Beds! Rate Update! Fast Food Spaghetti!
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Pillow Quote of the Day: “There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience.” – John Wooden

Today in History: It was on this date in 2012 when the Curiosity Rover landed on Mars. It was launched on Nov 26^th, 2011, and its mission was to answer a big question: Could Mars have ever supported microbial life? (*Spoiler alert: it did).

Possible Game Show Answer: McDonalds serves spaghetti in the Philippines. The McSpaghetti meat sauce pasta comes with a side of “McDo” fried chicken. What’s that? You want to know some weird meals that are/were offered at fast food chains? Okay, here ya go

Wuss’up This Week: Congrats, Mortgage Fans – you’ve made it to the most boring part of the blog in one of the slowest economic news reporting weeks ever. Today nothing is being released, tomorrow Wholesale Inventories, and on Friday nothing is being released. With nothing going on it’s time to start thinking about lunch. I’m thinking McDo fried chicken.

Interest Rate Update: Time to tell you one of my biggest pet peeves in this industry: the Fannie Mae (or Freddie Mac) average interest rate. Sometimes clients see this rate and ask me why a rate I’m quoting might be higher, and it’s because the Fannie/Freddie average rate takes into account buyers that are paying on average .75% of a point. Remember, Mortgage Fans – not everything you see online is correct. My other pet peeve is with companies that advertise low rates and say ‘no points’ but then when you apply with them they charge points. Huh? How? Because of that small print that no one reads let’s them get away with it. Advertising rates online is still a lot like the Wild West – every other part of our industry has been highly regulated except for this part. Okay, I’m off my soap box and will now quote you the Barry Schwartz Point-Free average rates for a 30yr fixed conforming ($806k or less) and jumbo (*over $806k): These are both around 6.75% today give or take. Don’t forget ARMs on single family homes are about a half a point (or more) less. As usual rates will vary based on type of home, equity in the home, your credit score, and if you tell lies to your kids.

Don’t Forget to Remember: Any purchase that closes with me I’ll waive $450 in fees (*and much more on refinances)! Grab yourself a cup of instant karma and pass my info along to any friends, family, coworkers, or 90s daytime talk show fans that can use this gift.

Bed Quote of the Day 2: “I’m not saying I’m bad in bed, but I once faked a nap.” – Jessi Klein

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Congrats to those who guessed Lisa Kudrow last week! Want to be entered into a drawing to win a Nice Mussels T-shirt? Simply email me the answer to this week's Who Am I? question. Good luck: “It’s my birthday today and I’m middle-aged which doesn’t bother me. Even when I cross over I’ll be sure to find a way to communicate with the living. Hey, this is cool – the movie that put me on the map was released on this date in 1999. What made the movie so great was that it was a drama, a horror movie, and a love story – but don’t ask me to tell you the ending. What I will tell you is that all my movies make money and none of them are even close to how great the ’99 film was (it was nominated for six Academy Awards! Hmmm… something about that number). The two stars of that movie were a guy who makes action films (or Christmas films??) and a guy who was a great child actor but was recently busted for drugs and using racial slurs (April 2025) against the officer who arrested him, so I won’t say nice things about him in this paragraph. Most recently I directed a film (2023) which can be retitled Tap at the Shack, and in 2024 a movie about a serial killer starring an actor whose initials are JH. Ahhh, you don’t like initial clues? Okay, how about an anagram for my name: My Math Hangnails.”

The Adieu Mortgage Haiku:

It’s time for a nap

Where I’ll dream of lower rates

And ads that don’t lie