Mortgage Rates Bouncing Along

Freddie Mac released their Prime Mortgage Market Survey this morning showing that last week, average mortgage rates slightly ticked higher.

I don’t post the PMMS weekly reports from Freddie Mac every week (you can see them here), however from my last post on this, you can see there is very little difference in interest rates compared to almost 1.5 months ago.

This is good news for people who are considering buying or refinancing their homes with mortgage interest rates staying historically lower (see the bottom time line on the pic above). If you need a mortgage on a home located anywhere in Washington state, where I’m licensed, I am happy to help you!  Click here for a mortgage rate quote.

Possible Relief for Seattle – King County Home Buyers

The Northwest Multiple Listing Service issued a press release indicating that we are finally seeing an increase in new listings being added to the market. The 14,524 new listings that came on during May, in the 23 counties that the NWMLS serves, are the most listings added in one month in 10 years. In King County, there were almost 1000 homes added to the market creating just over one month of inventory – the first time since September of last year. Here’s a link to the NWMLS market snapshot for May 2018. [Read more…]

Mortgage Rates Improved

Freddie Mac’s Prime Mortgage Market Survey released today shows that mortgage rates improved based on average conforming rates last week.

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Are markets shifting in Seattle?

This weekend while driving around my neighborhood in Seattle, I noticed more “for sale” and “open house” signs on homes. It’s a welcome sight after how long we’ve been in this tight market with very little housing inventory. [Read more…]

Mortgage Rates steady last week

Freddie Mac’s weekly report (PMMS) on conforming mortgage interest rates from last week shows that rates remained “level” with the 30 year fixed at 4.55% priced with points.

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What may impact mortgage rates this week

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…]

Stop paying rent: Mortgages with down payment assistance

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

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.

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