evan@evanhitch.com

Mortgage Rates Essentially Sideways at Recent Lows

On Tuesday, the average top-tier 30yr fixed mortgage rate hit the lowest level in exactly 4 weeks. If you’re not interested in splitting hairs, today’s rates are essentially the same. Although our official average is 0.01% higher, that’s such a small change that many of today’s rate quotes will look the same as yesterday’s.  In

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TBA Bidding, HELOC, DSCR, CRM, HMDA Analysis, MI Tools; Events Throughout 2026

According to Curinos’ proprietary application index, March 2026 funded mortgage volume increased 35 percent y-o-y and increased 30 percent m-o-m. How did your company stack up? Curinos calculates that refinance and purchase rates were 5-6 basis points lower m-o-m and about 73 basis points y-o-y. (Curinos sources a statistically significant data set directly from lenders

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Bonds Growing Tired of “Game On! Game Off!” News Cycle

Markets have plenty of war-related headlines to digest at any given moment these days. And while some of those headlines have been the biggest market movers of the month, traders are increasingly focusing on the examples that speak to the biggest-picture changes. Specifically, markets aren’t as interested in Wayne and Garth saying “game on” and “game

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Understanding Texas Property Taxes: What Every Homeowner Should Know (and How to Avoid Overpaying)

Texas property owners pay billions of dollars every year in property taxes. Because Texas doesn’t have a state income tax, property taxes are a primary way local communities fund essential services—public schools, police, fire departments, roads, and more. The system is straightforward on paper, but in real life it can feel confusing (and expensive), especially when home

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Bonds Ultimately Follow Oil’s Lead, Heading Lower On War-Related Optimism

Bonds Ultimately Follow Oil’s Lead, Heading Lower War-Related Optimism While there were no incredibly memorable sound bytes on the Iran war today, there were a few headlines that proved to be actionable for financial markets. The most actionable (by a wide margin) was a report on Fox News around 10am quoting a senior admin official

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MERS Review, TPO, Virtual LO, Digital Ass’t, HELOC, Warehouse Products; Policy Moves for LOs to Watch

Products, Services, and Software for Brokers and Lenders Meet the Axos Warehouse Lending and WCPL teams at MBA’s Secondary & Capital Markets Conference, May 17–20, 2026, at the Marriott Marquis New York. Axos Warehouse Lending helps mortgage lenders fund efficiently with a streamlined process and reliable execution, built for clarity, consistency, and confidence across market

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Why Aren’t Bonds Responding to a Big Beat in Inflation Data?

Bonds were fairly flat overnight and haven’t moved much so far in the domestic session. More importantly, until 7am, bonds were slightly weaker even as oil prices have fallen and stocks have rallied.  What gives?! If PPI had come in much higher than expected, it would be easier to explain. But despite the 0.1 vs 0.5 reading

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Weekend Selling Reverses After Another Round of De-Escalation Headlines

Weekend Selling Reverses After Another Round of De-Escalation Headlines Another day, another chance to sort through a barrage of war-related headlines to see which ones mattered to the bond market. In today’s case, there were two distinct contenders. The first was apparently bogus. It referred to Iran considering abandoning its enrichment program and it actually

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