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Tucson Mortgage Weekly 3-8-10

Brought to you by Todd Abelson and Tyler Ford of Sunstreet Mortgage – Tucson, AZ


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Tucson Mortgage Weekly 3-1-10

Brought to you by Todd Abelson and Tyler Ford of Sunstreet Mortgage – Tucson, AZ


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Click here to view the Tucson Mortgage weekly newsletter.

Tucson Mortgage Weekly 2-22-10

Brought to you by Todd Abelson and Tyler Ford of Sunstreet Mortgage – Tucson, AZ


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Click here to view the Tucson Mortgage weekly newsletter.

How You Can Get The Most Accurate, Real-Time Mortgage Rate Quotes Available

Mortgage rates are expired before they hit the papers

You can’t get your mortgage rates from the newspaper. Last week proved it.  Again.

Friday morning, headlines in Arizona and around the country read that mortgage rates were down 0.04 percent, on average, since the week prior.

A sampling of said headlines includes:

  • US Mortgage Rates Drop For 2nd Straight Week (Reuters)
  • Mortgage Rates On 30-year US Loans Fall To 4.93% (Business Week)
  • 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rate Falls Farther Below 5% (Marketwatch)

The story behind the headline was sourced from the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, am industry-wide mortgage rate poll of more than 100 lenders.  The PMMS has reported mortgage rate data to markets since 1971 and is the largest of its kind.

Unfortunately, Tucson rate shoppers can’t rely on it.

See, unlike governments and private-sector firms, when consumers are in need mortgage rate information, they need the information delivered in real-time; for making decisions on-the-spot.  Consumers need to know what rates are doing right now.

The Freddie Mac survey can’t offer that.

According to Freddie Mac, the survey’s methodology is to collect mortgage rates from lenders between Monday and Wednesday and to publish that data Thursday morning.  The survey results are an average of all reported mortgage rates. The problem is that mortgage rates change all day, every day.  The PMMS results are skewed, therefore, by methodology.

And, meanwhile, the issue was compounded last week because mortgage rates shot higher Wednesday afternoon — after the survey had “closed”.  The market deterioration ran into Thursday, too — again, unable to be captured by Freddie Mac’s PMMS.

Although the newspapers reported mortgage rates down last week, they weren’t.  Conforming mortgage rates were higher by at least 1/8 percent, or roughly $11 per $100,000 borrowed per month.  In some cases, rates were up by even more.

Newspapers and websites can give a lot of good information, but pricing is far too fluid to rely on a reporter. When you need to know what mortgage rates are doing in real-time, make sure you’re talking to a loan officer.  Otherwise, you may just be getting yesterday’s news.

Best way is to just give Todd Abelson and Tyler Ford  a call at 520-331-LEND (5363).

What’s Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week : February 22, 2010

New Home Sales Dec 2008-Dec 2009Mortgage markets had a terrible, holiday-shortened week last week as Wall Street responded to worse-than-expected inflation data and action from the Federal Reserve.  Mortgage bonds sold off with force, causing mortgage rates to rise for the second week in a row.

Last week was a bad week to float a mortgage, to say the least. Rates in Tucson rose by the largest margin in any week since late-2009.

The two biggest stories from last week both came from the Federal Reserve.  The first was the release of the FOMC January meeting minutes which showed more confidence in the U.S. economy than Wall Street expected, and the second was the Fed’s surprise announcement to raise the nation’s Discount Rate to 0.75%. Both sparked risk-taking on Wall Street and bonds sold-off as a result.

Now, the Fed Funds Rate won’t climb anytime soon and neither will Prime Rate, but the Fed has sent a clear message to the markets — The Era of Loose Monetary Policy is over.

This week, there’s a lot of economic data set for release.

  • Tuesday : Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Consumer Confidence
  • Wednesday : New Home Sales
  • Thursday : FHFA Home Price Index, Initial Jobless Claims
  • Friday : Existing Home Sales, Personal Consumption Expenditures

With markets already on edge, any better-than-expected results should be bad for mortgage rates.

After last week’s performance, conforming mortgage rates for residents of Arizona have now unwound most their January gains.  If you’re waiting for the right time to lock, it may have been 2 weeks ago. Consider locking in this week to protect against any further deterioration in price.

Recent Comments

  • Tyler Ford: Great job Todd!
  • Tyler Ford: Seems as through the real estate market is picking up and home prices are stabilizing.
  • Gail Richards: Thanks Todd! More Great Information! Thanks for being on top of everything…your the best! Gail
  • admin: Hey Todd, Can’t wait to pick a winner!
  • steve kargel: Thank you Todd for sending us your updates and especially for insights like the Eller annual economic...

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