On Monday, I mentioned how the stock market would be a great way to follow mortgage rates (so did Dan Green). It turned out to be accurate.
How Much Information Do YOU Want?
Did you ever read ‘Choose Your Own Adventure‘ books in school growing up?
Ok, two ways to proceed with this weekly mortgage update. Only because I love to talk about the market, I often talk a lot about the ‘Why’ behind the market. A detailed explanation of what’s happening and how it’s influencing mortgage rates.
Some readers only want to know the ‘What’. They’re more interested in just the effect.. not so much the cause. Make sense? Read on…
- If you want to read the ‘Why’ behind last week’s mortgage market, start reading immediately below.
- If you just want to know the ‘What’, start reading at the header “What’s All This Have To Do With Mortgage Rates?”
The Causes of the Week
In case you forgot, last week was an extremely busy news week. To keep this update from being an extremely long one, I’ll just keep it simple and say this:
Traders are expecting weak economic news anymore. Just because it’s lower than an estimate doesn’t necessarily mean that mortgage rates will improve tremendously (because that used to be the way things worked). So, with that said, a lot of the economic news was within expectations and it did not cause a lot of movement in the market, just a little. That little movement translated into a worsening bond market.
What’s All Have To Do With Mortgage Rates?
Most of this last week was pretty quiet. Most of the action was on Thursday when mortgage backed securities sold off. Remember, the lower the value of a mortgage backed security, the higher interest rates are. Rates closed about .25 higher than they opened this week.
The Pitch
If you’re shopping for a mortgage (purchase or refinance), it’s important to know what impacts mortgage rates. If you lock ahead of a great improvement, you can loose out on $1000’s worth of savings. Same goes for if you ‘wait it out’ and don’t lock ahead of a wicked reprice.
Getting a great deal on a mortgage isn’t all about asking the common questions:
- What is your rate?
- What are your closing costs?
Look for great advice. If you’re in Iowa, I’d be glad to be your guy. If you’re out of the state, I’d be happy to connect you with someone who can get you the advice you need!
Follow at Your Own Risk
If you want to keep updated on where rates are moving day to day, feel free to follow me on Twitter. It’s a bit of an addiction for me, but I communicate what the market’s doing throughout the day and try to take some of the mystery out of where mortgage rates are headed.
