•  Housing starts climbed 2.8% in January to a seasonally adjusted 591,000 annual rate compared to the prior month.

•  Building permits, a leading indicator of housing construction, fell 4.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 621,000.

•  U.S. import prices rose for the sixth straight month and by more than expected in January, largely due to a sharp increase in volatile oil prices.  Prices of goods imported into the United States rose by 1.4% in January compared to December, after increasing an upwardly revised 0.2% in December.

FHA Commissioner, David Stevens says mortgage brokers are the cheapest channel for getting loans to closing.

"In 2009, more than 50 percent of first-time buyers used FHA; nearly 80 percent of our purchase loans are to first-time homebuyers."

"The FICO scores have risen: 693 now v 633 two years ago."

"Our most difficult loans were made in book years 2006 through 2008.  Looking ahead, as private liquidity re-enters the market, and FHA steps back, we will have higher quality, less risky mortgages, which will be appropriately underwritten."

"First, there will be new loan-to-value and credit score requirements.  Loans to borrowers with a credit score of less than 580 will require a minimum 10 percent downpayment.  Loans to borrowers with a credit score of 580 or above will require the traditional minimum of 3.5 percent downpayment."

"Second, the up-front mortgage insurance premium will increase to 2.25 percent.  We will also pursue legislative authority to increase the statutory cap on the annual Mortgage Insurance Premium."

"Third, we will reduce allowable seller concessions from six percent to three percent to conform to industry standards.  This will also reduce potential value inflation."

Earlier this morning one of the big financial stations offered this as their poll question of the day:

Would you be willing to make less if you could work less knowing it would help the economy?

The implicit assumption being that if you worked less then someone out of work could gain additional income and that could perhaps help stabilize the economy.  The new mantra being that job creation is the big solution to our current economic malaise.

We're concerned with the lack of job creation as more of a symptom of a greater disease.  We believe there is too much debt and the asset base is declining in value (or reverting to the mean).

Let's rephrase their question like this, "Could you afford to earn less if you worked less"?  Drop the consideration of helping the economy and consider your debt?  Would your monthly budget allow you the freedom to work and earn less?  Or do you have too many financial obligations?

Could you restructure some of that debt so that consideration of the question above becomes a possibility?

Reports from our web hosting service indicate that "mortgage rate in northern va" or "mortgage refinance rates for northern va" are two commonly searched phrases to which users of MetFund.com seek the answer.

For any given loan type be it a conventional, conforming, fixed rate mortgage or a government FHA, adjustable rate or a conventional, super conforming loan there are base rates and costs for each.  Two factors weigh heavily on the final rate and cost that will be offered to any consumer. 

The first is the amount of equity or down payment in the transaction.  This will often be calculated in the loan-to-value (LTV).  If your LTV is 60% or less, we can then offer you a better price.

The second factor and perhaps the most important is your credit score.  If your score is below 660 it may not matter what your LTV is:  it's going to cost you more.  Your middle score is above 740?  More than likely you'll get a better price. 

Moody's said that unless further measures are taken to cure our chronic budget deficit, the US Government's AAA credit rating may come under pressure.