12-28-18: Happy New Year! Rates Drop Continues
Question of the week: Are you having a nice holiday?
Answer: We are, and I hope your family is as well. It is nice having our oldest home and the family all together for a while.
A break this week from the Weekly Rate & Market Update, should have a regular missive next week.
Have a wonderful New Year!
Have a question? Ask me!
Rates for Friday December 28, 2018: You may have noticed the markets have been a bit schizophrenic this week, continuing the ups and downs from last week but with much bigger swings. The volatility in the equity markets (stock markets) has created a flight to safety for investors, which means they are leaving the uncertainty of equities and purchasing fixed rate investments to lock in returns—i.e. bonds and mortgages. As a result rates continue to drop, the fourth Friday to Friday drop out of the past five weeks for conforming and the fifth Friday in a row for high-balance rates. The 30 year conforming rate is the same as it was on April 13th and down five-eighths of a percent (0.625%) from its high of the year in October. If you have an equity line with a large balance now may be a good time to start doing the math and looking to lock in that variable rate.
FIXED RATE MORTGAGES AT COST OF 1.25 POINTS LOCKED FOR 45 DAYS:
30 year conforming 4.25% Down 0.125%
30 year high-balance conforming 4.375% Down 0.125%
Please note that these are base rates and adjustments may be added for condominiums, refinances, credit scores, loan to value, no impound account and period rate is locked. Rates are based on 20% down with 740 FICO score for purchase mortgages.
A year and a half in age and one grade apart, we spent a lot of time together as we moved five times growing up through three states and a foreign country. A handful for our mom, and many neighbors as we were prone to create a bit of havoc, we stood by and behind each other and took what we deserved in terms of discipline. Happy birthday to my big brother Michael as he spends it on another road trip through the state—though this time in a car with his lovely (and tolerant) wife instead of on his beloved motorcycle. Safe travels on your trip and through 2019. Cheers!
Have a wonderful New Year’s celebration, and if you have a lot of fun please use Lyft or Uber (a tip I received a few years ago from my friend and millennial Jerry, rates jump very high for ride-shares on New Years. Before ordering a car go to a nearby hotel and see if you can work out a cash deal with a driver dropping someone off to take you to your destination; you save money and the driver makes more than if they were getting the ride through their car service. And you can probably get a car faster.)
Happy New Year and thank you for your support in 2018!
Dennis
Past Weekly Rate & Market Updates can be found on my blog page at my website www.DennisCSmith.com/my-blog
