Greetings!

As someone who has been in the mortgage industry during the good, the bad, and the ugly, I can assure you, we will come out of this, with renewed stamina and drive.

In the meanwhile, I am communicating with future clients, preparing pre-approvals, preparing applications, and advising on how to increase and repair credit, in anticipation of market changes. I am optimistic that rates will be beneficial to both the re-finance and purchase markets by late summer, if not sooner. My best advice is to stay as current as you can on your mortgage and bills, apply for the deferments that are being offered, and wait it out. Once things level out, remove the equity in your home to breathe a little and lower your current rate/monthly mortgage payment. Many of you are carrying monthly mortgage insurance that can be eliminated or lowered. Just before the virus happened, I was seeing rates in the 2.875% - 3.25% range for refinances! Now that is amazing!

It is anyone's guess how long the lag in the purchase market will be, due to the snowball slowing down and having to pick up momentum again. We need to factor in time to get our lifestyles back to a new normal. Families are mourning the loss of love ones, parents have lost jobs, and children are out of school for the remainder of the year.

If the buying and selling market can come back from what occurred in 2008, which was mainly due to greed and mismanagement, we can come back from this! Stay healthy, stay strong, reach out for help, stay connected with your loved ones!

Praying for healing in our land and God's blessings on us all!

Warmest wishes,

Ann Marie Amalfitano

#308775