The Precision Companies

Taxes

admin — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:51:03 +0000

The Precision Companies are proud to announce that beginning with the 2012 tax year we are certified to prepare California and Federal taxes. As we are already trusted advisors in managing the financial plans of our clients, it was a logical step to add a tax practice to our financial services platform. In fact, since we have helped clients deal with the IRS for years on returns prepared by others, it only makes sense that we prepare them as well. Once again, the goal is to continually drive value to our clients by limiting the number of financial service providers they need to look for. We understand that time is money, and we want to save you both. Given our years of financial expertise, we are uniquely positioned to not only maximize our clients’ refunds, but to maximize the utility of those refunds. If you haven’t had your taxes prepared yet this year, we would welcome the opportunity to prepare them for you.

Jobs Report Numbers 10/3/2012

admin — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 19:20:06 +0000

Below are the numbers that ADP came in with today’s Jobs Report. These represent decent gains, however, the news is dampened by revisions to July and August numbers by 17,000 and 12,000 respectively.

The stock market saw modest gains in the morning based on the news, but by mid-day the gains were wiped out by HP’s news of lower than expected profits, and a managing of expectations for their 2013 numbers.

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U.S. Nonfarm Private Employment Highlights – September 2012 Report:

Total employment: +162,000

Small businesses:* +81,000

Medium businesses:** +64,000

Large businesses:*** +17,000

Goods-producing sector: +18,000

Service-providing sector: +144,000

Addendum:

Manufacturing industry: + 4,000*

Small businesses represent payrolls with 1-49 employees

** Medium businesses represent payrolls with 50-499 employees

*** Large businesses represent payrolls with more than 499 employees

Note: All data included in the ADP National Employment Report is based on size of payroll. In some cases, small and medium-size payrolls belong to businesses employing more workers than indicated by the size grouping.

Good News For The Housing Market

admin — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 17:42:27 +0000

Existing-home sales have soared nearly 8 percent from a year ago, the National Association of REALTORS® reported this week. Meanwhile, the new-home market also is showing signs of recovery, with starts rising 29.1 percent over year-ago levels, according to the Census Bureau.

What’s more, home builders are getting more confident about the market with recent sales, future sales, and buyer traffic. Homebuilder confidence reached its highest level since the housing-boom time of June 2006, according to this month’s index of homebuilder sentiment.

Also this week, fixed-rate mortgages this week were at all-time record lows or near it, helping to keep home buyer affordability high, Freddie Mac reported in its weekly mortgage market survey.

With a drop in inventory of for-sale homes nationwide, many markets are also seeing an increase in home prices. The median home price is $187,400, a 9.5 percent increase over year-ago levels. Also, “that marked the sixth consecutive month of price increases, the first time that has happened since May 2006, near the very peak of the housing price boom,” CNNMoney reports.

“We have a real housing recovery taking root, and that has positive implications for the broader economy,” Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, told the Associated Press. “If home prices continue to rise, so, too, will household wealth and consumer confidence.”

Source: “Housing Recovery Blossoms,” CNNMoney (Sept. 19, 2012) and “Housing Recovery Stirs in August,” Associated Press (Sept. 19, 20

Wells Fargo Departure From Wholesale Lending

admin — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 20:11:19 +0000

July 12 (Bloomberg) — Wells Fargo & Co., the largest U.S. mortgage lender, has stopped funding loans originated and sold by independent mortgage brokers [such as The Precision Companies] after settling a federal fair-lending investigation.

After Friday, July 13^th Wells stopped accepting new applications for loans originated by independent mortgage brokers through its wholesale channel. The lender did, however, say it will still process and close existing applications.

Wells Fargo agreed to pay $125 million to settle U.S. claims that it discriminated against minority borrowers in making residential loans. The decision to exit wholesale was made by Wells Fargo “on its own volition,” the bank said in a statement about that accord.

The company made $7.4 billion of mortgages through brokers in the first quarter, the most of any lender and 21 percent of the industry-wide total, according to Inside Mortgage Finance, a trade publication. The loans made up about 5 percent of the company’s total, according to the statement.

Of note here is that safeguards have already been put in place at the regulatory levels to prevent the sort of extortion that is complained of. Further, all underwriting decisions for the wholesale channel were/are made by internal staff at Wells Fargo. An argument, could be made then, that Wells has decided to stop its Wholesale line of business with the hopes of directing a large portion of the $7.4 billion mortgages generated quarterly to its more profitable retail arm.

Indeed, with the loss of the last major Institutional funding source in the wholesale world, Wells Fargo has less of a reason to remain competitive, as it has effectively removed its biggest competitor: itself.

To the individual broker, however, it is not the end of the world. Since 2010, the emergence of small lenders has created a competitive marketplace; and with the volatility in the securities market, it is likely the sources for funding purchase money and mortgage refinance loans will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.

-Justin Betance

The Precision Companies

New Location Grand Opening

admin — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 23:41:55 +0000

The Precision Companies are pleased to announce that they will be hosting a grand opening open house on July 20th from 12:00 PM to 7:30 PM. Refreshments and light appetizers will be served. We would love to see you there. Please email info@theprecisioncos.com to RSVP and/or for more information.

Cheers,

The Precision Team

Welcome

admin — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 01:37:02 +0000

The Precision Companies are happy to welcome John Yoo as a Broker Associate to the firm. John has over a decade of Real Estate Experience and will be welcome addition to the team.