This week is packed with economic indicators that may impact the direction of mortgage interest rates, which have been nudging higher. Mortgage rates are based on bonds (mortgage backed securities or “MBS”). When the stock market is doing well, it’s not unusual to see mortgage rates trend higher as investors will trade the safety of bonds for the potentially higher return found with stocks. The reverse tends to also hold true – if stocks are tumbling, mortgage rates often improve as investments are moved to bonds. Signs of inflation will also deteriorate bond pricing and cause mortgage rates to move higher. [Read more…]
Archives for April 2018
What may impact mortgage rates this week
April 30, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Update on the penny floor project
April 28, 2018 by Leave a Comment
I’ve been meaning to share this post… it’s a little painful. Hopefully it will help others who are considering doing a penny floor. As you can see from these photos, we’ve had some issues with moisture. Hubby thinks it’s probably because we took too long to finish the job. I’m no pro, however (that doesn’t stop me from having my opinion that) I think it’s mostly because we did this on a basement floor. And living in Seattle, our basements can get damp. In reality, we’re probably both right… you can see the pennies starting to discolor in my last post. [Read more…]
Stop paying rent: Mortgages with down payment assistance
April 27, 2018 by Leave a Comment
This post is the last in my series showing different options for buying a home using mortgages with low down payment options. The series started from a posting I saw on Facebook where one of my West Seattle neighbors is trying to find a place to rent that accepts pets. This is my handsome pup, Hitch, who might not be allowed in most apartments since he’s over 65 pounds…even though he’s just a big puppy. 🙂
My previous posts compared using Fannie Mae’s Home Ready program and an FHA mortgage with the goal of keeping the total mortgage payment around $2200.
This post will be using a program from the Washington State Housing Finance Commission which offers down payment assistance. The down payment assistance is actually a second mortgage at zero percent interest that is tacked on to the end of the first mortgage. There are no payments due for 30 years (or when the first mortgage is paid off). Although the down payment assistance interest rate is zero, the interest rates for the first mortgages with this program tend to be higher (as you’ll see with my quote). [Read more…]
Mortgage interest rates continue higher
April 26, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Freddie Mac’s weekly Prime Mortgage Market Survey shows that the average conforming rate last week reached a four year high with the 30 year at 4.58% priced with a half point.
Stop paying rent: Mortgages with Low Down Payment Options
April 25, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Recently I wrote about neighbors in West Seattle who were looking for a new place to rent because they have two cats and a dog, limiting their options. I’ve pets my entire life, this is my cat Rocko at his typical hang-out where he can view everything on our stairs.
In my last post, I shared Fannie Mae’s Home Ready mortgage program which offers a low down payment with improved pricing on rates and mortgage insurance. [Read more…]
Reason to stop paying rent #7: You have a pet
April 24, 2018 by Leave a Comment
I love my pets, Rocko and Hitch. We have had pets before we had (our now adult) children. I totally understand someone’s anguish when they are trying to deal with where they are going to live when they have pets.
This morning, I was catching up on Facebook and in our local neighborhood group for West Seattle, a neighbor is worried about if their landlord is getting ready to sell the home they are currently renting. [Read more…]
Mortgage Rates are still low
April 12, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Freddie Mac released their weekly Prime Market Mortgage Survey (PMMS) today showing that last week, conforming mortgage rates were fairly steady after trending higher since the beginning of this year.
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