The debt ceiling is influencing the markets today with the potential threat of the government shutting down at midnight tonight. Did you know that Congress is exempt from furloughs and will still be paid if the government shuts down?
What May Impact Mortgage Rates this Week: September 30, 2013: Mortgage Rates Trending Lower
September 30, 2013 by 1 Comment
What May Impact Mortgage Rates this Week: September 23, 2013
September 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Mortgage rates are improved after last week’s Fed Meeting with the indication the Fed will delay tapering off their purchase of mortgage backed securities. Watch for news regarding whether or not Congress is going to raise the debt ceiling to avoid a government shut down on October 1 as this may impact the direction of mortgage rates.
What May Impact Mortgage Rates this Week: September 16, 2013
September 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Mortgage backed securities are improving this morning on the news that Larry Summers has withdrawn as a candidate for the next Fed Chairman. This leaves current Fed Vice Chairman Janet Yellan as a strong candidate to replace Ben Bernanke. Bond markets are reacting positively to the news that Janet is once again a front runner as the next Fed head. Speaking of the Fed – watch for the results of the FOMC meeting on this Wednesday.
What May Impact Mortgage Rates this Week: September 9, 2013
September 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
This week’s calendar appears to be on the light side. Mortgage rates will be taking ques from the from stocks. All eyes will be on Congress with their vote on whether or not to be taking action against Syria.
The Treasury will start selling $65 billion in notes and bonds on Tuesday, which may also impact rates.
Here are the economic indicators scheduled to be released this week:
What May Impact Mortgage Interest Rates this Week: September 2, 2013
September 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
It’s not only economic indicators that may impact the direction of mortgage rates, world events, such as what’s going on in Syria, may also cause rates to go down or up. This is because mortgage interest rates are based on mortgage backed securities (bonds) and when their is uncertainty in the world, investors may seek the safety of bonds, which tends to cause mortgage rates to improve. Remember, as the stock market improves, investors will trade the safety of bonds (like mortgage backed securities) for the potentially quicker returns found in stocks.
Mortgage Rates are still Historically Low
August 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I thought it would be interesting to share a historic snapshot of where rates have have been based on a national annual average back to when I began my mortgage career in 2000.
The chart below is based on a 30 year fixed conventional as reported by Freddie Mac. NOTE: 2013 is not on the chart below because this is based on “annual” averages.
Mortgage rates are currently hanging around back to 2011 levels. As you can see, mortgage rates are still historically very low.
In fact, back when I bought my first home in 1988, the average annual mortgage rate was 10.34 with 2.1 points!
My point is, rates are still historically low and won’t stay this low forever.
If you would like me to provide you a rate quote for your home purchase or refinance on property located anywhere in Washington state, please click here.
What may impact mortgage rates this week: July 29, 2013
July 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
This week is packed full of economic data that may dramatically impact mortgage rates. Not only do we have the results of the Fed meeting on Wednesday, we wind up the week with the Jobs Report on Friday. I anticipate this will be another volatile week for mortgage interest rates.
Mortgage Interest Rate Locks 101: UPDATED
July 18, 2013 by 2 Comments
EDITORS NOTE: One of the joys of writing a mortgage blog is that guidelines and procedures change…and change often. This gives me a great opportunity to provide you with an updated post. With HUD’s creation of the 2010 Good Faith Estimate, a lot of the information in the original post is no longer relevant (relating to the GFE) from the original article I wrote on locking back in 2007. With that said, here’s my updated post…we’ll see if we need to revise this again once CFPB issues their version of the Good Faith Estimate!
I love it when I’m asked an excellent question from a potential client. This person is still shopping for his next home and who the lender will be to provide financing. At this point, I have provided several good faith estimates and a total costs analysis to compare possible scenarios side by side along with how the mortgages may be working for him in 5 and 10 years.
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