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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 were two monthly reports posted this morning in addition to the weekly employment sector update. The most important of them was December's Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the Labor Department. They announced that the overall reading was unchanged from November and that the more important core data that excludes volatile food and energy prices rose 0.1%. Both were expected to rise 0.1%. This means that inflationary pressures at the consumer level of the economy remained subdued last month, making the news neutral to slightly favorable for bonds and mortgage rates.

 December’s Housing Starts was the second monthly report released this morning. The Commerce Department reported that new construction starts of housing fell 4.1% last month, falling well short of forecasts. Analysts were expecting to see a decline, but by more than half of what we saw in the report. This data hints at a weaker housing sector than many had thought. However, this particular report is not considered to be of high importance to the bond market or mortgage rates. Therefore, the impact it has had on today’s pricing unfortunately has been minimal.

 The third piece of news was last week’s unemployment figures. The Labor Department said that only 352,000 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed last week. This was sizable decline from the previous week’s revised total of 402,000 and on the surface appears to point towards a strengthening employment sector. On the other hand, the significant volatility we have seen in this data the past couple weeks questions its reliability as an indicator of employment sector strength or weakness. Accordingly, it also has not had too much influence on this morning’s bond trading and mortgage rates.

 Overall, today’s data was mixed at best. A more accurate description could be neutral towards bonds and mortgage rates. In fact, half of this morning’s increase in mortgage pricing comes from weakness late yesterday and not today’s news. But since stocks are in positive territory, bonds are showing losses during early trading. However, I would not be completely surprised to see stocks to give up the rest of this morning’s early gains or for bonds to erase their current losses later today. This may lead to an intraday improvement to mortgage rates this afternoon.

 The National Association of Realtors will give us December’s Existing Home Sales report late tomorrow morning. This housing sector report tracks home resales in the U.S. It is expected to show an increase in home sales last month, meaning that the housing sector strengthened. Ideally, the bond market would prefer to see a decline in sales, but a small increase should not negatively affect mortgage rates tomorrow.

 If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would.... Lock if my closing was taking place within 7 days... Float 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.

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