The August Group Inc. is your source for dependable Real Estate Appraisals in Saint Louis City and the following counties in Missouri; St. Louis, Franklin, Jefferson, Warren, Lincoln, St. Charles and St. Francois.Whether it's an older home or luxurious new construction, Jeffrey Noyes' experience and hours of study as licensed appraiser make him qualified to provide home valuations in Saint Louis City, St. Louis, Franklin, Jefferson, Warren, Lincoln, St. Charles and St. Francois County for clients ranging from national mortgage companies to local lenders or individual businesses and consumers.
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| Some Bond-Specific Weakness in The Afternoon | ||
| 7/10/2026 2:50 PM | ||
| Some Bond-Specific Weakness in The Afternoon Oil and Treasury yields were almost perfectly correlated for almost the entire week. Friday afternoon was an exception. Oil continued sideways to slightly lower while yields rose a bit. Overall damage was negligible, but it was interesting nonetheless. While ther...Read More | ||
| Mortgage Rates End Week Roughly Unchanged | ||
| 7/10/2026 1:39 PM | ||
| Rates are based on bonds and bonds have been taking cues from oil prices this week. Oil was flat overnight, bringing bonds along for the sideways ride. As such, the average mortgage lender began the day almost perfectly in line with yesterday"s latest levels. All that having been said, bonds experienced some of their own weakness in the afte...Read More | ||
| Existing-Home Sales Continue Sideways Trend in June | ||
| 7/10/2026 1:25 PM | ||
| Existing-home sales eased in June after reaching a six-month high in May, as modest changes in mortgage rates continued to influence buyer activity. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, sales fell 2.4% from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million , though they remained 2.8% above their level from a year earlier....Read More | ||
| Mortgage Applications Ease During Holiday-Shortened Week | ||
| 7/10/2026 1:21 PM | ||
| Mortgage application activity slipped modestly last week as both purchase and refinance demand eased during the holiday-shortened period. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported a 2.2% decrease in total application volume on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending July 3, with results adjusted for the Fourth of July holiday. Purc...Read More | ||
| Verification, AI, Prequal Products; STRATMOR Tech Survey; Government Program News | ||
| 7/10/2026 10:06 AM | ||
| Did you know that 53 percent of statistics are made up on the spot? “Rob, you recently mentioned that 30 percent of repeat buyers paid cash and did not finance their home. Where did that statistic come from?” The most recent Home Buyers and Sellers Report from NAR. If you’d like to see stats based on age, here is as much data as you would like. Len...Read More | ||
| Empty Calendar Leaves Focus on War Headlines | ||
| 7/10/2026 9:05 AM | ||
| The entire week has been a study in the rekindled love affair between bond yields and oil prices. The latter is fairly flat versus yesterday"s latest levels, so it"s no surprise to see bonds in the same position. Without anything of note on the econ calendar today, there"s no reason to expect any catalyst to have more potential impact than war-rela...Read More | ||
| Slightly Stronger But There"s a Catch | ||
| 7/9/2026 3:11 PM | ||
| Slightly Stronger But There"s a Catch Bonds had a decent day with MBS up more than a quarter point and 10yr yields down 3bps to 4.54+. While that adds some emphasis to the rejection of a technical breakout above 4.59%, we can"t really conclude that it happened for any bond-specific reasons. In fact, w...Read More | ||
| Rates Recover Modestly | ||
| 7/9/2026 2:39 PM | ||
| Mortgage rates were rapidly approaching 10-month highs as of yesterday afternoon. They managed a friendly bounce today, but it was fairly small with the average lender dropping 0.03% to 6.5% for a top-tier 30yr fixed scenario. One reason for caution is that the rate improvement looks to be dependent on oil price volatility after this week"s resurg...Read More | ||
| Hedging, Warehouse, Processing Tools; M&A Results; Declining Demand for Housing | ||
| 7/9/2026 10:41 AM | ||
| This morning, we head to Los Angeles, the site of the fires in the Pacific Palisades area in January 2025. Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced that FEMA approved California’s request to extend critical disaster assistance for Los Angeles fire survivors. More than 18,000 structures were destroyed. Seventy percent of those families don’t have a ...Read More | ||
| Oil and Yields Starting Out Slightly Lower | ||
| 7/9/2026 8:49 AM | ||
| Bonds are starting the day just a hair stronger versus yesterday"s close and there are three ways to look at it. At the most basic level, the move is so small that it doesn"t deserve any explanation (i.e. we"re close enough to unchanged to say "nothing new is happening"). But given the recent resurgence of correlation between bonds and oil prices, ...Read More | ||