Sudden — & Unpredictable If major changes in interest rates are like seismic events, the “tremors” are intra-day mortgage rate changes. On a typical day, there are one or two; this Monday, there were six — all up. To be sure, the increments are small, and the current 30-year rate is (still) a historically low 3.75% (up...Read More
Lower Rates, Yes, But Higher Prices (& Fewer Choices) First, a caveat: to home Sellers, higher home prices are an unalloyed plus. More money at closing is . . . more money (Realtors paid commissions like it, too). And lower interest rates are catnip to Buyers — at least ones financing their purchase. But at what...Read More
When Supply & Demand (Especially “Supply”) are Broken “The sale of a home actually represents two, discrete transactions. To a Seller, it represents a lump-sum payoff; to a Buyer, it represents a series of monthly payments.” –Floyd Norris; The New York Times To explain the dearth of homes for sale nationally as well as locally...Read More
From “Super-Low” to “Outrageously, Absurdly Low” Wait a second — haven’t mortgage rates been, like, dirt cheap since . . . forever? And haven’t interest rates paid on savings been infinitesimal for practically just as long? Well, yes. But, as a result of further Euro zone deterioration last week — and the resulting flight to quality/safety — interest...Read More
The Microsoft Precedent What turned Microsoft from the preeminent company of the early Internet era (circa 1999) to a company that is now eclipsed by such juggernauts as Google, Apple, and even Amazon.com? One theory is that its focus on “legacy” products — operating systems and applications software — caused it to miss such innovations as Internet search, smart phones,...Read More
Mortgage Rates, Gas Prices on the Move One of the signs that’s something afoot in the financial markets — as it is now — is that interest rates re-set several times in one day. (More typically, they re-set every few days.) Although the increments have all been small, that’s been happening all week in the...Read More
