Rich Sweum's Blog

Snohomish county...40% decline in YOY closed sales, 2007 to 2008.  No need to worry, we only have 9 months of inventory (prior to the listing spike that comes in late May/early June)  In speaking with one large, regional builder, they have pads ready to be built on in the hundreds (400+) in Sno. ...

Young first time homebuyers that have 750+ credit scores because of authorized user accounts on their mommy and daddy's credit cards beware...FNMA DU 7.0 is likely find a way to juke you out of qualifying for a loan if you aren't careful.  Additionally, the three amigos, Experion, Transunion, and...

Wall Street is on a rally...the king has no clothes on...yet the parade route is lined with cheering subjects.  I know many folks have dubbed me a pessimist.  I apologize if I cause injury to your reality.  But am I the only one who sees that the king is buck-naked?  The housing market is still g...

More and more lenders are counting Pierce county as a declining market and are imposing LTV restrictions on residential loans for this area.  FHA is still a great low down option, but not every borrower fits the FHA mold.  In speaking with a few of my LO friends down in Pierce county, they believ...

I love the show Mythbusters, urban legends in general, conspiracy theories...well there has been an email story circulating about a couple walking away from their home, their mortgage and if it isn't true, it might be shortly.  Here is the story...In 2005 a couple (the Smiths) bought a $800k home...

What goes down, must come up.  No one wants to here it and everyone believes there will be another way to get us out of this mess.  We are at an economic precipice of epic proportions! After todays predicted cut, the inflation genie is going to be fully wakened along with the escalating crude oil...

Another wild ride in the mortgage market this week.  Jeff was nice enough ask me to put this weeks summary together and I want to express how helpful AR has been to my business and general knowledge of the industry.  There are some really smart folks that post here, (as well as some complete tool...

There is one factor, an "uber factor" that matters more than anything else in determining the performance of a loan over time.  It ain't FICO, DTI, type of employment, or liquid reserves.What is this "uber factor"... Hmmmm, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times!  Of those homes that...

Last months straw:  NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun called the February Existing Home Sales report "another sign that the market is stabilizing," but he said it was too early to speak of its implications for the longer term.  I got emails from agents in my wheelhouse telling me, "See, I told you...

Here's Johnny!  Inflation will keep popping up in more and more pronounced ways over the next 2 quarters, and the tandem team of the Fed and the Treasury will react with temporary, stop gap measures to stave off a further unwinding of the credit markets.  The forward holds of the Titanic are floo...