Helping Washington State homeowners learn more about their mortgage options.
Mortgage interest rates have been trending higher over the last week. Rates are still very low in the 3’s, however it wouldn’t take much to see the 30 year move into the 4% range. This Friday, we’ll have the Jobs Report which tends to impact mortgage rates for better or worse.
Here are some of the economic indicators scheduled for this week:
The Puget Sound Business Journal recently posted an article about a 1,100 square foot home in Ballard that sold $158,000 over list price. There is no denying that Seattle’s real estate market is hot largely due to lack of inventory and rising rents. (A’ hem…if you have been considering selling your Seattle area home, now could be the time).
Today at around 11:00 am PST, the FOMC will wrap up their two day meeting and announce any changes to the Fed funds rate. Markets will react to the Fed statements regarding their views of our economy impacting their decisions on whether or not to raise the Fed funds rate. It is widely anticipated that there will be no change to the Fed funds rate today.
It’s not unusual to have the Fed meeting impact the direction of mortgage rates…so I thought I’d attempt a “live rate post” to illustrate how mortgage rates can change in a day. Mortgage rates have been trending higher this week. As of 7:52 am this morning, the 30 year fixed rate is higher by about 0.125% in rate or 0.752 in fee compared to what I quoted two days ago on Monday’s post.
We don’t have any economic indicators scheduled to be released today. The rest of the week is packed with data that may influence the direction of mortgage interest rates, including the FOMC meeting that will be wrapping up on Wednesday. No change to the Fed funds rate is expected. Here’s what’s on deck with this week:
Fannie Mae is offering first time home buyers up to 3% towards closing cost when they purchase a Fannie Mae HomePath property. On a $300,000 home, 3% would be up to $9,000 towards allowable closing cost! A Fannie Mae HomePath property is a home that Fannie Mae has foreclosed on and now owns.
New disclosures created by the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) are set to go into effect on August 1, 2015. In my opinion, the new disclosures will be a huge improvement compared to the Good Faith Estimate that HUD created in 2010. At least the new disclosures will show the total payments due…and of course, they’re not perfect either. I’ll address the new forms on another post.
There is not a lot on the economic indicator dance card this week, with no reports released yesterday or today. Mortgage rates remain very low. Here are some of the economic indicators scheduled to be released this week:
In a recent blog post, “Mortgage Rates: Still the Deal of the Century”, Freddie Mac shares this graphic illustrating just how low mortgage rates currently are. Obviously I thought this was too good not to share with my readers too.
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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