Conversation Quote of the Day: “If you can listen well, people will say you’re a good conversationalist.” – Stanley Bing (a.k.a. Gil Schwartz)
Happy Birthday Shout-Out to my Mom who turns 83 tomorrow – don’t forget, Mom – 83 is the new 46.
This Week in Economic History: It was on January 23rd, 1964 that with the passage of the 24th Amendment in South Dakota the poll tax became illegal nationwide. And this reminds me, every week I get hundreds and hundreds of emails asking when I will share 25 rugged facts about South Dakota. Here you go– now stop emailing me, Agnes!
Wuss’up This Week: It’s a pretty quiet week for economic activity that can impact interest rates. When the chaos broke out at the Capitol interest rates bumped up which is unusual. Normally when something happens that spooks the markets you’ll see rates go down, but just the opposite happened. With that said, I sure hope today’s inauguration is smooth sailing for more obviously than just the sake of rates. Outside of that, we’ve got tomorrow’s Jobless Claims report, and on Friday the Existing Home Sales report – both of these reports shouldn’t show any surprises. As with all of the economic data – if it comes in better than expected you’ll see rates tick up, and vice-versa if the numbers disappoint.
Interest rates have come down a little since January 6th – today’s 30-year fixed rates for conforming loans (*that’s any loan at $548k or less) can be found in the mid-to-upper 2s for a purchase, and upper-2s/low-3s for a refinance. Jumbo loans (*over $548k) in the high-2s to lower-3s. As usual, rates will vary based on if it’s a purchase or refinance, your credit score, type of home, equity in the home, or if your home is just, uh… unusual
Don’t Forget to Remember: 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 who like creative billboards that can use this gift.
Conversation Quote of the Day 2: “Was my family happy about the new “no phones at the dinner table” rule? No. But did we have some great conversations as a result? Also no.” – @AnnaDoesntWant2
Timeout for Trivia: Congrats to those who last week guessed Patrick Dempsey. Want to be entered into a drawing to win a Magilla Gorilla T-shirt? Simply email me the answer to this week’s Who Am I? question. Good luck: “It’s my birthday today and I hope it stays sunny although I don’t mind when the bad stuff falls from the sky because maybe it will remind people of the joy I bring them. Had we filmed my most successful sitcom during the pandemic I’m not sure how it even could’ve happened. Y’know who else was in that sitcom? A guy that worked in a place that played an ex-Doobie Brother’s singer’s song too much. Okay, two more fun facts: An anagram for my name is ‘worn in nails’, and the author of this blog and I sat in the same high school math class back in the 80s.”
