Justin Huggins, Buyer Specialist

iPhone App is coming to Platinum Realty Group!

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Tue, 04 May 2010 01:45:00 GMT

Note that this information is outdated.

With nearly 40% of the cell phone market consisting of iPhone users, we are very excited to announce in the next coming weeks we will offer our clients and customers a direct link to view the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) from virtually anywhere! With our app, you can start your search for a new home right here, right now!

When/Where: May 2010

Single Story For Rent/Lease in Lonesome Dove Estates

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:06:00 GMT

• 1,650 sq. ft., 2 bath, 3 bdrm single story "Traditional" - $1,195 USD Monthly - Steal for the area!

Lonesome Dove Estates, Arlington

Property information

Rent/Lease Reduced on 304 Trailblazer Ct in Lonesome Dove Estates

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:06:00 GMT

Lonesome Dove Estates, Arlington - Announcing a rent/lease reduction on 304 Trailblazer Ct, a 1,650 sq. ft., 2 bath, 3 bdrm single story "Traditional". Now $1,195 USD Monthly - Steal for the area!.

Property information

Single Story For Sale in Original Town Of Lancaster

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 21:08:00 GMT

Very Rare historical Onion Dome Victoria

• 3,600 sq. ft., 2 bath, 4 bdrm single story - $245,000

Original Town Of Lancaster, Lancaster - Very rare historical Onion Dome Victorian Home on a gorgeous 0.65 acre wooded lot. In ground pool. Extensive remodeling and restoration. Thirty thousand on kitchen remodeling; custom cherrywood cabinets and center island. Luxury master suite has a private terrace, exercise area and stunning bathroom with claw foot tub, lots of windows for great lighting. Custom touches throughout. Original hardware. A rare find!

Property information

Single Story For Sale in Wakefield

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:55:00 GMT

Open Floorplan

• 1,650 sq. ft., 2 bath, 3 bdrm single story - $122,790 - Priced To Sell

Wakefield, Burleson - This beautiful home is situated in a fast growing suburban area of Burleson. Home features stone detail on both the interior and exterior, large and open floor plan, split master bedroom, upgraded stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, large backyard with full sod in the front and back. Other upgrades include light fixtures, wood blinds, and garden tubs with separate glass showers. A great buy in a child friendly area. Community features large pool, playground, and kiddie splash pool. Home is located in the Wakefield Community in Burleson.

Property information

Single Story For Sale in Wakefield

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:54:00 GMT

Move-In Ready

• 1,859 sq. ft., 2 bath, 3 bdrm single story - $129,640 - Priced To Sell

Wakefield, Burleson - This beautiful home is situated in a fast growing suburban area of Burleson. Home features stone detail on both the interior and exterior, large and open floor plan, split master bedroom, upgraded black appliances in the kitchen, large backyard with full sod in the front and back. Other upgrades include light fixtures, ceiling detail in the master, and garden tubs with separate glass showers. A great buy in a child friendly area. Community features large pool, playground, and kiddie splash pool. Home is located in the Wakefield Community in Burleson.

Property information

Single Story For Sale in Wakefield

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:50:00 GMT

Community Selling Fast!!!

• 2,086 sq. ft., 2 bath, 4 bdrm single story - $134,505 - Exceptional Quality

Property information

Single Story For Sale in Wakefield

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:42:00 GMT

Casual Family Living.

• 1,511 sq. ft., 2 bath, 3 bdrm single story - $115,870 - Great Price Point!

Wakefield, Burleson - This beautiful home is situated in a fast growing suburban area of Burleson. Home features a combination of brick and stone detail on both the interior and exterior, large and open floor plan, split master bedroom, upgraded black appliances in the kitchen, large backyard with full sod in the front and back. Other upgrades include light fixtures, wood blinds, and garden tubs with separate glass showers. A great buy in a child friendly area. Community features large pool, playground, and kiddie splash pool. Home is located in the Wakefield Community in Burleson.

Property information

2 Story For Sale in Wakefield

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:40:00 GMT

Immediate Move-In

• 2,568 sq. ft., 2 bath, 4 bdrm 2 story - $147,554 - Priced To Move

Wakefield, Burleson - This beautiful 2-story home is situated in a fast growing suburban area of Burleson. Home features a large and open floor plan with a 20X15 loft on the 2nd floor, split master bedroom, upgraded black appliances w/refrigerator in the kitchen, large backyard with full sod in the front and back. Other upgrades include light fixtures, wood blinds, and garden tubs with separate glass showers. A great buy in a child friendly area. Community features large pool, playground, and kiddie splash pool. Home is located in the Wakefield Community in Burleson.

Property information

2 Story For Sale in Wakefield

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:38:00 GMT

• 2,910 sq. ft., 2 bath, 4 bdrm 2 story - $160,600

Wakefield, Burleson - This beautiful 2-story home is situated in a fast growing suburban area of Burleson. Home features stone detail on both the interior and exterior, large and open floor plan with a large 24X25 loft on the 2nd floor, split master bedroom, upgraded black appliances in the kitchen, large backyard with full sod in the front and back. Other upgrades include light fixtures, wood blinds, and garden tubs with separate glass showers. A great buy in a child friendly area. Community features large pool, playground, and kiddie splash pool. Home is located in the Wakefield Community in Burleson.

Property information

1 1/2 Story For Sale in Sheffield Village

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:32:00 GMT

Located Close To Joe Pool Lake

• 1,940 sq. ft., 2 bath, 3 bdrm 1 1/2 story "Traditional" - $135,500 - Beautiful Corner Lot

Sheffield Village, Grand Prairie - Stunning home on large corner lot next to greenbelt. Walking distance to parks and West Elem. Great access to HWY 360 and only 3mi. from docks @ Joe Pool Lake. Recently updated kitchen, master bath, and living areas. Fresh paint on exterior, new flooring in master bath, 1in faux wood blinds throughout. Replaced entire heating and AC system including ducts in May 2006.

Property information

Putting a Stop To a Credit Ruse

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 04:08:00 GMT

I've have a lot of discussions over the last couple of months concerning the “Renting” of FICO scores to obtain a mortgage that is credit score driven. I have had multiple phone calls on how the mortgage industry is combating this fraud… and here it is below. The sad part (as in a lot of things), innocent people will be affected.

"Putting a Stop To a Credit Ruse"

By Kenneth R. Harney

The days may be numbered for dozens of Internet-based companies that promise to quickly boost FICO credit scores by 200 to 300 points.

Fair Isaac, the developer of the widely used FICO score, plans to introduce key changes designed to derail schemes that transplant high-quality credit card histories to the files of people with low FICO scores.

The credit-boost companies, easily found on the Web by searching for "credit trade line," claim that they violate no federal laws and are not seeking to defraud mortgage lenders. But mortgage industry groups, federal and state regulators, and credit industry leaders say the programs represent significant threats to the home lending system -- opening the door to fraudulent home loan applications.

Using a FICO-boost service, for example, a mortgage applicant with a history of late and missed payments and a FICO score in the 500s could puff up his or her score well above 700 and be eligible for the best interest rates and fees.

How could that happen? Check out the online pitch of one promoter: "Rent your credit and earn thousands," it proclaims. The company offers cardholders with sterling payment histories on cards with high balances "as much as $10,000 a month or more" simply by accepting unseen borrowers with poor credit backgrounds as "authorized users" on their card accounts for 90 days.

Although the add-on users receive no access to the credit card and cannot rack up charges, Fair Isaac's FICO model allows the cardholders' excellent payment histories to flow directly into the credit files of all authorized users on the card. The addition of the high-quality credit quickly raises the scores of any authorized users -- even though the add-on users may still be poor credit risks.

Authorized users traditionally have been cardholders' children, close relatives or friends with little experience with credit and insufficient histories to generate FICO scores. Many parents allow their high school or college family members to tag on to Visa or MasterCard accounts as authorized users to help them learn about and build their credit skills. But under federal law, there are no limitations on who can become an authorized user or on the number of authorized users. Nor are there bars to treating payment histories as financial commodities and renting them out.

One Web site promoter claims that some cardholder "investors" are "able to accommodate as many as 99" authorized users simultaneously and have "as many as 22 qualifying cards" for rental, creating "thousands of dollars per card" of extra income monthly.

Fair Isaac, worried that its credit scoring system is being gamed to facilitate fraud, is readying a crackdown. Starting in September, the updated version of the FICO software available to lenders -- the "FICO 08" model -- will no longer consider authorized-user accounts in computing credit scores, said Craig Watts, Fair Isaac's public affairs manager.

That, in effect, will block holders of good credit from renting their account histories to authorized users to artificially boost scores. Watts said that once fully implemented, Fair Isaac's change should eliminate much of the problem.

However, some credit experts say there could be a downside: Children and other legitimate authorized users no longer will get the benefits of their sharing of their parents' or grandparents' high-quality credit. Their FICO scores will be depressed or might even disappear.

As an illustration, a college student with little credit history on file might get a 100-point increase by virtue of being an authorized user on her mother's Visa card with perfect payments stretching to the 1980s. Those 100 points, in turn, might lower the student's cost of auto insurance premiums, help in job applications and show her to be a creditworthy potential tenant when she seeks to rent an apartment.

If FICO score calculations ignore all authorized-user accounts, however, the student's score could be 100 points lower.

Terry Clemans, executive director of the National Credit Reporting Association, said that while he understands "Fair Isaac's need to solve the [application fraud] problem, I would think there must be some less drastic ways to filter out" legitimate authorized-user accounts from the new breed of rented credit card accounts. Credit card companies also need to get involved, Clemans said, and "should not approve authorized user accounts" where the cardholder is clearly participating in some form of rental scheme for profit.

Bottom line: If you depend on an authorized-user account to elevate your FICO score -- whether legitimately or with cheating in your heart -- don't bank on it after September.

1 1/2 Story For Sale in Baker Addition

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sat, 26 May 2007 14:27:00 GMT

Reduced!

• 1,166 sq. ft., 1 bath, 2 bdrm 1 1/2 story "A-Frame" - $69,900 - Exceptional Quality!

Baker Addition, Everman - This home has been remodeled down to the studs. Interior walls were moved to make the home more functional and feel bigger. Upgrades include: 14 seer AC, 36" cabinets w/lazy Susan corner, recently replaced appliances and flooring. The bathroom offers a 6ft Jacuzzi tub with flat screen TV mounted (negotiable) above for those serious about relaxing! The bathroom also offers His & Hers pedestal sinks. The master bedroom also offers His & Hers closets and plenty of space for a sitting area. The 9ft diving pool is an in-ground gunite with recently replaced tiles, filters, and pumps.

Property information

Price Reduced on 504 Holley St. in Baker Addition

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sat, 26 May 2007 14:27:00 GMT

Baker Addition, Everman - Announcing a price reduction on 504 Holley St., a 1,166 sq. ft., 1 bath, 2 bdrm 1 1/2 story "A-Frame". Now $69,900 - Exceptional Quality!.

Property information

Single Story For Sale in Green Oaks Addition

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sat, 26 May 2007 14:24:00 GMT

Great Buy!

• 1,233 sq. ft., 2 bath, 3 bdrm single story - $94,900 - Gem in South Arlington

Green Oaks Addition, Arlington - Beautifully decorated home in well established area. This 3-2-2 offers recently replaced berber carpet and 12x12 ceramic tile in kitchen and entry way. Large backyard with swing set, garage floor has been finished with non skid flooring. Kids bdrms offer good size plus custom painted murals. Updated appliances and kitchen cabinet finish.

Property information

Price Reduced on 4114 Willow Springs Dr in Green Oaks Addition

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sat, 26 May 2007 14:24:00 GMT

Green Oaks Addition, Arlington - Announcing a price reduction on 4114 Willow Springs Dr, a 1,233 sq. ft., 2 bath, 3 bdrm single story. Now $94,900 - Gem in South Arlington.

Property information

Ranch For Sale in Smokerise Addition

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sat, 26 May 2007 14:21:00 GMT

Established Neighborhood

• 1,800 sq. ft., 2 bath, 3 bdrm ranch - $149,900 - Great Buy!

Smokerise Addition, Arlington - This wonderful home is located in an established area of S. Arlington and has recently been remodeled down to the studs in some places. Upgrades include: fencing around the yard perimeter, tile counter tops in the kitchen, replaced carpet in all the bedrooms, and bamboo laminate flooring. This home offers sizable bedrooms and an 11X5 utility room. The bathrooms are both spacious and offer enclosed showers and separate tubs. You'll enjoy the wooded backyard and large 18X8 covered patio.

Property information

Price Reduced on 3207 Chimney Ct. in Smokerise Addition

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sat, 26 May 2007 14:21:00 GMT

Smokerise Addition, Arlington - Announcing a price reduction on 3207 Chimney Ct., a 1,800 sq. ft., 2 bath, 3 bdrm ranch. Now $149,900 - Great Buy!.

Property information

1 1/2 Story For Sale in Sheffield Village

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Sat, 26 May 2007 14:18:00 GMT

Located Close To Joe Pool Lake

• 1,940 sq. ft., 2 bath, 3 bdrm 1 1/2 story "Traditional" - $135,500 - Beautiful Corner Lot

Sheffield Village, Grand Prairie - Stunning home on large corner lot next to greenbelt. Walking distance to parks and West Elem. Great access to HWY 360 and only 3mi. from docks @ Joe Pool Lake. Recently updated kitchen, master bath, and living areas. Fresh paint on exterior, new flooring in master bath, 1in faux wood blinds throughout. Replaced entire heating and AC system including ducts in May 2006.

Property information

Lender Forecast, May 20-26

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Thu, 24 May 2007 15:18:00 GMT

What's in store for the week ahead? First, a short - but relevant - history lesson. World War I was sometimes called the "War of the Trenches", because of the unique way that ground battles were fought. A long trench was dug by each opposing force, and they would fight between the two trenches, using the trench itself for cover as needed. Whichever side won that particular battle would advance forward, taking over their opponent's trench and proceeding to fight forward. Now - look at the chart below, and imagine you are in a hot air balloon, looking down over a WWI battlefield. C'mon, use your imagination.

You can see that the 200-day Moving Average has been a very tough "trench" held firmly by the Bond Bulls, who have kept Bond prices above this level for the past nine months running and subsequently, kept home loan rates low. But just this week, the Bond Bears have finally penetrated and defeated this tough trench. And as Bond prices have fallen, home loan rates have risen. And in the past, this particular trench - the 200-day Moving Average - has been a real tough one to beat. In fact, last time Bond prices fell below this level, it took an eighteen month battle to win the trench back, and help home loan rates improve!

This means that the overall trend for home loan rates doesn't look too positive in the coming months, unless some very Bond-friendly news makes its way to the front lines. And with a thin economic calendar in the week ahead - don't expect any significant improvements in the near term.

Lender Update

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Thu, 24 May 2007 15:16:00 GMT

Last week, Steroid-pumped Stocks kicked sand in the face of the 97-pound weakling Bond market, and home loan rates worsened by about .125% across the board. What happened?

Here's the story - money invested out in the financial markets generally flows back and forth between Stocks and Bonds. This means that when Stocks are doing well, money is flowing out of Bonds as investors move their "safe" holdings into what they hope are winning positions in the Stock market. On the other hand, when the Stock market takes a turn for the worse, money flows right back out of Stocks and right back over into "safe haven" Bonds. This happens over and over, and is true on a large and small scale; from individual investors on up to massive institutional investors...the mindset is exactly the same.

As the Stock market has rocketed higher in recent days, investors want to get in on the action, and that money has to come from somewhere...and that's right, it's coming from Bonds. And when money is pulled out of Bonds, it means that Bond prices worsen, and home loan rates move higher like they did last week.

What should have helped Bonds was a friendly Consumer Price Index report, showing that inflation appears to be moderating. Inflation is the arch-enemy of Bonds, which deliver an investor a fixed return - the value of which is eroded by inflation. But just like the 97-pound weaklings wimpy friend at the beach, the good news on inflation wasn't strong enough to help Bonds or home loan rates regain their legs.

SPEAKING OF THE BEACH...EVER SEE THOSE DUDES GOING AROUND WITH METAL DETECTORS, AND WONDER JUST WHAT THEY'RE UP TO? MIGHT BE SEEKING OLD WAR RELICS, OR PERHAPS A VALUABLE COIN - BUT YOU WON'T NEED A MACHINE TO FIND A NEW COIN THAT'S WORTH ROUGHLY 50 TIMES IT'S FACE VALUE DUE TO A MINT ERROR. IT COULD BE IN YOUR POCKET RIGHT NOW, SO DON'T MISS THIS WEEK'S MORTGAGE MARKET VIEW.

HAIL TO THE CHEF!

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:48:00 GMT

Oops...meant to say "Chief!" Errors are common, but generally not for the US Mint. Because they rarely make a mistake, their recent mishap is causing the value of some newly minted - yet flawed - coins to skyrocket.

The United States is honoring our nations Presidents by issuing Dollar coins, which feature their images. And as a side bonus, the US also saves money, because coins stay in circulation longer than paper currency - yet it remains to be seen if we will adapt to clunky coins instead of paper in our pockets. The new coins will feature four different Presidents each year, appearing in the order in which they served, beginning in 2007 with Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison. The Dollar coins will be unique in design with each having the name and likeness of the President, the term of office, and a number indicating the order in which the President served. Additionally, the standard inscriptions traditionally found on the face of coins have been moved to the edge. The inscriptions "E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one)", "In God We Trust", the year of minting, and the mint mark have all been moved to the edge of the coin.

And with any big change to design...there is always room for error. Sure enough, some of these new coins will quickly come off the market, because the US Mint made a mistake. The value of these rare coins is now up 5000%, and still climbing.

Here's what happened. The U. S. Mint placed a significant, but undisclosed, amount of new dollar coins into circulation without the inscriptions around the edge. These $1 coins are now worth $50 a piece to collectors! That's right, fifty times the actual face value. Obviously, something went wrong during the six-step process to allow this to happen. Here's the procedure:

Blanking - The U.S. Mint buys strips of metal rolled in a coil that are about 13 inches wide and 1,500 feet long. The coil is fed through a blanking press which punches out round disks called blanks.

Annealing, Washing and Drying - The blanks are then heated in an annealing furnace to soften them and then run through a washer and dryer.

Upsetting - The blanks go through an upsetting mill to raise the edges of the coins.

Striking - Coins go to the coining press and they are stamped with the designs and inscriptions.

Inspecting - Press operators use magnifying glasses to spot-check struck coins.

Counting and Bagging - Coins are dropped into bags, sealed shut, and held in a vault until shipped to the Federal Reserve.

Nabbing one of these could turn a tidy profit for you with an even greater price tag in the future. But be careful - The US Mint has issued a warning on their website that scam artists are actually grinding the rims of Presidential $1 Coins to remove the inscriptions, then marketing them as US Mint "error coins".

In Philadelphia or Denver, you can actually take a fascinating tour of a US Mint location. To learn more - or take a virtual tour - click here: Tour the US Mint

Two Major "Did You Knows" about Short Sales.

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Wed, 09 May 2007 14:41:00 GMT

Important Read!

1) Did you know….

That if the seller has an FHA loan , HUD is not allowing lenders to negotiate a short sale and pay closing cost for the buyer. If the lender allows closing cost paid for the buyer, FHA will not cover that part of the cost in the insurability/ reimbursement of the loan back to the lender.

2) Did you know…

The IRS can tax the amount forgiven on a short sale? Read below.

For homeowners who are seriously delinquent on their mortgages and hoping for relief, the Internal Revenue Service has bad news: If your lender agrees to modify your loan and forgive any of your debt, you could owe federal income tax on the amount forgiven.

Think of it as the tax code's "kick 'em while they're down" rule. When personal debts are canceled by a creditor, the amount forgiven is treated as ordinary income under the Internal Revenue Code, except in some situations such as insolvency. Worse yet, the lender is required by law to report the canceled amount to the IRS.

Ouch! This is especially bad news for the growing numbers of credit-impaired subprime borrowers who find themselves "upside down" in the current real estate market: They owe more on their mortgage than the value of their house, thanks to noxious combinations of zero down payments, declining property values and hefty payment increases they can't afford.

Diane Thompson, a lawyer with the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation in East St. Louis, Ill., tells of one client who learned about the tax code's Catch-22 the hard way. After the homeowner negotiated a loan modification agreement with her lender, she assumed that she was done with the matter. But a year later, the IRS came after her, demanding a large tax payment on the amount the lender forgave -- a tax bill that was equal to her annual income. As required, her lender had dutifully submitted a Form 1099-C to the IRS, alerting the agency to the woman's extra "income" from the loan modification.

The homeowner never received that income in any tangible way; she couldn't deposit it in her bank account. But under federal law, the IRS had every right to come after her for unpaid taxes.

Similar situations are likely to pop up around the country in the coming year as lenders bend over backward to modify thousands of troubled loans to prevent foreclosure. Proposed legislation on Capitol Hill could soften some of the impact on financially stressed homeowners, however. The Mortgage Cancellation Tax Relief Act of 2007 (H.R. 1876) would amend the tax code to exclude debt forgiveness on principal home mortgages from treatment as income.

Introduced in mid-April by Reps. Robert E. Andrews (D-N.J.) and Ron Lewis (R-Ky.), the bill would allow lenders to restructure delinquent mortgages without worrying about income-tax hand grenades hitting their borrowers the next year. The legislation could assist many other homeowners in financial trouble who negotiate pre-foreclosure "short sales" or deeds in lieu of foreclosure, or those whose foreclosure proceeds are insufficient to pay off their mortgage debt.

Short sales are increasingly commonplace. Say you are seriously behind on your mortgage payments, and a loan modification or rate reduction won't solve the problem because you have lost your job. As an alternative to foreclosure, your lender might suggest a quick sale of the house, often to an investor who will buy it as-is at a discounted price. If the short sale proceeds are $10,000 less than the outstanding mortgage balance and your lender agrees to forgive that amount, the Andrews-Lewis bill would allow you to obtain that relief tax-free.

Under current law, your lender would be required to report the $10,000 in phantom income to the IRS. Ditto if you went to foreclosure and the sale proceeds yielded $10,000 -- or $50,000 -- less than the outstanding debt owed to the lender.

Proponents of the debt-relief bill argue that short sales, mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures are painful situations for most homeowners and that there's no public policy purpose served by smacking them with tax penalties that make things even worse. In the case of below-market short sales, for example, most homeowners have already suffered sizable capital losses that are not tax-deductible. They've lost thousands of dollars in equity.

Why pile on?
The outlook for the bill: It's currently before the House Ways and Means Committee, Congress's primary tax legislation body. Because most of the majority-Democratic housing and banking committee leaders have called on banks and mortgage companies to work out solutions to keep troubled homeowners out of foreclosure, a bipartisan tax fairness bill like this one should have a reasonable chance of passage. Stay tuned…..

Lending Forecast

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Wed, 09 May 2007 14:31:00 GMT

This week's economic calendar is front and back-end loaded with potentially high impact reports. Right out of the gates, Monday brings the Personal Income and Spending report with the imbedded Core Personal Consumption Expenditure Index, the Federal Reserve's most favored gauge of inflation. Expectations are for Core Inflation to be reported at 2.2%, inching closer to the Fed's target of 2% or lower. Not to be outdone, Friday is launch-day for the potentially explosive monthly Jobs Report with the latest data on new job formation, hourly earnings, and the unemployment rate. Estimates for new job creations are presently around 100,000.

If either of these reports are out of line - showing more inflation than expected or markedly more jobs than expected - this could cause Bond prices and home loan rates to suffer. And on the flip side - if the reports show low inflation or fewer job creations than anticipated, this could help Bond prices and home loan rates improve.

Mortgage Bonds are now trading within a few whiskers of a very important technical floor of support at the 200-day Moving Average. Why is this floor so important? The chart below shows that Bonds have traded above this floor for eight months - and the last time Bonds traded beneath this level, the 200-day MA became a tough overhead ceiling of resistance, putting a lid on Bond prices or home loan rates improving for one and half years. So...if the news of this week forces the Bond beneath this 200-day MA floor of support, it may mean higher home loan rates for a while.

The Lender's Corner...

Justin Huggins and Reginald Wilson — Wed, 09 May 2007 14:29:00 GMT

"THE ONE FUNCTION THAT TV NEWS PERFORMS VERY WELL IS THAT WHEN THERE IS NO NEWS - WE GIVE IT TO YOU WITH THE SAME EMPHASIS AS IF THERE WERE." David Brinkley

No kidding...and although the week did start out with little real economic news for talking heads to deliver with drama, the calendar picked up steam in a hurry. Mixed news arrived for both New and Existing Home Sales - and on the heels of the recent strong housing starts and building permits that had the bad-news loving media choking, they attempted to paint a very dismal picture on housing - but it should be taken with a grain of salt. Most closings in March were likely originated in February, which was an incredibly cold month across the US - not the best month to be out home shopping or mucking around construction sites. With spring on the way, there could be some strength in housing in the upcoming months.

This week also brought an interesting report called the Employment Cost Index - one of former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan's favorites - which measures the change in employment costs like wages and benefits. This report showed that costs are increasing, with wages increasing by 3.6% and benefit costs increasing by 3.1% over the past year. So not only are employers having to pay more in salaries due to a tight labor market, but the benefits they are providing to their employees are costing more too. What's a business owner to do? You got it - consider raising the price of their goods and services to cover the rising costs of their employees...and higher prices means inflation. Not good news for inflation-hating Bond prices and home loan rates, which lost the improvements made earlier in the week and ended unchanged to slightly worse for the week overall.

THE JOB MARKET IS TIGHTENING, AND A COLLEGE EDUCATION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER - YET 97% OF AMERICAN FAMILIES HAVE NOT PLANNED PROPERLY FOR THEIR CHILD'S COLLEGE FUND. THINK YOU'VE GOT ALL KINDS OF TIME BECAUSE YOUR KIDS ARE YOUNG? WAITING COULD COST YOU...READ THIS WEEK'S MORTGAGE MARKET VIEW FOR A CAUTIONARY TALE OF TWO PARENTS, AND LEARN WHY YOU SHOULD GET STARTED SAVING RIGHT AWAY.