Bryant Surety Bonds will be closed on Thursday, July 3rd for Independence Day Weekend; we will return on Monday, July 5th.  We hope you all have a safe and pleasant holiday. While we are closed, please explore our website for information on surety bonds, and when you are ready, use our free online application.  We look forward to quickly responding to your needs when we return.

 Mortgage applications for the week ended June 20 dropped 9.3%, the lowest since December 28, 2001.

Borrowing for a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.39% in last week, down 0.18 percentage points from the previous week, this is also below the average 6.60% of a year ago.

Following the lead of bonding companies, Bryant Surety Bonds will be closing at noon (Eastern Time) on Friday, May 23rd.  We will reopen on Tuesday, May 27th.  We hope that you all have a fun, and safe, holiday weekend.  We look forward to helping you with all your surety bond needs when we return.

 For those wishing to apply, our online application can still offer instant quotes while we are away.  If you are search of information, take a look at the surety bonds we offer, or our surety bond FAQ.

Though down slightly from a week ago, mortgage rates remained above 6% for the 3rd consecutive week according to Freddie Mac.  The Mortgage giant reported that 30 year mortgages average 6.05% this week, down .01% from last.

More bad news for mortgage brokers and bankers as The Commerce Department reported today that new homes sales dropped 8.5% last month, representing the lowest level (slowest pace) in over 16 years.  On top of this came news that the median price of new home sales dropped by the largest amount in almost 4 decades, the drop was 13.3% from a year ago.

Mortgage brokers looking to expand into new territories in hope of bumping revenue should take a look at our state by state mortgage broker licensing guidelines.  We have just added a few new states: Oregon mortgage broker bond, Pennsylvania mortgage broker bonds, and for South Carolina mortgage brokers.

The median price homes sold in March dropped to $200,700, a decline of 7.7% from the median price in March 2007. The National Association of Realtors revealed today that sales of existing single-family homes (including condos) also dropped 2%.

Bryant Surety Bonds also wants to make mortgage brokers aware that additional states have been added to our state licensing guide.  The new states are for Georgia mortgage brokers, New York mortgage brokers, North Carolina mortgage brokers, and Ohio mortgage brokers.

Bryant Surety Bonds, Inc will be closed on Friday March 21, 2008.

Please explore our website to learn all about the Surety Industry, along with surety bond information by business type.

Also be sure to fill out an surety bond application, it is easy to do as everything can be completed online, and instant quotes are available.

For the first time since the week of Feburary 14 mortgage rates dropped to below 6%. 

According to Freddie Mac, rates averaged 5.87% for 30 year loans, down from 6.13% last week.

Other mortgages also fell this week:

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, averaged 5.27%, down from 5.60%.

For five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages, rates dipped to 5.56%, compared with 5.58%.

Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages were the only category to show an increase, edging up to 5.15%, compared with 5.14%.

Please note that though Bryant Surety Bonds is closed due to the inclement weather outside, our agents are still accessible through their email and we will be processing applications and bonds as normal. If you are not currently working with an agent, please fill out one of our online surety bond applications, it takes about 10 minutes and the online system can often times provide you with a instant quote.

If you have questions, please give us a call at (866) 450-3412. One of our agents will get back to as soon as we return on Monday the 25th.

Consumer spending at the nation’s retailers fell by 0.4% in December; this was the largest drop in six months, increasing fears of a recession.

Also of note: the Labor Department reported that wholesale inflation shot up 6.3% in 2007, the most in 26 years.