Daily Rate Briefing:

WHERE ARE RATES?

This morning at 10:45 CST. 18 Minute Ride With Jack Mortgage Tours is on bank statement loans where we go beyond the math and into what really matters. Learn how to spot the red flags, read the income story, and ask the questions that keep your deal together. ANYONE can join. Click here to register and hop on.

On to what is happening with mortgage rates. This is a very light data week, which means volatility will likely come from oil, Iran, and whatever headline hits next around the Strait of Hormuz.

We had a solid day yesterday, gaining 16 bps after a three-day losing streak last week. That is a good sign. We are also starting this morning up a few bps, building on that momentum. Last week’s pullback was expected after the strong run we had since March 27th, so now we regroup and see if we can make another push toward improved rates.

Expect to hear from Fed members throughout the week, which can create some short-term volatility. After Friday, they enter their blackout period with no speeches until the next Fed meeting.

Quick fact I came across and had to share. There are now 628 million credit card accounts in the U.S., the highest ever, up 6 million from last quarter. That equals 1.28 trillion in credit card debt. Auto loans sit at 1.67 trillion, student loans at 1.66 trillion, and total household debt is now 18.8 trillion. Mortgages alone account for 13.17 trillion. Every category is at a record high.

In just one quarter, total household debt increased by 191 billion. Mortgage balances were up 98 billion, credit cards up 44 billion, auto loans up 12 billion, HELOCs up 11.6 billion, and student loans up 11 billion. Makes you wonder if anyone pays cash anymore. I will just say this, I am pretty happy being debt free from all of those.

Oil this morning is behaving, sitting at $95.48 per barrel. Everyone is watching that $100 level, so for now we are in a good spot. The 10-year Treasury is at 4.29 and has been relatively stable.

Lastly, the DOW is up 1,382 points over the past five days, which is great news for 401(k)s and investment accounts.

Simple takeaway for your clients: rates are improving, but volatility is still very real. If they like what they see, it may not be a bad time to act.

DYK – Mortgage Playbook:

FHA CONDO SECRET

Most loan officers see a condo that is not FHA approved and immediately move to conventional because they think that is the only path, but FHA actually allows for a Single Unit Approval, which means you do not need the entire project approved, just the unit.

At A&D we do these single approvals, and you will want to check whether your other lenders do. You are still going to review the project and make sure it meets guidelines, but you are no longer blocked by the FHA approved condo list.

Here is where it gets interesting. The project still has to meet some basic eligibility. It cannot be currently FHA approved (expired, rejected or withdrawn is okay), it needs at least 5 units, must be completed with a certificate of occupancy, have at least 50% owner occupancy, no more than 15% of units behind on dues, and the HOA should be allocating at least 10% to reserves.

You also have concentration limits, so under 20 units you are capped at 2 FHA loans, and over 20 units you are capped at 10%, plus no single entity can own too many units.

Now the part almost nobody talks about and it matters. Your LTV is driven by the underwriting result. If you get an Approve/Eligible through AUS, you can go all the way up to 96.5%. If it falls to manual, you are capped at 90%. Same deal, same borrower, different outcome depending on AUS.

Everything runs through HUD Form 9991, which is the questionnaire that captures occupancy, financials, insurance, and overall project health.

CLICK FOR HUD 9991 FORM

One step that gets missed more than it should, when you order the FHA case number you must mark it as Single Unit Approval. If you do not, you are creating problems before you even start.

Here is the documentation you need to pull together:

Core Documentation

Project Validation

Insurance

Here is why this matters. You are already doing this level of review on the conventional side to get the deal done. This is not extra work, it is just a different execution, and FHA gives you higher LTV, strong rates, and more flexibility, yet almost nobody is quoting it on condos.

Before you move that next condo deal to conventional, just pause for a second and ask if it can go FHA Single Unit Approval, because a lot of times the deal does not need a different product, it just needs a different path.

Jackism – A Thought For Today:

LOVE THE WHOLE

What I am about to tell you will absolutely cause a revocation of my man card. Honestly, I am a different bird anyway and the man card is likely not always the best solution in some cases. So here goes. Most days I end my evening on the Hallmark channel watching When Calls the Heart. See, I told you so. Man card revoked!

I do it on purpose though. I like to end my day with something clean, something positive, something that reminds me there are still good hearts out there. That is getting harder and harder to find on tv, and this show just has a way of resetting me before the day is done. It helps me go to bed at night thinking about the good things of life. The people in my life.

There is a couple on there, Lee Coulter and Rosemary, and if you have watched it you know exactly what I am talking about. Rosemary can be a lot. She gets involved, she talks, she fills the room, she has things about her that are over the top, and Lee just smiles, pulls her in, and loves her anyway. Because that is just who she is.

That had hit me as I think about my love for my wife.

Because if I am being honest, there have been moments in my own home where I have not done that very well. I have caught myself focusing on the things I would change about Misty instead of the accepting the person she is. I have wanted to fix, to correct, to show her a better way, thinking somehow that would make things better.

It never did in case your curious. All it did was put distance where there should have been connection. And then it clicked.

That is who she is. Not a version of her that needs to be adjusted to fit me better, but the woman I chose, the woman I love, the woman God gave me. When I stopped trying to change moments and started choosing to love her in them, everything changes. Not because she changed, but because I did.

Here is the truth. The things that can bother us about our spouse or kids or anyone else are usually a very small part of the whole person they are. A few minutes here and there, a couple moments in a week, and yet we can let those moments feel bigger than everything else if we are not careful.

We cannot let the few override the many. Because the same person we might struggle with in a moment is the same person who shows up for us in a hundred other ways, caring, providing, loving, making our life better when no one else is watching. Yet we focus on the few vs the many good.

And if we look in the mirror honestly, we bring our own set of things too. So do not measure each other by those few moments. Measure each other by the heart behind it all.

When they mess up, give them a hug. When they annoy you, reassure them you care. When they are not even liking themselves in that moment, make sure they know you love them even more right then.

I am learning this. Not perfectly, but intentionally. Growing in it day by day.

We may not enjoy everything our spouse does. But we can love everything about who they are. And choose them anyway. The greatest choice you can make for your marriage or others is to love all of who they are. Not just the parts that you like.