Daily Rate Briefing:

RATES GAINING GROUND

Here’s something that should make you smile. We’ve finished better than the prior day five days in a row. Since last Tuesday, the conventional market is up 31 basis points. That’s roughly $310 in better pricing per $100,000 loan amount when comparing the same rate from last Tuesday to last night’s close. On the government side, we’re about 34 basis points better. So far today we have opened with minimal change. No big market moving reports due out today.

So, what is something you can tell your referral partners, your clients, and honestly yourself to get excited about the day ahead?

We are within roughly five basis points of where we ended the year, which was close to the best rates we’ve seen in a long time. We did have a short-lived dip to even better levels when Trump announced the $200 billion agency purchase plan, but that didn’t stick. The bottom line is this. You are looking at some of the best rates we’ve had in the past year. Pipelines should be growing. Some are. Some aren’t. That gap usually comes down to communication, positioning, and who is staying active in front of their partners.

Here’s an interesting stat worth knowing. According to Redfin, 16.3 percent of purchase contracts fell through in December. Buyers have options again. There are more sellers than buyers, and that shift gives buyers leverage. They can be more selective, and they are. Inspections remain the biggest reason deals fall apart. Set expectations early. Remind buyers they’re not purchasing a brand-new home. Align yourself with agents who work with realistic sellers and know how to guide a deal through inspection instead of letting it die there.

One last market note. Gold hit an all-time high yesterday at $5,111.07 an ounce. Back in August of 2023, it was around $1,939 and was an all-time high then and has surged since. Turns out those gold commercials weren’t completely off base. At the same time, equities are holding strong. Over the last month, the market is up about 950 points, and we closed yesterday up 313. Not a bad moment to check in on your 401k.

Good momentum. Solid rates. More opportunity than we’ve seen in a while. That’s a pretty good way to start the day.

DYK – Mortgage Playbook:

SELLER CONCESSIONS RECAP

We are all getting older so just in case you need to dust off that seller concession shelf here is a reminder of what you can and cannot do.

Seller concessions are not “one size fits all.”
They change based on occupancy and LTV, and this is where deals quietly get tripped up.

Primary residence and second home
On conventional loans through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, seller concessions scale with LTV.
LTV over 90% caps at 3%.
LTV between 75.01% and 90% allows up to 6%.
LTV at or below 75% allows up to 9%.

Lower down payment equals less seller help. Every time.

Investment properties
This is the big miss.
Conventional investment properties are capped at 2% regardless of LTV.
Anything above that must come off the price.

FHA
FHA allows up to 6% seller concessions.
Primary residence only.
Over 6% is considered an inducement and reduces the sales price dollar for dollar.

VA
VA allows up to 4% seller concessions, with some buyer costs not counting toward the cap. Technically speaking the 4% is the max a seller can give outside of closing costs. Like paying off debt or other items of inducement. The VA really allows you to pay as much in actual closing costs and pre-paids as you like.

Non-QM and AD products
Most AD Mortgage products follow a simple rule.
CLTV over 80% caps at 4%.
CLTV at or below 80% allows up to 6%.

I bet you feel smarter already. This would be great intel to share as a reminder to your realtor partners.

Jackism – A Thought For Today:

LIVING YOUR TRUTH?

I love a good punch in the gut.
The kind that shows up uninvited. You’re minding your own life, and then a truth hits you so hard you cannot unhear it. You can ignore it if you want, but something in your soul knows it now has work to do.

When something hits that hard, it was not accidental. It was not meant to be a nice idea or a gentle reminder. It showed up because it was meant to be faced.

I have spent a long time trying to figure out how to live my life the right way. There are endless methods, routines, and books that claim to have the answer. I tend to come back to the same one over and over. The one that never stops challenging me.

Yesterday, a truth I heard stopped me cold.

“Faith is living like God is telling the truth.”

That will do it.
If that does not hit you in the gut, that is okay. We are all in different places. Different rounds. Different corners of the ring. Some truths nudge us forward. Others drop us to a knee. But sit with it for a moment.

If everything God has spoken is actually true, what would it look like to live that way. Would that feel like a burden or the greatest gift imaginable.

For me, the idea of living every moment fully aware and fully connected at work, at home, in the quiet, and in the noise feels like real life. And yet, if I am honest, most days feel a little like Groundhog Day. I keep moving. I keep trying. But too often, I am living as if the truth is optional.

Each morning, I want to live on purpose. With direction. With courage. I have heard the phrase living by faith my whole life, but I am starting to think something else might be true. Until we are faithful, we are not really living.
We are breathing. We are busy. But are we living.

So let me ask you, regardless of what you believe, are you living in alignment with what you say is true. And how is that working out for you?

Today, try living like God is telling the truth.
You might just discover a life far better than the one you have been settling for.