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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.



Neither of this morning’s economic reports were considered to be highly important, but they both gave results that were favorable for stocks and negative for bonds. The Labor Department reported that 388,000 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed last week. This was a decline in new claims and much lower than forecasts of an increase, indicating that the employment sector was stronger than many had thought last week. Fortunately, this report tracks only a single week’s worth of new claims, limiting its negative impact on this morning’s mortgage pricing.



The second report of the day was October's Housing Starts. It showed that construction starts of new homes were nearly unchanged from September’s revised total, but this was much higher than what analysts were expecting to see. Also worth noting was a secondary reading in the report that tracks new permits issued for future construction spiked during the month. This is a sign of housing sector strength that is bad news for the bond market and mortgage rates since a weak housing sector has contributed to the sluggish economic growth this year. Any data that hints at improving economic activity is usually considered negative for the bond market and mortgage pricing.



There is a piece of economic data scheduled for release late tomorrow morning, but as with today’s releases, it is also considered to be only moderately important to the financial and mortgage markets. The Conference Board will post their Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) for October at 10:00 AM ET tomorrow. This report that attempts to predict economic activity over the next three to six months. It is expected to show a 0.6% increase, meaning economic activity will rise fairly rapidly over the next couple of months. Generally speaking, this would be bad news for bonds. However, since this data is considered only moderately important, its results need to vary by a wide margin from forecasts for it to affect mortgage rates.



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

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