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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.

 Wednesday’s bond market has opened in positive territory following early stock weakness. The Dow is currently down 52 points while the Nasdaq has slipped 4 points. The bond market is currently up 11/32, but I suspect we will still see a small increase in this morning’s mortgage pricing due partly to weakness in trading late yesterday.

 There is the 10-year Treasury Note auction that we need to watch. This one is a little more relevant to mortgage rates than tomorrow’s 30 year Bond auction as it will give us a better indication for demand of mortgage related securities. If today’s sale is met with a strong demand from investors, we should see the bond market move higher shortly after the results are posted at 1:00 PM ET. 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 revisions to mortgage rates.

 Tomorrow morning has two reports scheduled, one of which is considered to be highly important to the markets and mortgage pricing. The big one is December's Retail Sales data at 8:30 AM that measures consumer spending levels. This is extremely important because consumer spending makes up two thirds of the U.S. economy. Analysts are expecting to see a 0.4% increase from November’s sales. Since the bond market tends to thrive in weaker economic times, a smaller than expected increase would be favorable for bonds and mortgage rates.

 We will also get weekly unemployment numbers from the Labor Department early tomorrow morning. They are expected to announce that 375,000 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed last week. This would be a slight increase from the previous week’s 372,000, which by theory is favorable news for bonds since it hints at a weaker employment sector. However, the retail sales data is much more important to the financial and mortgage markets than just a single week’s worth of employment data. Therefore, look for the sales report to drive trading and mortgage pricing tomorrow morning.

 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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