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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| Mortgage Rates Only Modestly Higher Despite Bond Market Weakness | ||
| 2/2/2026 2:35 PM | ||
| Weakness in the bond market generally means higher mortgage rates. Today was no exception. A key economic report on the manufacturing sector was much stronger than expected. Bonds lost ground as a result and mortgage lenders were forced to set rates higher than Friday"s latest levels. But the caveat is that the average lender was only marginally h...Read More | ||
| Mgt. Review, BBYS, Digital HELOC, Non-QM Products; Opinions on Credit Fixes; IMB Underway | ||
| 2/2/2026 10:54 AM | ||
| There are lots of rumors about more M&A. For example, Maxwell, a POS and mortgage origination services company, being acquired by Place, a real estate tech platform and real estate brokerage company. Place (with its Mortgage Calculator App) is rumored to be heavily involved (owns?) Envoy Mortgage. Word in the hallways that Place, and others, wi...Read More | ||
| Big Beat in ISM Manufacturing. Bonds Aren"t Thrilled | ||
| 2/2/2026 9:19 AM | ||
| Some would say there were warning signs, such as last week"s Chicago PMI surging to the 2nd highest level since 2022, but that was generally dismissed as a noisy outlier in a data set that is volatility-prone. In this case, however, Chicago PMI was prescient. Today"s ISM Manufacturing data surged to the highest level since 2022, both in terms of th...Read More | ||
| Volatility Eludes Bonds | ||
| 1/30/2026 3:36 PM | ||
| Volatility Eludes Bonds Bonds saw some steady selling pressure earlier in the week, but with the total damage amounting to an average of 2bps per day in 10yr yields, it was anything but volatile. The past 2 trading sessions had more noticeable ups and downs, but they played out in an even narrower range. Fr...Read More | ||
| Mortgage Rates Sidestep Into The Weekend | ||
| 1/30/2026 3:10 PM | ||
| While there was certainly plenty of volatility elsewhere in the financial market this week, there was almost none to be found in mortgage rates. Wed, Thu, and Fri all recorded the exact same level in MND"s 30yr fixed rate index--something that only happens a few times every year. Rates are based on bonds and bonds are waiting for more serious insp...Read More | ||
| November Was Best Month of Home Price Appreciation in More Than a Year | ||
| 1/30/2026 1:09 PM | ||
| Both the FHFA and the S&P/Cotality Case-Shiller home price indices released November data this week, and the combined message is that home price appreciation continues doing better than it had been in the middle of 2025. FHFA’s seasonally adjusted House Price Index paints clearest picture with seasonally adjusted home prices up 0.6% month-o...Read More | ||
| Logical Pull-Back in Mortgage Apps as Rates Rebound | ||
| 1/30/2026 12:59 PM | ||
| Mortgage application activity retreated a bit last week following two weeks of unusually strong volume, although holiday timing played a meaningful role in the weekly comparison. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported that applications fell 8.5% for the week ending January 23, giving back a portion of the recent surge. The Market Compos...Read More | ||
| Verification, Licensing Tools; Correspondent News; Fed Chair Nominee Kevin Warsh | ||
| 1/30/2026 10:59 AM | ||
| There’s a lot of sensible thinking going on out there in our biz. Yesterday in the Thought Leadership section, attorney Mitch Kider addressed the “Rule of Law” and what he believes is important to the industry. In a new article featured in Chrisman Commentary"s Thought Leadership, David Spector challenges the rate-centric view of housing affordabil...Read More | ||
| Why Don"t Bonds Care About The Massive Miss in PPI? | ||
| 1/30/2026 9:03 AM | ||
| PPI... The Producer Price Index. It sounds a lot like CPI because both are published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and they share lots of methodology and structure. Given that CPI has been responsible for some of the biggest bond market reactions, you"d be well within your rights to expect a big sell-off after seeing something like Core PPI com...Read More | ||
| Bonds End Up Little-Changed. Other Markets May Have Helped | ||
| 1/29/2026 3:37 PM | ||
| Bonds End Up Little-Changed. Other Markets May Have Helped Bonds began the day with a bit of selling pressure. It was almost too small to draw much attention to. MBS never dropped below yesterday"s lows and 10yr yields merely moved back up to overnight highs (also, no higher than yesterday"s high...Read More | ||