Adulting! A Rate Rally! Super Powers!

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Note to millennials: When you play music from your phone it sounds really good – the technology that went into those speakers was decades in the making. Back in the late 80s when I graduated college, I was packing up to leave for home, and I had these speakers that were just a little bit bigger than the phone you’re reading this on. Two speakers – both about three feet tall and over a foot wide, weighing about 35-pounds apiece. They were clunky and heavy and not going to fit into my crappy little Toyota, so I brought them to the post office to ship home. (note to millennials: a post office is where you go sometimes to mail letters). The postal worker said I had to buy boxes to ship them – which they didn’t sell - so I had to go to the grocery store and ask the worker to give me the biggest boxes they had (Chiquita banana boxes), and then I brought them back to the post office where the worker said I’d have to buy tape – that they sold- to pack them. It was like a hundred degrees that day and I remember just sweating bullets packing up these stupid speakers and thinking, “Adulting really sucks.” And now here I am many years later writing about another adult thing – mortgages. And as I write this I’m sitting on the couch with my dog by my side, in my temperature-controlled home, eating a handful of trail mix (*by ‘trail mix’ I mean Lucky Charms – sometimes I like to pretend I’m more grown up than I really am). It’s comfortable. Yet, sometimes I wish I could go back to that time – even that day at the post office – because it was a simpler time when I didn’t worry about paying the mortgage and all the other stuff we get saddled with as we get older (sigh….) Oh well, here we go with today’s blog:

Adulthood Quote of the Day: “Welcome to adulthood: you get mad when they rearrange the grocery store.” – author unknown

Possible Game Show Answer: The Great Emu War (1932) was real thing in Australia. The military lost… to emus. They tried to control the population with soldiers and machine guns and failed spectacularly. (*I’m an animal lover but I wish they had won this war and all the emus had gone extinct, because now we are suffering through a lot of really unfunny Liberty Mutual commercials).

Today in History: It was on this day back in 1803 when the United States doubled in size through the Louisiana Purchase which was sold by France for $15 million. I know you’re thinking, “Barry, don’t bore us with this crap unless you have eleven interesting facts to back it up.” Okay, okay, geez – here you go

Wuss’up This Week: This is a big week for reports that can shake up interest rates. Being the first week of the new month we’ve got three employment reports – today’s ADP Employment, tomorrow Jobless Claims, and Friday’s biggie the U.S. Employment Report from April along with the Unemployment Rate. What’s that, you want to know if there are any inflation reports being released? Glad you asked, yes – four of them today. As usual if these reports come out good for the economy, you’ll see rates tick up, and vice versa if the numbers disappoint.

Interest Rate Update: Nice teeny, little rally last week for rates, they fell about .125%, maybe it continues this week? Today a conforming 30yr fixed is around 6.75% (*that’s for any loan at $806k or less), for Jumbo 30yr fixed (*above $806k) they are just a touch higher at 6.875%. Jumbo ARMs can be found in the low-to-mid 6s. As usual rates will vary based on type of home, equity in the home, your credit score, and if you like diving into a thousand mousetraps (in slow motion!)

Don’t Forget to Remember: Any purchase that closes with me I will waive $450 in lender fees (and much more on refinances)! Grab yourself a cup of instant karma and pass my info along to any friends, family, coworkers, or people with super powers that can use this gift.

Adulthood Quote of the Day 2: “Every group project in school prepared me for adulthood: 1 person does all the work, 3 people disappear, and 1 guy brings the chips.” @Simoncdean

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Timeout for Trivia: Congrats to those who guessed Kelly Clarkson last week! Want to be entered into a drawing to win a Silly Putty T-shirt? Simply email me the answer to this week's Who Am I? question. Good luck:“It’s my birthday today, and I don’t cry about getting older and having another birthday – bring it on! My career first got noticed in ’94 when I picked up a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe nomination – I must’ve overshadowed the two leading men who are both Hollywood royalty and drop dead gorgeous! (*Wait, sorry – bad choice of words, I don’t want you to get mixed up with my other movie five years later.) Like any successful actress, I’ve dabbled in superhero movies – including the trilogy from 2002-2009 – I played the same part but three different guys all played the same superhero in those movies (*although my favorite was the first actor whose first name is a combo of a foot part and one of the first letters of the alphabet). Speaking of the alphabet, an anagram for my name is Kinder Stunts.”

The Adieu Mortgage Haiku:

Signed my mortgage note

Also signed away my youth

Guess we’re both locked in.