In the 3rd grade I was screwing around at the bus stop and cut my leg. I ran home, threw on the biggest band-aid I could find, and made it back in time to catch the bus. Many years later I ran into my old teacher and she told me that ‘band-aid’ I found under the bathroom sink really came from a box of my sister’s Kotex pads. It didn’t hit me until she told me that story as to why teachers were coming in from other rooms all day to check on my cut to make sure I was okay. Pretty embarrassing moment for me that was delayed many, many years. Shifting to my industry now, someone told me recently rates are embarrassingly high. Embarrassing?! Clearly this millennial had never heard of a decade called the 80s. For those of us who lived through it, we saw 30yr fixed interest rates over 18%. It gets worse – did you know women wore shoulder pads and actually thought it looked good? Nothing to be embarrassed about here, Mortgage Fans – let’s get this blog started.
Embarrassing Quote of the Day: “Confidence is the willingness to be as ridiculous, luminous, intelligent, and kind as you really are, without embarrassment.” – Susan Piver
Today in History: It was this week back in 1954 when mass inoculation began as Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine was given to children for the first time. (*side note: Had his first name been Marco instead of Jonas, maybe swimming kids would be shouting “Marco” “Polio” instead.)
Wuss’up This Week: Pretty tame week for reports that can have an impact on rates. Today we’ve got Housing Starts along with Building Permits, and the release of the Fed Minutes from the January FOMC meeting. Tomorrow Jobless Claims (expected: 215k) and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee speaks. (*IMO that’s a heck of a last name – one of those names where it sounds like a detective foiling crimes on kid’s cartoons. “The crooks would’ve made a clean getaway had it not been for Goolsbee and the kids from his afterschool crime stopper club.”) On Friday we have the Consumer Sentiment report, Existing Home Sales, and two more Fed speakers.
Interest Rate Update: Today we find a conforming 30yr fixed rate at 6.624% if you’re a first-time home buyer, and upper-6s for everyone else when loans are at $251k-$806k. For jumbo loans (*over $806k) rates can be found around 7% for 30yr fixed and lower-6s for ARMs. As usual rates will vary based on type of home, equity in the home, your credit score, and if you like waterbeds.
Don’t forget to Remember: Any purchase loan that closes with me I will waive $450 in lender fees (and more on refinances)! Grab yourself a cup on instant karma and pass my info along to any friends, family, coworkers, or friendly celebrities that can use this gift.
Embarrassing Quote of the Day 2: “When I was in high school, I went out with my father’s best friend. And that’s embarrassing... My father, having a fourteen-year-old best friend. What a loser.” – Sarah Silverman
Timeout for Trivia: Congrats to those who guessed Christina Ricci last week! Want to be entered into a drawing to win a Big League Chew T-shirt? Simply email me the answer to this weeks’ Who Am I? question. Good luck: “It’s my birthday today, and I’m so famous that I go by my first, middle, and last name for my stage name. My last name is a color, my middle name can be the first name of a guy or girl. I guest-starred in episodes of Modern Family and Grey’s Anatomy in 2015, and in 2018 I was featured in the music video for “Girls Like You” by Maroon 5. Speaking of musicians, I got married last year, and my father-in-law also goes by three names, although I’m living on some kind of a prayer if I think my career will be bigger than his. I got my big break in 2016 (*again, 2016, not the 1980s) when I starred in a show at the age of 12 (*again, twelve, not eleven). You’re probably a pretty good detective if you know who I am without this last clue but I’ll give it anyway: Same streaming service played my 2020 movie and it’s 2022 sequel about the sister of a famous detective.”
The Adieu Mortgage Haiku:
Embarrassing rates?
You gotta be kidding me.
Average right now.
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