My New Blog

If you are looking for a Mortgage Professional who will give you the type of service that 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, view rates and search for foreclosed properties.

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

There was nothing of relevance scheduled for release today, so any intraday change to rates will likely be a result of a sizable move in stocks. Fed Chairman Bernanke will speak to the Senate Budget Committee at 10:00 AM tomorrow. I don’t expect him to say anything different than he said last week to the House Budget Committee, but the Q&A portion of his appearance could lead to something new. It is worth watching, but it will probably not lead to much of a change in the markets or mortgage rates.

The rest of the week only has two pieces of monthly economic data scheduled, both coming Friday morning. Neither of them is considered to be highly important, so we don't have much to pin our hopes on or to be concerned with this week. There are two Treasury auctions on the calendar the middle part of the week that may influence mortgage rates the middle part of the week, but nothing as important as some of last week’s reports and events.

The two important Treasury auctions come Wednesday and Thursday when 10 year Notes and 30 year Bonds are sold. The 10 year sale is the more important one as it will give us a better indication of demand of mortgage related securities. If the sales are met with a strong demand from investors, we should see the bond market move higher during afternoon trading the days of the auctions. But a lackluster interest from buyers, particularly international investors, would indicate a waning appetite for longer term U.S. securities and lead to broader bond selling. The selling in bonds would likely result in upward afternoon revisions to mortgage rates.

Overall, despite being a fairly light week in terms of economic releases and relate events, it is still relatively crucial for the mortgage market. We saw the yield on the benchmark 10 year Treasury Note spike higher Friday as a result of the stronger than expected employment data. Stocks rallied as a result of that data, extending the 2012 stock rally that has pushed the Dow up over 5% and the Nasdaq up 11% year to date. Both indexes closed last week at their highest levels since May 2008 and December 2000 respectively. This has me believing we are due to see a pullback in stocks fairly soon. If/when this happens, we should see funds shift back into bonds for safety, leading to lower mortgage rates. Keep in mind that this is more or less just speculation, but I am expecting to move to a less conservative approach regarding short-term mortgage rates in the near future.

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... Float 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 New York and Florida State Banking Departments and our loans are arranged through third party providers.

http://activerain.com/images/linking/ARLogoProfile.gif