You can always tell when mortgage interest rates are moving up or down in a dramatic way – every media outlet and blogger writes about it. So, I thought I ought to jump in. Skip to the bottom for the “Bottom Line” if you don’t want the ugly details. I track interest rates by noting...
Interest Rates Rise – Time to Worry?
Will interest rates rise in the near future? Interest rates took a surprising dip in the first week of February, and millions (literally) of homeowners jumped on the opportunity and applied to refinance. The trouble with news reports has always been that when any news outlet announces “interest rates fall” it’s after the...
Low Interest Rates – How long Will they Last?
The media is abuzz – interest rates are low. They have been surprisingly low all year, as a matter of fact, and have been unusually stable as well. They took a nice dip a couple of weeks ago, and now are skipping along the bottom, apparently happy (for now) in an even lower range. Today,...
Lowest Mortgage Rates Remain Steady
I’ll cover interest rates again today as I haven’t done that for a while. The lowest mortgage rates are offered by Fannie Mae for prime borrowers. At the beginning of this year all the smartest guys in the room agreed interest rates would rise steadily over the course of the year, and end up around...
Are Mortgage Rates About to Crash Through the Floor Again?
Today’s headline arises out of the reading I’ve been doing on how to increase the effective reach of a blog. They recommend headlines like this that catch people’s eyes. I saw an ad yesterday headlined “One Weird Trick To Pay Your Mortgage Off FAST!” It turned out they were recommending refinancing using a HARP loan....
Interest Rates Down Year-Over-Year! (Headline One Month Early)
It’s starting to look like the above headline is something you’ll see before the end of June. Interest rates have continued to fall despite the Federal Reserve continuing to back off on purchases of Treasury Certificates and Mortgage-Backed Securities. On May 7th I wrote that interest rates seemed to be breaking out of a long,...
Interest Rates Make a Break – For the Good (Quick One Today)
Last week I wrote that interest rates had remained in an unusually narrow range since mid-January, a very unusual circumstance. It is rare for rates to stay “range bound” for too long, as eventually market pressures push them one way or the other. Investors (who “set” interest rate by determining what they are willing to...
The Shocking Question Almost Every Borrower Asks
“Where are interest rates going?” Actually, that isn’t really that shocking of a question, but all the blog tutorials say I should use “Shocking” or “Secrets” in the headline. Oh well. But there is something really interesting happening with interest rates these days – nothing. And that’s more interesting than you would think. At the...
Fixed Mortgage Rates Fall
After a whirl-wind trip to Washington, D.C. to lobby on behalf of consumer choice and housing issues, I come back to lower fixed rates. Not bad. How low? We’re not talking spring of 2013 low, so don’t get too excited, and we’re not going back there. But these days dips in rates are something to...
Two Reasons Interest Rates Will Improve in Early January
Something very interesting happened this week that will have a HUGE impact on mortgage rates for the next three to six months. Most consumers don’t know this, but Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge fees for loans that they buy from lenders. Presumably these fees help fund the GSEs (Government-sponsored entities) and help them pay...