NATIONAL home price news...like NATIONAL weather...

  ^[1]The latest FNC Residential Price Index® (RPI) indicates that U.S. property values continued to recover through January—the 11th consecutive month of rising prices. Despite the uneven pace of price gains across different geographical markets, there are clear signs that the housing recovery is increasingly widespread.

A limited housing supply and declining foreclosure sales are contributing to the recovery of underlying property values.

WHAT THE 1% IS BUYING...

Hot Property: Jason Bateman Gives Ernest Borgnine’s Estate a New Identity

—Actor Jason Bateman and his wife, actress Amanda Anka, are dropping anchor in the Beverly Crest area with the purchase of the estate of Ernest Borgnine for $3 million.

RATES...THEY ARE A-RISING!

Mortgage Rates Highest In Nearly 10 Months After Employment Data

Posted to: Mortgage Rate Watch
Friday, March 08, 2013 2:59 PM

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Mortgage rates vaulted higher today at their fastest pace since late January, after the Employment Situation showed an unexpectedly high number of jobs created in February.  The Employment Situation is the most important piece of domestic economic data each month and always has the potential to greatly impact markets.  This was indeed the case today, and it brings 30yr Fixed Best-Execution up to 3.75% for the first time since May 2012.  Lenders are still offering lower rates, but at greatly increased costs.  For every $100k in loan amount, you'd pay an extra $700 of closing costs to keep yesterday's rates at an average lender.  On average, the costs associated with 3.625% yesterday are the same costs associated with 3.75% today.
(What is A Best-Execution Mortgage Rate?) 
Unfortunately for mortgage rate watchers hoping for lower rates, today's moves go a long way toward further confirming the longer-term upward trend in rates that we've been discussing for several months (Everything in the the "ongoing lock/float considerations" below has been dead on and continues to summarize our stance).  It's by no means the final nail in the coffin, but it's increasingly the case that the global economic environment would need to be faced with threats of a similar nature to the past few years of European stability concerns or benefits of a similar potency to ongoing quantitative easing (absent the current discussions of tapering Fed purchases of long-term debt).  The latter looks unlikely and the former is at least not on the table for now.  So rates continue to rise.  Risk-takers would be better justified in a decision to float this weekend than any other time in the past 2 weeks, but there's no guarantee that rates won't continue to move higher next week.
Loan Originator Perspectives
"Rates up again today, which is no surprise in this corner. Every economic report released is seemingly stock bullish and bond bearish these days. While we're not losing massive ground in single bunches, we're like a leaky boat; every day there's more water in the hull. Hate to sound like a broken record, but every loan I have is locked, and intend to stay that way until the trend breaks." -Ted Rood, Senior Originator, Wintrsut Mortgage.
"Since all of my clients are locked only the new ones have to deal with the higher rates out today. Hard to say if we see a breather on Monday with an improvement or not. I would normally say lock no matter what day it is, but since it's Friday and the damage is done we might as well wait to see what happens on Monday. This could be a short lived run up (I hope) since the jobs reports looked this good last year only to disappoint as the year progressed. The difference now is the Europe is no longer on the radar at least until it is again. " -Mike Owens, Partner, Horizon Financial Inc.
"Rates are up .25% this week and up .5% for 2013. For consumers still holding for rates to drop, today is a good day to re-read my MortgageNewsDaily piece from January 21: Wake Up Call: Free Refi Boom Almost Over" -Julian Hebron, Branch Manager, RPM Mortgage.
Today's Best-Execution Rates

• 30YR FIXED - 3.75%
• FHA/VA - 3.375-3.5% (varies more between lenders than conventional 30yr Fixed)
• 15 YEAR FIXED -  3.00%
• 5 YEAR ARMS -  2.625-3.25% depending on the lender

Ongoing Lock/Float Considerations

• Rates have risen moderately but consistently since hitting their all-time lows in September and October 2012.
• Regardless of global or domestic economic weakness, the subsiding fear of a disorderly EU breakup will continue to prevent rates from getting back to those lows.
• This is very likely to be the case unless a similarly panic-inducing event were to come into focus, or if a disorderly break-up regained the spotlight.
• Sequestration, negative growth, and generally choppy political and economic environments around the world DO NOT constitute that sort of panic.
• This is a "rising rate environment" until further notice, though pockets of recovery and consolidation can provide smaller-scale opportunities against the larger-scale backdrop.
• (As always, please keep in mind that our talk of Best-Execution always pertains to a completely ideal scenario.  There can be all sorts of reasons that your quoted rate would not be the same as our average rates, and in those cases, assuming you're following along on a day to day basis, simply use the Best-Ex levels we quote as a baseline to track potential movement in your quoted rate).

NOTE TO SELLER...

What Do Home Buyers Really Want?

  ^[1]Many in the housing industry are wondering not only what today’s home buyers really want, but also what they are ready to leave behind in light of current economic realities. A new study recently released by NAHB, What Home Buyers Really Want ^[2], was designed to answer these questions, and more specifically, to provide the most current and accurate information on buyer preferences so that NAHB members can deliver the home (and community) that today’s buyers want and are willing to pay for.

LIGHT BULBS...SO MANY CHOICES!

How to Choose the Best Bulbs to Replace Incandescent

  ^[1](MCT)—Buying a light bulb used to be easy. And it used to be something you did several times a year.

But now, “a lot of people are starting to look at light bulbs as an investment,”

THINK LESS, ACCOMMPLISH MORE!

Rituals of Success
How to Get More Done By Thinking Less

If you’ve ever felt like you can’t find time to get to your list of important things, you’re not alone. New York Times best selling author Tony Schwarz says almost 75 percent of workers around the world feel disengaged at work and that the "more, bigger, faster" mantra is to blame. We are busier than ever, trying to get more done with fewer resources.

Schwarz suggests everything we do—whether checking email, exercising, or resisting the temptation to eat an extra cookie—often requires thinking, and thinking takes energy. So, if you want to get more done you must actually think less.

In 1911, philosopher A.N. Whitehead wrote: "It is a profoundly erroneous truism that we should cultivate the habit of thinking of what we are doing. The precise opposite is the case. Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them."

The answer, according to Schwarz, is to make important things automatic, what he calls a ritual. Rituals are highly specific behaviors performed at a specific time. He reports the five rituals that have made the most difference in his life are:

1.     Sticking to a bedtime that ensures he gets at least 8 hours of rest.

2.     Working out first thing in the morning, whether he feels like it or not.

3.     Starting his workday by doing the most important task first—decided the night before—and working only in 90-minute time blocks with a definite break in between.

4.     Writing down his good ideas immediately, so they aren’t bouncing around in his mind all day, or worse, forgotten entirely.

5.     When upset by someone or something, he ritually asks how he can see the same set of facts in a more hopeful or empowering way.

Remember, the less you have to think about your goals as you perform the steps to achieve them, the more likely you are to check them off your list.

FORECLOSURE MORATORIUM FOR HURRICANE DISASTER AREAS

Donovan and DeMarco Announce Extended Foreclosure Relief for Hurricane Sandy Storm Victims

 O ^[1]U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, who serves as President Obama’s Chairman of the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, and Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco recently announced that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac will extend expiring protections against foreclosure actions against homeowners whose properties were damaged or destroyed due to Hurricane Sandy.

The additional 90-day foreclosure moratorium applies to homeowners with properties in states where the President issued major disaster declarations following Hurricane Sandy. The extended moratoriums announced today apply to the initiation of foreclosures and foreclosures already in process.