Mortgage Relief On The Horizon: What Falling Bond Yields Mean For Homebuyers And Owners

Check out this week's update!!

We track a potential government reopening, easing bond yields, and a small but notable jump in home values, then map how a quarter-point rate move can unlock millions of refinance opportunities. We also unpack VA entitlement, explain how to hold multiple VA loans, and stress why strong lender partnerships protect clients.

Find Nikki at @mortgagesfromMntoAZ on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook

Chapters

• 1:12 Government Reopening And Market Mood
• 1:55 Bonds Slide And Mortgage Rates Dip
• 2:36 Housing Data From ICE And Inflation Hints
• 3:44 Refi Math: Millions Unlock Eligibility
• 4:45 Who To Call About Refinancing
• 5:13 VA Loan Basics And Eligibility
• 5:58 Using Multiple VA Loans At Once
• 7:52 Timing Benefits And VA Funding Fee
• 8:58 Why The Right Partners Matter
• 10:38 Where To Find Nikki And Signoff

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:37

Good morning, afternoon, evening, wherever you are, whenever you're listening to it, this video it is November 10th. And Nikki can't wait for this week's update. How's it going? It's going really good, actually.

SPEAKER_01: 0:51

As we all know, as of November 10th, the it appears that the Senate has come to a vote about opening the government back up. So a bill that would fund different programs to get us back up and running from a government standpoint that now needs to, we got our 60-40 majority. It now needs to go to a vote on the Senate floor to get the 51 vote majority. And then that bill needs to go back to Congress to be voted on again to open up the government. So it should be sometime this week that we get the government opening back up. Good news in the bond market, which means that basically, as a reaction to the news of the government reopening, the bond market is going down a little bit, which means mortgage interest rates have gone down a little bit. So we are back into more of those 5.875, 6%, you know, those types of options for interest rates from a conventional mortgage that we can get to. Also, the because we haven't had government data to rely on from an inflation standpoint and from a housing price standpoint, we have to go out to other outside sources that collect data and technology for technology, use the technology to collect data for home prices and inflation. So one of the one of the companies that collects data for home pricing and you know appreciation, things of that nature is called ICE. It's the Intercontinental Exchange. They're very much a very valuable and definitely a dependable source when it comes to home data. And they announced that in October, home values rose by 0.15%, which is actually the largest increase since March of this year. So that's starting to be some good news about home appreciation, home values increasing, which is good. Also, from an inflation standpoint, if we look at the New York exchange fed consumer expectations, they are actually expecting inflation to go down by 0.2%, down to 3.2, which is, again, the first decrease in inflation since the inception of the tariffs and things of that nature. So we're starting to see, if you remember, we saw an increase in inflation from when the tariffs were enacted because of, you know, deals being made, money coming in, not knowing what to do with it. So people expected the actual cost of consumer goods and inflation to go up, which it did. And this is the first indication of it coming back down. So those are all good things, could be all wonderful things for the bond market and mortgage interest rates. Also, interestingly enough, if mortgage interest rates drop by 0.25% from a refinance standpoint, that helps about on average for every quarter interest rate that those mortgage interest rates drop, it helps about 1.7 million mortgages become eligible for refinancing. So when we say the parameters surrounding that are reducing your interest rate by about a point. So in other words, going from 7% to 6%. So as things continue to drop, as interest rates continue to drop, you can start to expect that for every quarter percent, about 1.7 million people are eligible for those refinance based on the lowering their interest rate by about a point. So that's all good news as we kind of move into this, where we're seeing through the end of the year hoping to see about a 40 basis point drop in mortgage interest rates as a whole, which means that we would be around 2.7 to 3 million people being able to be eligible for refinance at that point with that 40-point bit drop. So that's good news. So all things are looking good on a Monday morning, which is wonderful.

SPEAKER_00: 4:08

Absolutely. So going back to the every quarter percent that it drops, 1.7 million will be up for refi as agents. Who would we go to or who are who's on your radar?

SPEAKER_01: 4:22

Anyone who bought a home in 23 and 24. Okay. And 25, really. I mean, 25 is a little bit, maybe beginning at 25, but yeah. Anyone who bought a home 23, 24 into 25 is really who you want to have a conversation with and just say, hey, have you checked on this? Where's your interest rate? Talk to your lender, et cetera. Um, the other thing I wanted to talk about today, though, is we have Veterans Day tomorrow. So I thought I'd talk a little bit about the VA loan. And we've all, you know, we all know that there's benefits to the VA loan, 0% down, you know, lower interest rates than what you would find on conventional mortgages. But I wanted to talk about being able to have more than one VA loan at a time. So the VA loan is restricted to people who are using that home as a primary residence. There's a certain amount of eligibility attributed to each person through the VA. And that eligibility is determined by really location of where they live when they are discharged from the service. And then also, on average, what is that county loan limit to derive from eligibility from? So as the county or the conforming loan limits increase, so in other words, they're 806,500 this year, next year they're going up to 819,000. As those conforming loan limits increase, the amount or the calculation that the VA uses for eligibility increases. So because it's calculated on that conforming loan limit or the county loan limit, depending on where you live, that will determine how much VA eligibility you have. That determination, the calculation that we do, results in a loan amount. So you get this overall loan amount. Let's call it you have eligibility for a million dollars overall. If you have a VA loan that has a balance of 250,000, out of that eligibility, you take out the 250,000 that's already spent, and then you have 750,000 that's available for you. So that's kind of how it works. So what we do is we do an overall calculation of eligibility on VA and then subtract any current VA loans to make them eligible to purchase another loan or another home with a VA loan as a primary residence without having to give up, sell their first property or give up that loan, that VA loan on the initial property. So keep this in mind. So where this is applicable, if people want to rent out their home and move into a different home, if people want to buy a home without having to sell their home, things of that, those situations where it makes them a non-contingent buyer, they can still use VA financing. They don't have to go through multiple loans in order to get back to VA financing, and they could have eligibility built up enough to afford both homes at the same time. So that's kind of a really neat thing about the about the VA loan that not a lot of people know about. So I have clients who have, I think the most I've ever done for one client is five VA loans. Wow. Yeah. Over the years. All right. At the same time, because their eligibility was such.

SPEAKER_00: 7:15

Yeah, that's interesting. I actually just spoke with a gentleman who said he has to wait till July to tap into his VA benefits because of when they purchased their house. So, and I asked him, I'm like, Do you have a good lender? Because I have one. He's like, I got I got a good one. And I'm gonna double check, Nikki, because I think he needs to talk to you. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 7:38

Yeah, a lot of times you can be discharged from the military and not receive your VA benefits right away because there's a certain amount of time you need to be connected to the military in order to receive the VA loan. And then if there's any outstanding service connected disability claims, that's not gonna prevent you from getting a VA loan. But it's always my suggestion to wait until those are fully processed because sometimes those affect the funding fee for the VA as well. So if you have a service connected disability where you're disabled at over a certain percentage, it can affect whether you have to pay that funding fee attached to the VA loan. Got it.

SPEAKER_00: 8:15

Yeah. So I all things VA go to Nikki's. There's so much. And I get asked because again, I coach and mentor a lot of agents, even agents I coached and mentored eight, 10 years ago are coming back around asking me questions. And you know, even if it's been a half a year or a year since I've dealt with it or thought about it or talked about it, you know, I'll I'll give them an answer, but I'll be like, and you want to check. You want to check with Nikki if it's about lending or your broke, you know, your compliance department or the broker because things just change so quickly. And you know, that's where I'll I'll say it over and over again who you partner with matters, be me being able to stay in my lane and just hand it off to Nikki and know that it's taken care of is such peace of mind. And you should have that for every arm of your business. And if you don't, I highly recommend sitting down and doing that. That should be one of the first things you do when you get into this business because it can make or break you, definitely. I think on average, I've heard over 40 people touch a real estate transaction from start to finish. So if you think about that, that's a lot of people. And yes, it's our job as the agent to be the quarterback and know where everyone's at. Uh, have our checklist. Uh, but to do each and every one of those things at a really high level, it's impossible, nor should it be what you're doing. So who you partner with matters for sure. Absolutely, it does. 100%. Wonderful. Well, thanks so much for the update. Uh, look forward to hearing more once we get back in action here. What next week brings. So until then, if you have anything, Nikki, where do they find you?

SPEAKER_01: 10:03

Uh, at mortgages from Mn to A Z. They can find me on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, anywhere. Perfect.

SPEAKER_00: 10:09

Look her up. I'm telling you, she's the real deal. So uh see you next week. Have a good one.

SPEAKER_01: 10:15

Bye, everyone.

SPEAKER_00: 10:15

Bye.