Forecast for the Week

Look for key housing reports, plus an important update on U.S. economic growth.

• Housing numbers kick off the week with Existing Home Sales for August on Monday. New Home Sales for August follow on Wednesday.
• As usual, Weekly Initial Jobless Claims will be released on Thursday, along with Durable Goods Orders.
• The big news of the week comes Friday with the final reading on Q2 Gross Domestic Product. The Consumer Sentiment Index will also be released on Friday.

Remember: Weak economic news normally causes money to flow out of Stocks and into Bonds, helping Bonds and home loan rates improve, while strong economic news normally has the opposite result. The chart below shows Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), which are the type of Bond on which home loan rates are based.

When you see these Bond prices moving higher, it means home loan rates are improving—and when they are moving lower, home loan rates are getting worse.

To go one step further—a red “candle” means that MBS worsened during the day, while a green “candle” means MBS improved during the day. Depending on how dramatic the changes were on any given day, this can cause rate changes throughout the day, as well as on the rate sheets we start with each morning.

As you can see in the chart below, Mortgage Bonds were able to stabilize in recent days. Home loan rates remain near historical lows and I’ll continue to monitor them closely.

Chart: Fannie Mae 4.0% Mortgage Bond (Friday September 19, 2014)

The Mortgage Market Guide View…

Make Every Meeting Minute Count

In business, time is money. Whether meeting one-on-one with clients or with a team, follow these tips to stay on task and make the minutes count.

Define an objective. Your objective is your reason for getting together. If you don’t have an objective, don’t meet. Objectives might include brainstorming, presenting options, developing plans, providing status updates, or finalizing a decision.

Distribute an agenda in advance. Include date, time and location of the meeting (or call-in and log-in information, if applicable). Specify the meeting objective(s). Clearly state who is responsible for leading a topic, as well as any work to prepare for the meeting.

Begin and end on time. Be respectful of everyone’s time and stick to the schedule. Make sure you factor in ample travel time to and from meetings (whether across town or across the office). If one meeting ends right before another begins, your schedule may get thrown off track.

Stay focused on the discussion at hand. Good discussions often yield more good ideas and questions; however, these can quickly derail a meeting. Keep a separate document handy to jot down future agenda topics, so you stay focused on the meeting at hand.

Define next steps. Assign individuals to specific tasks, define deliverables, and set timelines for completion.

Summarize. To help ensure all meeting attendees are clear about meeting outcomes, summarize the key points and next steps.

Distribute meeting minutes. Meeting minutes serve as a historical record, as well as a summary for those who were unable to attend. Minutes include date, time, list of attendees, key points, decisions and next steps. Distribute minutes within 48 hours of a meeting. For one-on-one client meetings, a follow-up email serves as meeting minutes.

Following these tips will help ensure time being spent is worthwhile for all involved. As always, please feel free to pass these tips along to your team, colleagues and clients!

Sources: BusinessProductivity.com, MindTools.com

Economic Calendar for the Week of September 22 – September 26

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