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We’re the fool-proof way to serve up mortgage and real estate market knowledge without any of the guesswork. So you’ll look like the smartest agent in the room (and you are!)

Here’s what we’ve got for you today:

1. Best Property Remarks I Saw Last Week 🤣

2. Put Any Webpage on Your Home Screen 📱

3. Debt-Ceiling Nearing a Vote 🗳️

By the way, the article on The Debt Ceiling and Mortgage Rates is the most clicked link in this newsletter, you should check it out if you are interested.

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Nuwave Rates Today 📉

The Best Property Remarks I Saw Last Week 😂

Put Any Webpage on Your iPhone Home Screen 📱

Do you have webpages you always go to, but they aren’t apps themselves? So you open safari or Chrome and go to the page or bookmark every time?

You can turn any webpage into an “app” on your home screen. You can do this with ANY webpage you go to frequently.

That could be a broker portal you use, Dotloop, the MLS, MF Lending, etc.

Here’s an example of making MF Lending a shortcut on your Home Screen using Safari: Make Any Webpage an App on Your Homescreen

Debt-Ceiling Nearing a Vote - Rates Improve 🗳️

On Friday, we started to see the debt bill get closer to finalizing and the bond market LOVED IT. Waking up this morning, we are seeing a rally that has improved mortgage interest rates from the highs we saw last week.

Here is a breakdown of a few highlights from the 99-page proposed bill raising the debt ceiling by $4 Trillion (thank you MishTalk for the notes).

1. A small cut in nonmilitary spending for the 2024 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, and a 1% cap on spending increases for the 2025 fiscal year. Veterans’ health programs would be exempt.

2. Military spending in fiscal 2024 would be roughly at the level of Biden’s fiscal 2024 budget request, according to two people familiar with the matter, which would amount to about a 3% increase.

3. A $21.4 billion reduction in funds that Congress approved last year for the IRS to boost tax enforcement and modernize its technology. [The original funding was $80 billion].

4. A provision aimed at pushing Congress to give up its practice of funding the government through a single, omnibus bill, as it has done in recent years, and to return to the tradition of passing 12 appropriations bills that cover the various parts of the federal budget. The measure has potential to win conservative support for the deal and was pushed by an influential Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.), who believes that Congress should follow regular order when conducting its business.

5. The provision would call for the U.S. government to operate under a so-called continuing resolution at 99% of the prior year’s spending levels until the spending bills were enacted. Lawmakers were awaiting text to see the date at which the cuts would be triggered.

6. An expansion through 2030 of the requirement that some able-bodied people without dependents hold a job or be enrolled in a job training program to receive food stamps, which is a Republican priority. [This unfortunately excludes Medicaid. And it only applies to low-income adults without dependents between the ages of 49 and 54. It will be phased in over three years. All of these are far less than the original deal passed by McCarthy]

7. Imposition of a one- or two-year time limit to complete environmental reviews for energy and infrastructure projects. The bill allows a project’s developer to sue if the review isn’t completed in time. [I suspect this is a huge trap, more comments below]

8. Currently, reviews required under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 take an average 4.5 years to complete and can involve multiple agencies. The deal calls for a single agency to assume responsibility for the study. Speeding up the reviews has been a priority for Republicans. [This too is a huge trap]

9. Expediting the remaining permits necessary to complete the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 303-mile natural-gas pipeline between West Virginia and Virginia.

To be clear - this is not a finalized deal. This still needs to pass through Congress to go into effect. Many experts expect push pack from House Republicans on points 7 & 8 as well as heated debates over point 9 (nat-gas pipeline).

The Cul-de-Sac

Thanks for reading - that is all we have for today 😎

Please forward this to your friends and colleagues if you found it valuable.

— Michael F DiLucchio