Showers! Boring Rates! Pez!!!!

Always a little insane to me that a lot of charity events involve physical activity. A friend of mine biked 60 miles for kidney disease earlier this year, and I know a handful of people that participate in the 3-day Susan Komen breast cancer walk. To me, I think they’d get a lot more involvement if it was just meeting in a park and eating a bowl of cereal. (*Tony the Tiger says, “Beating a disease is ggggrrrreat!!”). Still, on Sunday I was proud to have my daughter join me in the heat as we walked three miles to raise money for my friend who is fighting Scleroderma. That walk raised over $63k. Lots of other insane things out there – which to me centers around the rates right now and their refusal to go down. More about that as we dive into today’s blog…

Insane Quote of the Day: “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” – Edgar Allan Poe

Today in History: It was on this day in 1967 when The Beatles performed “All You Need is Love” live during the Our World broadcast, watched by an estimated 400 million people worldwide.

Possible Game Show Answer: The dot over the letter ‘I’ is called a tittle. This word would’ve made me laugh when I was in grade school, but not anymore since I’m now a grown man. Nope, not anymore. (sigh….Okay, fine – you caught me in a lie – are you happy now, Mortgage Fans?)

Wuss’up This Week: Every day reports about our economy are released into the wild, and it’s these reports that can sway interest rates in either direction. Today we have New Home Sales (expected: 689k), tomorrow Pending Home Sales along with Durable-goods Orders, and then on Friday four PCE inflation reports. Those PCE’s are pretty important as inflation was a big reason rates went from the 3s to the 7s. I have my qualms with the Fed but I think they’ve done a decent job (*”decent”, not “great”) working to get inflation down, hopefully Friday’s reports show a continuation of that progress.

Interest Rate Update: In 1996 The Macarena by Los del Rio spent 14 very long weeks at # 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart which made it the longest running annoying song to stay in that top spot. I feel like interest rates are pulling a Macarena right now before our eyes. I have to avoid just cutting & pasting the same update from prior blogs because that would cheating you guys, but honestly – I think I might because there is no way to dress this up any differently. Today we find conforming and jumbo 30yr fixed rates in the high-6s/low-7s, with ARM rates about a half a point lower. (*I do have some ARMs in the high-5s but with some restrictions, call me for details). As usual rates will vary based on type of home, equity in the home, your credit score, and if you like funny memes

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

Insane Quote of the Day 2: “I like fruit baskets because it gives you the ability to mail someone a piece of fruit without appearing insane.” – Demetri Martin

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Timeout for Trivia: Congrats to those who guessed Blake Shelton last week! Want to be entered into a drawing to win a Pez Dispenser T-shirt ? Simply email me the answer to this week's Who Am I? question. Good luck: “Tomorrow is my birthday, and I think I’ll spend it in an open public space, typically found in urban areas that is used for gatherings, markets, or events. Haha, yeah – that describes my last name. my first name sounds like a famous actress’s first name who starred in Breakfast at Tiffany’s but off by one letter. From 2009-2015 I was on a sitcom that could be retitled Lawn and Leisure. In 2012 I had my first starring role in a time travel movie – a funny movie that didn’t make a ton of money ($4-million). In 2016 I starred in a movie with Anna Kendrick - a romantic comedy – that made $77-million but in Barry’s opinion not as funny as the time travel movie. I like comedy but I can play drama too – that’s when I seem to win awards, i.e. my character in HBO’s 2022 series that could be retitled Ivory Bloom won me an Emmy and a Golden Globe. Final hint: An anagram for my name is A Zebra Layup.”

Happy birthday shout out to my sister, Karen – the least ‘Karen’ of the Karens. (*I’d also like to say I am the most ‘Barry’ of the Barrys – good or bad - if ‘Barry’ ever becomes a thing.)

The Adieu Mortgage Haiku:

The Macarena

Like interest rates right now

Both are annoying!