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  Please call for commercial, Count on Cohen Financial Group for all of your real estate lending needs:
Mark Cohen was once again recognized as California's #1 Individual Mortgage Originator, according to Mortgage Originator Magazine (April 2008). Mark has now received this honor 11 of the last 12 years.
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Market Commentary for Week of July 26, 2010 View Current Rates
Mortgage rates moved even lower last week, as uncertainty about the pace of the economic recovery has increased investor demand for relatively safer assets such as government-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities (MBS). The Fed Chairman acknowledged that the economic outlook is harder to predict right now. But all of this uncertain economic growth, coupled with low inflation, produces a favorable environment for mortgage rates. In his semi-annual testimony to Congress, Fed Chief Bernanke described the economic outlook as "unusually uncertain." According to Bernanke, this is the worst labor market since the Great Depression, and it is recovering more slowly than expected. Still, the Fed forecasts modest economic growth in 2010 with low inflation. Important for mortgage rates, Bernanke expressed reluctance to provide further monetary stimulus, unless the economy falters badly. He suggested that while upside of additional Fed actions may be limited, the downside would be the raising of future inflation expectations. In the housing sector, June Existing Home Sales declined 5% from strong May levels to an annual rate of 5.37 million units, which was well above the consensus forecast of 5.10M. Existing sales were 10% higher than one year ago. First-time buyers accounted for 43% of existing home sales in June. Existing home sales have been helped in recent months by the homebuyer tax credit. Despite the ending of the Federal tax credit, though, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) expects annual existing home sales to increase in 2010—and to rise further in 2011. NOTABLE ITEMS
GOOD NEWS ON MORTGAGE LIMITS EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, LOAN AMOUNTS OF ALL FNMA- AND FHA-GUARANTEED LOANS ARE $729,750 (FOR HIGH COST AREAS). THIS IS THE NEWS THAT WE HAVE ALL BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO. RATES ARE UNDER 5% FOR MOST FIXED RATE MORTGAGES.Conforming and Non-Conforming Rates
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Major Economic News Due out Week of July 26, 2010 The most important economic report this week will be Friday's release of Gross Domestic Product for the second quarter. GDP is the broadest measure of economic activity. Before that, New Home Sales will come out on Monday. Durable Orders, another important indicator of economic activity, will be released on Wednesday, along with the Fed's Beige Book. The Chicago PMI national manufacturing index will come out on Friday. Consumer Confidence and Consumer Sentiment will round out the schedule. There will be Treasury auctions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
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