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Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

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Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#71

Post by xyzzyz »

colinb wrote: post #50
jdasdf wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's practically impossible to get fixed rates in europe.

No. That’s not the case. I had a fixed rate mortgage in the UK. Now I have one in Ireland. Two of my colleagues have taken them in the last couple of months. They’re very common. But.. in both countries such terms are for a relatively short period. E.g 5 years fixed changing to SVR for the remainder of the loan. I haven’t heard of loans fixed for the entire duration. I would’ve got one if I had found it. I can’t spea…

That’s not what Americans mean by “fixed rate”. In US, that means 30, or more rarely 15 year mortgage, where the rate is fixed for entire duration. The mortgage where it’s only fixed for some initial period is called “adjustable rate mortgage”. Your comment just supported the person you replied to being correct, that fixed rate (in US sense) mortgage market is nonexistent in most of Europe.

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#72

Post by vladvasiliu »

jdasdf wrote: post #40
switch007 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that rate fixed for 30 years?

It's practically impossible to get fixed rates in europe.

As others have said, "Europe" doesn't exist for things like mortgages.

In France, for example, the standard mortgage is fixed rate, for the whole duration of the loan, which is usually 20 to 25 years.

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#73

Post by refurb »

jason-phillips wrote: post #63
apexalpha wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mine is fixed for 20 on a 30 year mortgage but you can always choose between variable, 10 year fixed, 20 year or 30 year. Mortgages are (almost) always 30 years duration. I don't know what country in Europe you can't get fixed rates but it's not the Netherlands, that I know for sure. (Also there really isn't a 'Europe' for these things, every country is different)

> Mine is fixed for 20 on a 30 year mortgage In the United States we don't call that "fixed". We call that an adjustable rate mortgage. For example, my mortgage is fixed at 3% for its entire 30 year term and can properly be called "fixed". People in the United States are leery of ARMs after what happened during the mortgage crisis in 2006-2011 so proper labeling is more important.

Adjustable rate mortgages aren't quite the same.

Canada is similar to the UK - you amortize (pay back) the loan over 25-30 years. However, your mortgage is either variable (interest rate floats over time) or fixed (interest rate does change), but the loans are only for 1 to 5 years. At the end, you either "renew" your mortgage with the same lender or you "refinance" entirely.

So you can have a "fixed" mortgage, but not for the entire amortization period. But you're correct, it's more similar to the ARM mortgages in the US (potentially fixed for 5-10 years, then floating after).

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#74

Post by jimbob45 »

alexb_ wrote: post #4
cammikebrown wrote: post #2

Seems like the bubble burst is going to be more sudden than we thought. 30 year mortgages are suddenly at nearly 5.5-6%, listings are sitting on the market for longer, and multiple cities are cracking down on Airbnb.

"Cracking down on Airbnb"... you say this as if Airbnb is a horrible thing or something LOL

Think about a hypothetical city where 100% of the properties are AirBNBs. There will be no source of employees for any local businesses because there are no long-term residents. There is no vested interest to improve the city via taxes and volunteerism, because no one truly lives there. No one will move to that city because the property rates are so absurdly inflated thanks to AirBNB rates.

It’s an absurd example but cities frequently see these effects when they let AirBNB and rental properties run wild.

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#75

Post by grapeskin »

tibbar wrote: post #3

I don’t have a good way to reconcile the current hot job market with seemingly increasing reports of mass layoffs, but one wonders if the graph will change directions decisively at some point soon.

There are jobs desperate for workers and paying more, and there are workers desperate for jobs applying en masse. They’re often overlapping now. Companies dealing with the consequences of increasing turnover are willing to pay more to avoid that problem and people are willing to quit in hopes of getting something better.

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#76

Post by jgb1984 »

jdasdf wrote: post #40
switch007 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that rate fixed for 30 years?

It's practically impossible to get fixed rates in europe.

Uhm my brother just signed a fixed rate of 1.8% for the entire 20 year duration of his home loan. Belgium.

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#77

Post by modo_mario »

jdasdf wrote: post #40
switch007 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that rate fixed for 30 years?

It's practically impossible to get fixed rates in europe.

what? I got a fixed below 1% rate in Belgium last year. With historical lows on those everyone gets a fixed rate.

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#78

Post by sokoloff »

colinb wrote: post #50
jdasdf wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's practically impossible to get fixed rates in europe.

No. That’s not the case. I had a fixed rate mortgage in the UK. Now I have one in Ireland. Two of my colleagues have taken them in the last couple of months. They’re very common. But.. in both countries such terms are for a relatively short period. E.g 5 years fixed changing to SVR for the remainder of the loan. I haven’t heard of loans fixed for the entire duration. I would’ve got one if I had found it. I can’t spea…

In the US, the standard product for many decades was a 30 year, truly fixed rate mortgage. Any of the adjustable rate products with an initial period of fixed rates are still called adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) and are short-handed as the fixed period stroke the adjustment frequency. A 7/1 is fixed for 7 years, then adjusts every year. (Annoyingly, a 5/6 is 5 years fixed and adjusting every 6 months.)

When people in one market talk about their fixed rate mortgages adjusting rates, it sounds strange to people familiar with other markets, just reinforcing the “real estate is local” adage.

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#79

Post by refurb »

oliwarner wrote: post #55
cammikebrown wrote: post #2

Seems like the bubble burst is going to be more sudden than we thought. 30 year mortgages are suddenly at nearly 5.5-6%, listings are sitting on the market for longer, and multiple cities are cracking down on Airbnb.

Whole-term-fixed rates are pretty uncommon in Europe. Fixes of 2, 5 sometimes 10 years are products most providers offer, but as the term increases, the rate shoots up, to offset rate uncertainty. My question is: why would you fix for 30yr when you know you're paying multiple points to offset market uncertainty? Remortgaging every couple of years takes a bit of time, and shopping around, but is much cheaper.

The 30-year fixed mortgage (the entire amortization period is at one fixed interest rate) is a government created product. It would never be offered by banks, at the low rates they are, if they had to hold them on their books. The "normal" mortgages in the US prior to the FHA were 50% down and 5-year terms.

https://bebusinessed.com/history/history-of-mortgages/

Fannie and Freddie basically agree to "back" those new mortgages (typically buying them from banks and selling them off later) as long as they conform to certain requirements - 15 or 30 year terms, 10-20% down payments, etc.

It's a massive subsidy for the housing market in the US, but also addresses the social goal of making housing accessible. You can get a mortgage and the monthly payment (interest + principle) never changes over the 30 year life of the loan.

Re: Rocket Mortgage to trim 8% of workforce as home-loan market shrinks

#80

Post by cbanek »

cammikebrown wrote: post #15
theferalrobot wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m seeing 5.0% most places (see ally bank). Still higher than its been but not pushing 6% by any stretch.

It's pushing 6% if you have worse credit (700-750). But don't worry about that, NINJA loans are back: https://i.redd.it/wnzuveooo5w81.jpg

As Tobias said in Arrested Development: "NINJA please!"
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