3s of the U.S. gross domestic product.

With today’s positive numbers from the labor markets, Stock markets have rallied to all-time high levels as measured by the closely watched S&P 500 Stock index. The S&P hit a record high of 1,618 this morning and has been rallying all year up 13.4% since the close of 1,426 on December 31. The improving economy and the Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing stimulus program have been the key factors that have pushed the Stock markets to record levels.