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If you want a Mortgage Professional who will give you the type of service that you feel you deserve, contact Bob Amato (NMLS # 8632) and Empire Home Mortgage Inc. (NMLS # 44882). We answer our phones seven days a week until 9PM. Put us to the test! Our toll free number is (866) 742-5227.

 Visit our website, www.empirehomemortgageinc.com . There you can get answers to all of your financing questions, search for foreclosed homes in your area and view rates.

 If you are considering locking in an interest rate for a New York Mortgage or a Florida Mortgage, read this post.

Friday’s bond market has opened in negative territory despite stock weakness and relatively favorable economic news. The stock markets are showing another round of losses, but to a much smaller scale than yesterday. The Dow is currently down 16 points and the Nasdaq is down 7 points. The bond market is currently down 9/32, but due to strength late yesterday we should see an improvement in this morning’s mortgage rates of approximately .250 of a discount point over yesterday’s early pricing.

The Commerce Department gave us the first of today’s two relevant reports with the release of February's Retail Sales data early this morning. They announced an increase in retail level sales of 1.0% last month, matching forecasts. The reading that excludes more volatile auto related sales showed a 0.7% increase that slightly exceeded forecasts. Worth mentioning were sizable upward revisions to January’s readings that at least doubled previous estimates. This means that consumers spent more in January than previously thought and showed little hesitancy to spend last month. Because February’s sales were close to forecasts but January’s were stronger than previously announced, we should consider this data neutral to slightly negative for bonds and mortgage rates.

The second report of the day came from the University of Michigan, who reported that their Index of Consumer Sentiment for March dropped to 68.2 this month. This was well short of expectations and indicates that consumers were far less optimistic about their own financial situations this month than many had thought. That is good news for the bond market and mortgage rates because waning confidence usually means consumers are less apt to make a large purchase in the near future. Since consumer spending makes up two thirds of the U.S. economy, weaker levels of spending translates into slower economic growth, making long term securities such as bonds more attractive to investors. And rising bond prices equates to lower mortgage rates.

Yesterday’s 30 year Bond auction followed suit of Wednesday’s 10 year Note sale, drawing a strong demand from investors. News of the strong results helped boost bond prices during afternoon trading yesterday. This, with the stock markets unable to recover the morning losses, led to some lenders improving rates late yesterday. If they did not revise lower during afternoon hours yesterday, you may see an improvement in this morning’s pricing.

Next week brings us the release of several relevant economic reports, including two key inflation readings. Most of the important data comes later in the week, but there is a one day FOMC meeting Tuesday. There is nothing of importance scheduled for release Monday. Look for more details on next week’s events in Sunday’s weekly preview.

If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 8 and 20 days... Lock if my closing was taking place between 21 and 60 days... Float if my closing was taking place over 60 days from now... This is only my opinion of what I would do if I were financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.

 Empire Home Mortgage Inc. is a registered Mortgage Broker with the NYS and Florida Banking Depts and our loans are arrnged through third party providers.

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