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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.

 Yesterday’s Fed’s Beige Book report didn’t support the grim economic outlook that many believe in. It showed that 5 of the 12 Fed regions showed slight or moderate growth, which was an improvement from the previous release. It appears that the increase in economic growth was fueled mostly by consumer spending, particularly on auto sales. This helped stocks to extend their gains and led to afternoon weakness in bond prices.

 Neither of this morning’s two pieces of economic data were considered highly important. July's Goods and Services Trade Balance revealed a much lower than expected trade deficit of $44.8 billion. This data does not usually have a direct impact on bond trading or mortgage rates. But it does affect the value of the U.S. dollar versus other currencies. That in turn makes our securities more or less appealing to investors as the value of the dollar rises or drops against their domestic currency. Even with the large variance from forecasts of a $51.5 billion trade deficit, the news has not influence mortgage rates.

 Last week’s unemployment figures were posted by the Labor Department early this morning. They announced that 414,000 new claims for unemployment benefits were filed last week. This was a slight increase from the previous week’s revised total of 412,000. But what made this report somewhat good news for the bond market was the fact that analysts were expecting to see a drop in new claims, indicating that the employment sector was weaker than expected last week. Any signs of employment weakness is considered good news for the bond market and mortgage rates. Unfortunately, this data tracks only a single week’s worth of new claims, so its impact on the markets is usually fairly subdued unless it shows a significant surprise.

 This evening has President Obama speaking to a joint session of Congress at 7:00 PM ET about the economy and the current employment situation. He is looking for support in his ideas to boost economic activity and payroll numbers. It will be interesting to see what ideas he has, but there is little doubt that if anything substantive is proposed, we will see an active morning in the markets tomorrow. Since he will be speaking after market hours tomorrow, his words will influence the international markets before the U.S. markets. That should give us an idea of what to expect in morning, especially since there is no relevant economic data scheduled for release tomorrow.

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

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