Rate Update December 17th 2008

Mortgage rates are MUCH lower this morning.

Interest rates today are by far the best we have ever seen in the last 6 years of being in the mortgage industry.  Although, we are excited that rates have come this low; we remain cautious by knowing the fact that the bond market has been so volatile in the past months and rates can change at any time.  The media has done an excellent job of publicizing these low rates, but what they have failed to mention is the volatility of rates and the prospect that they can worsen at a moments notice.  Since early morning trading, we have already seen bonds come of their highs and we are preparing for some possible re-prices for the worse if the sell-off continues much past this point.

So what has caused this latest surge in lower interest rates?  Yesterday after the Fed lowered the Fed Funds Rate by .75%, which typically would be a nemesis to mortgage rates, they went on to state that they would buy as much as $600 Billion of debt secured by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other government mortgage businesses.  We heard this news earlier but traders have taken the second go around to heart and we saw rates increase considerably.

Current Outlook: Locking