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Spookily Steady Rates

Alexis: Hey, everybody! Welcome back to the Mortgage Rundown. My name is Alexis Quinney and I'm here with Jason Obradovich, CIO of New American Funding. How have you been doing, Jason? It's been a while since we talked.

Jason: Yes, it has been a while. Doing great. Thank you. How are you?

Alexis: I'm doing good. So, since we last spoke, have there been any major updates or announcements?

Jason: There really hasn't been a lot going on. I mean, quite honestly, interest rates really haven't moved very much. And that's been what the FOMC has wanted to do is keep the market very stable. Really what's happening right now is there's obviously a lot going on, a lot of talk of another stimulus plan. And really the stimulus plan itself is what's driving equity prices or stock prices. And you're seeing small blips up and down in mortgage rates, but really no major moves.

Alexis: OK. So not much to update on. My next question was going to be, have rates moved at all? But doesn't sound like it, right?

Jason: No. Really, there hasn't been much movement at all, and that's been by design. You know what the Fed does next in terms of whether they need to provide additional stimulus or, you know, a lot of the stimulus is coming through the lower interest rates, borrowers refinancing. You know, has it worked as well as they intended? Obviously, there are still a lot of borrowers in forbearance. There are still a lot of borrowers that cannot refinance—you know, borrowers of lower credit scores or higher loan-to-value ratios. And so, the Fed's going to have to address that. But I still think we're in that wait-and-see. And with the election coming, you know, a lot could change. And so, we just have to wait for that.

Alexis: I mean, you keep reading my mind. My next question was going to be about the election and what types of shifts and changes we might see up until that point and maybe even after the election.

Jason: We're you know, we're really in a wait-and-see mode. Obviously, the polls say one thing, but you never necessarily know because of 2016, right? The polls thought the election was going to go one way and there were a lot of surprises that happened. And then, you know, truth be told, you know, this is not necessarily to pick on one party or another, I think there's a general presumption from the market standpoint that the Democrats are probably going to take the executive office and potentially even the Senate. And that could really have a big impact on stock prices, on interest rates. Obviously, it's very speculative right now. So, from what I'm seeing, stock prices are on hold. They're not really, you know, pushing higher or lower. Everyone's sitting and waiting until the election to see what's going to happen. And I think you're going to see a flurry of activity, really more in the stock market, but there will be some ramifications for interest rates.

Alexis: All right. Cool. Good to know. I think, yeah, we're all on our toes about what's to come. So, we'll just have to wait and see.

Jason: Absolutely.

Alexis: Cool. Well, that's all I have for you today. I have a feeling we'll have more updates in the next episode, but it was great chatting. And thank you for taking the time.

Jason: Absolutely. I enjoyed it. Everyone, please stay safe. Take care. I know when we have the next update, there will be a lot of things going on, a lot of things to talk about.

Alexis: Awesome. Thanks, Jason.

Jason: Bye.