The Ugly Reminder
Mortgage rates soared again Monday, tacking on a half-percent in a day for the second time in under a week.
For reference, each half-percent adds $62 to a $200,000 home loan’s monthly payment, or $744 per year. No, it’s not the end of the world, but it’s real money.
I Can Relate
For home buyers recently [...]

Rates Drop!
Last Thursday morning, homeowners in different parts of the country woke up to find the following headlines in their newspapers:

Rates on 30 year mortgages sink to 4.78%, a new low (LA Times)
Mortgage rates at record low for a 2nd week (Miami Herald)
Mortgages hit another record low (San Francisco)

The driver of this story was that [...]

Is The “Credit Freeze” Over?
If the unfreezing of credit is extremely important to an economic rebound, the first signs of a thaw might actually be here.
Last Monday, the Federal Reserve released its quarterly survey of 84 member banks.  In it, the Fed says that fewer than half of its responding banks tightened “prime” mortgage guidelines over the last [...]

It’s Not Always What It Seems
With respect to mortgage rates, you can’t always believe what you read in the papers.  Or what you see.  The folks who write the articles are only as well informed as the sources that gave them the information.
A great example is the chart here on the right.
Published by Freddie Mac, [...]

Calling The Shots
The New Year is not yet one week old but that’s not stopping market “experts” from predicting what’s in store for 2009.
The calls on housing and mortgage rates run the gamut:

Home prices have farther to fall
Home prices have touched bottom
Mortgage rates will dip
Mortgage rates will rise

Their Guess Is As Good As Ours
Put it all [...]

Understanding the Mortgage Market
Mortgage markets are like any other market, in order for goods to change hands, a buyer and a seller must first agree to “trade” at a specific price point.
In general, the more buyers and sellers there are for a particular item, the easier it is to find that “fair value” and make the [...]

It Might Be On Your Radar
As mortgage rates have fallen (and risen) in the past couple of weeks, there are a lot of Iowans considering refinancing their home.  I want to go on the record and say, don’t just lock it in and close it.  It’s all about timing.  If you lock out of emotion [...]

Taking Action
When it comes to mortgage rates, sometimes it’s better to “act now”.  For clarification, it is no longer the time to “act now”.
On Tuesday, mortgage rates fell to their lowest levels in 4 years. It happened because the Fed said it would “employ all available tools” to resuscitate the economy.  Not because they cut [...]

Let me save you some time and money.
The Fed does not control mortgage rates.  Not at all.  The Fed can do many things to influence the economy, but one of those things they control is NOT mortgage rates.  Influence, yes.  Control, no.
Let me explain.
What Does The Fed Control?
Now that I’ve established the Fed doesn’t control [...]

Trying To Time The Real Estate Market?
Don’t.  You may think that you’re going to get a home while it’s at the ‘bottom’.  Here’s the thing though, are you considering what your overall cost of ownership would be?  More importantly, do you know what is going on in the mortgage market today that will impact you [...]