Mortgage Update 7/9/09 Steady as She Goes
No big change from yesterday, if anything, the cost of a particular rate may be a hair higher today. See previous post for more details.
Mortgage Update 7/6/09 Not Much Going On…
The 4th has come and gone, with little change in rates since the first few days of the month.
Conventional rates on 30 year terms looking like 4.75 to 5.75 depending on 0 to 3 points origination/discount. FHA is 5.5 to 6.0.
From Smith Mountain Lake, VA that’s the call!
Mortgage Update 6/29/09
The market remains stable as we wrap up the 1st half of the year. Not a ton of news forcing the market up or down.
Conventional 30 year rates in the high 4’s to high 5’s depending on points and credit. FHA is 5.5 to 6.0.
That’s the story for a mortgage in Ephrata, PA and beyond!
Mortgage Update 6/11/09 6.0???
Holy cow, there were 4 price changes yesterday, all for the worse, and who knows what today will bring.
With excellent credit and no points, you are looking at about 6.00 on a conventional loan! In the span of the last 6 decades that’s awesome. In the span of the last 6 months, it’s not so hot. With a point or two you can be in the 5.5 to 5.75 range, which is okay. Fha is 6.0 to 6.5.
As I mentioned in previous posts, the “i” word scares the crap out of investors. Inflation. Can’t keep credit cheap if prices are poised to rise.
It’s been an uphill climb in the last 3 weeks. We are up over a full point across the board, that’s a humdred bucks on 150,000…200 on 300,000 and so on.
If you seek a mortgage in Ephrata,PA or anywhere in PA, that’s the story for today!
Mortgage Update 6/9/09 Flat to worse.
Rates are a little worse than yesterday. With excellent credit, that’s over 740, you’d be looking at 5.6 to 6.0 with zero to 1 point. FHA is pretty close to 6 at zero points.
Nothing on the horizon to think we’ll go lower anytime soon. Several banks are paying back their Federal loans, which is a good sign for the economy as a whole, but not great news for mortgage rates.
If you were considering a move over the summer, before the school year begins, get on it, because rates may climb higher, and that new home will cost you even more.
That’s the mortgage story in Ephrata…
Mortgage Update 6/8/09 Up, Up And Away!
No good news yet. Rates are back to where they were 6 months ago. Conventional rates are 5.5 and higher, with FHA closer to 6.0.
As previously stated this is really putting the brakes on refis. Rates in the low to mid 4’s were ideal for just about any borrower. Even those with rates in the 5’s found reason to justify a refi, either by consolidating debt, changing term or simply reducing interest costs over time. Now with rates back to the 5’s, there’s simply no reason to get on board.
I think we are done with the 4’s. There are simply to many other factors in the marketplace pointing toward the need for rates to be higher. While we may see some trickle down here and there, I expect rates to slowly continue their climb.
That’s the mortgage story in Ephrata and around the globe!
Mortgage Update 6/3/09 About Face!
If nothing else, rates have stopped rising, and probably have dipped a little since yesterday…apparently the news of the economy’s sudden rebound is premature. Let’s see what happens over the next few days/weeks.
Mortgage Update 5/29/09
Things are cooling off a little after the big-time spike up this week. Rates are a little lower today. Check previous posts for further information. What was a relatively stable rate environment since mid-December is now treading lightly and may be prepared to climb higher.
If rates continue to climb, mortgage activity will creep to a halt, as refinancing will no longer be attractive and the cost of financing a purchased home will become greater and greater, and thus less attractive to a potential buyer.
If you are thinking of buying your first house, it is still an optimum time to buy. Rates are still lower than they have been in 9 out 10 years, while home prices are the same or less than they were in recent years. As an added bonus to first time buyers, there’s still that 8,000 bucks from the Federal Government waiting for you at tax time!
That’s the story in the mortgage market in Ephrata, Brian Weems Williams reporting!
Mortgage Update 5/27 The Sky Is Falling!
I’m making like Chicken Little here, just sounding the warning that rates are up again today. It seems there’s a lot of sentiment that the worst is over with the recession and we are on the comeback trail. Consumer confidence is up and people want to get back into the stock market and take it for a ride.
The net effect of this happy, happy, joy, joy on the mortgage market is conventional rates are up 3/8 to a 1/2 over previous lows, and government loans are up a 1/2.
If you’ve been monitoring thiese updates, it may be time to strike on that home purchase or refi. If this is truly a “recovery”, then the party with interest rates will be over sooner than I expected.
Nationally it appears home values have bottomed out. Locally, it was not a drop, so much as a plateau. If you’ve been waiting for homes in Lancaster County to go lower, don’t bet on it. Take action!