Rates and Loan questions

To those of you who asked about rate and loan info, here's the skinny, courtesy of Dana Dukelow at Metrocities Mortgage:

Conforming loans (up to $429k): Even though some lenders are advertising 5% down loans, it is hard to get mortgage insurance for anything under a 10% down. The good news is that today's 30-year fixed rate is running at about 5.875%/1 pt.

Junior jumbo conforming loans (up to $729k): a rate of 6%/1 pt. is possible with A+ credit and 20% down. Less down, less credit is going to be higher.

Jumbo loans (over $729k): these are really hard to get, and fewer and fewer lenders are offering them. And, lenders are frequently asking for 25% down, because this is still considered to be a declining market. However, the way to go seems to be to get a 10/1 arm, or a 5/1 arm -- if you can do it, the rates can be as low as 6%/1 pt.

What I see going forward: I hate to even try to predict it. But, surprisingly, there seems to be liquidity in the home lending system. Unlike, apparently, any other segment of our economy. My hunch is that the powers that be are going to try to shore up the real estate/mortgage system before anything else because that's where the current financial crisis began. So, and this is a guess, I would expect rates to go only slightly higher for conforming and junior loans in the next several months. But honestly, I really have no friggin' idea. I hope that's helpful.

Discount Brokerages? Oh, Puleeze...

I sent the following letter to the L.A. Times editor:
Re Sunday's L.A. Times Real Estate section article about discount brokerages, I think it would have been only fair for the Times to have disclosed that its parent company, Tribune Corp, owns Help-U-Sell. Also, an excellent reason to use a full-service broker instead of a discounter appears right in the Times Homes advertising section: unlike the full service brokerages, discounters won't purchase print advertising for their listings because it costs them too much. Nor do the discount brokerages do much on-line advertising as the full service brokers do. For home sellers, now more than ever, media exposure is the path to sales and that means much more advertising than just a sign in the yard and a box of flyers. The question should be not why a seller would want to pay for full services, but why a seller would throw away money on a discounter instead of paying a percentage point or two more and getting the services they truly need.