Seattle Mortgage Loan and Real Estate Blog

Quick entry today as my phone is ringing off the hook. Record low rates are back on conventional 30 and 15 year fixed.  We literally have mortgage rates as good as the summer of 2003 which was the lowest level in 40+ years.

I have alot of things to discuss but not much time so I will bullet point a few things I think about the market as of today.

-We are currently in a recession right now

-Mortgage rates will stay in the 5's for the forseeable future, will they get below 5 is the question.

-My fence sitters are now OFF the fence ie investors, 2nd home buyers etc...I think the housing market will see a rebound in 08, especially in the Seattle/Portland metro areas which really have not been affected much anyway

-Dont hesitate to get that mortgage now, these rates can and have disappeared within a matter of a day or two before and could again

Post a comment, email or call if I can be of any assistance...cheers!

We just finished up one of the most chaotic weeks on the mortgage interest rate front that I can remember. The Fed cut interest rates on Tuesday by .75% which caused long term mortgage rates to plummet on Tue and early Wed.  About 1pm on Wed, the stock market made a 600+ point swing and the 10 year Bonds went south which drove interest rates UP over 1/2% in less than an hour. Thursday was negative as well on the mortgage rate side but Friday bounced back to erase the rate increase from Thursday.

What I saw Tue and Wed was that those who were greedy or just not able to make a quick decision missed out on a window of locking the best mortgage rates I have seen in over 10 years. Those who made quick YES decisions and locked are very happy right now.  Rates still ended up in the mid 5's for the week but were in the low 5's on Tuesday.  Motto of the story: get your application in if you have ANY type of ARM or a fixed rate over 6%. When the window opens up again lock in a mortgage rate that makes sense and dont worry about whether it will go down another 1/8% or so...when you are at or near all time record low rates the lower rate opportunity risk is far exceeded by the higher rate risk.

Rates always go up faster than they go down and they really cant go much lower than where they sit today but they can go much higher IMO. Have a great week and I will post again mid week or sooner with a quick market update.

Oh wouldn't life in the mortgage and real estate business be so dull without VOLATILITY...:) We started the week with stock market mayhem which tends to lower rates.  Today, Jan 10, we have seen the trend reverse somewhat as the BIG news of the day that BofA is in talks to acquire Countrywide shook up the markets.

Why should you care about Countrywide?  They are the #1 US home lender and two days ago they appeared to be heading towards filing BK although they strongly denied the rumors.  Trust me, we don't want the largest lender in the US filing for BK so maybe this takeover makes sense in this environment.  BofA also invested around 2 billion dollars in Countrywide last year and has a financial interest in seeing them succeed as well. 

I would love to keep this blog updated daily and I need one thing to happen, I need YOU to participate.  The revised site has only been up and running for a little over 2 months and just today we saw a HUGE jump in traffic so I KNOW you are looking:)  Don't be afraid to offer suggestions for blog topics, site suggestions or just say hello as I am always available to discuss mortgage and real estate issues via phone, blog or email.  I don't just lend in Seattle, we lend in WA, OR and ID at this time and our looking to expand our available states shortly.

Todays 30 year fixed rates are still in the mid 5's which is fantastic. I think the buying season will be good in the Seattle metro area as there is a ton of inventory to look at.  I am going to sell my little house in the Wedgwood neighborhood of Seattle so I will let you know how that goes.

Hello and Happy New Year!  It feels good to be back at work 100%, I love the holidays but they seem to last longer every year.  We welcomed in 2008 today with poor manufacturing numbers, $100 per barrel oil, a sliding stock market and talk of a pending recession.

The mortgage interest rate market thrives on bad news, not something I enjoy but the more bad news out there the lower interest rates seem to go.  We saw a nice drop in rates today and from what we are hearing from the Fed we do expect further rate cuts which should be priced into the mortgage market well before they actually occur. 

2008 is shaping up to be the "bottom" of the housing market in my opinion.  It is time to hold on, take advantage of these great rates, boost your credit scores, assets, income and just ride it out.  Seattle is starting to see the downturn hit finally but I do not expect prices to fall more than 5% in this market and probably not at all in desirable areas or with well maintained homes but it will take longer to sell a home in 2008 for sure.