Helping Washington State homeowners learn more about their mortgage options.
I hope you are having a wonderful summer. Our Seattle summer has been just beautiful – I don’t even mind the few days of rain we’ve had sprinkled in. Anyhow, you’re not reading this post for a weather report, are you? Let’s get back to what may impact mortgage interest rates this week! Today and Tuesday, we don’t have any economic indicators scheduled to be released. Wednesday is the big day with the minutes from the last Fed meeting being released.
Recently a piece that was aired on ABC news about mortgages and was brought to my attention. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen something so misleading and sensational about what consumers should watch for when obtaining a mortgage.
The segment features Erin Lantz from Zillow who claims to have saved a couple thousands of dollars on their home mortgage. Erin is Zillow’s Director of Mortgage Business and prior to Zillow, her lending career was at Countrywide and Bank of America, during the subrime era.
If you are considering buying a home and want to learn more about the process, I invite you to attend one of upcoming seminars I have scheduled. Both classes are sponsored by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission (WSHFC) and attendees are eligible for down payment assistance programs offered through WSHFC.
I’ve just scheduled the following seminars:
We don’t have any economic indicators scheduled to be released today…however, the rest of this week is loaded with data that could impact mortgage rates. If the reports reveal inflation heating up, mortgage rates may trend higher. Here’s a list of what’s scheduled for this week:
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.
Today President Obama answered questions submitted by social media savvy Americans which was moderated by Zillow CEO, Spencer Rascoff. It seemed to me the most common questions were concerning HARP 3.0. HARP 3.0 (Home Affordable Refinance Program) is currently a hypothetical expanded version of HARP 2.0 and would allow for more home owners, including those in Washington state, to refinance their homes at present low rates.
Rhonda Porter is a Licensed Mortgage Originator MLO121324 living in the greater Seattle area. Rhonda began her career in 1986 in the title and escrow industry and began her mortgage career in 2000. She enjoys helping people understand the mortgage process and started writing The Mortgage Porter in late 2006. Read More…
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