Hello, Mortgage Fans, and welcome to the first blog of the year – a blog that was recently voted ‘The High Fructose Corn Syrup of Blogs’ (by my brother). As always, I will do my best to entertain you while keeping you up to date on the world of mortgages. (meaning: 74% of this blog will be non-mortgage related). Being the New Year I’d like to thank Grubhub, Instacart, and my sweatpants for helping me make it through 2021. New Year’s Resolutions for 2022? Lose the 12 pounds I was supposed to lose in 2021, and don’t get annoyed at people who pronounce croissants as ‘Kwa-sa’. Okay, here we go, Mortgage Fans – this is YOUR year….
Resolution Quote of the Day: “May all your troubles last as long as your resolutions.” – not sure who said this, got it in a fortune cookie a couple of weeks ago.
This Week in Economic History: It was on January 7th, 1782 the nation’s first private commercial bank, called Bank of North America, opened in Philadelphia. Let me see a show of hands who found that fact interesting….. (waiting…..) Nobody? Okay, okay – I’ll make it up to you here with 30 really interesting facts about banks.
2022 Interest Rate Predictions: Okay, see if you can follow me here. In the late 70s/early 80s inflation was out of control. The Fed Chairman raised the Fed Funds Rate (also known as the prime rate) from 11% to 20% which in turn made inflation drop from 14% to 5%, which… made interest rates drop from 18% to 12%. The same thing happened in the 90s/early 2000’s when Fed Chair Alan “It’s not easy being” Greenspan raised the Fed Funds Rate from 4.75% to 6.5%, inflation fell from 3.5% to 1% and interest rates fell from 8.5% to 5.5%. This brings us to 2022 where under Fed Chairman Jerome Powell inflation has gone from 1.75% up to 7%. Yeesh. This has caused mortgage rates to go up from the mid-2s to mid-3s. Many economists say he will raise the Fed Funds rate 1-3 times this year which should make inflation decline, which in turn will help our mortgage rates. As of today, you’ll find conforming 30-year fixed rates (*that’s for any loan under $647k) at 3.375% and jumbo 30-year fixed (*over $647k) about the same. 15yr conforming fixed in the mid-to-upper 2s, and ARMs in the mid-to-upper 2s. As usual, rates will vary based on if it’s a purchase or refinance, type of home, equity in the home, your credit score, and if you’ve discovered a beautiful place in the world.
Don’t Forget to Remember: For any purchase or refinance loan that closes with me, I will waive $575 in lender fees! Grab yourself a cup of instant karma and pass my info along to any friends, family, coworkers, or people that can bring pop culture to life through cell phones.
Resolution Quote of the Day 2: “Good resolutions are like babies crying in church. They should be carried out immediately.” – Charles M. Sheldon
Timeout for Trivia: Congrats to those who guessed Ashton Kutcher before the holidays. Want to be entered into a drawing to win a Cinnamon Toast Crunch T-shirt. Simply email me the answer to this week’s Who Am I? question. Good luck: “Another birthday for me today where I’m sure I’ll get drunk and wake up with some regrets. But let me stay positive for the sake of this trivia. I was born on this day a handful of decades ago, but I didn’t become a star until the mid-to-late 2000s. If you’re good at anagrams you’ll know the letters in my name can form the words ‘Yep, brace drool’. I know what you’re thinking – you can’t even imagine me with braces, a retainer, or drooling – I’m way too handsome. The author of this blog ranks one of my comedies in his top 10 favorites, where I played an antagonist in a movie that could be retitled ‘Matrimony Accidents.’”
