My English teacher in college gave us a list of her 25 favorite books – told each of us in the class to pick one, read it, and then give an oral report in front of the class about the book. This was too easy. The Shining was on that list which meant I didn’t have to read a thing! (*my ADD was pretty bad back then, and unless a book had pop-up pages or a bunch of pictures in it, I didn’t care to read it.) I rented the movie the night before my presentation, took some notes, and then nailed my 5-minute presentation. I spoke about the two biggest iconic lines from the movie: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” and “Here’s Johnny!” After I gave the report the teacher stared at me and said, “I asked you to read the book, not watch the movie.” She then went on to say how the book is different from the movie version in the fact that those two iconic lines don’t appear anywhere in the book. Wait, what?? How could Stephen King screw me like that?! I knew a week in advance I was going to get an F for that assignment. I’ve had longer notices for future bad news in my lifetime. I knew at 21 I would lose a lot of hair by the time I was 51. I knew Linda Vallano was going to give me the “I like you as a friend” speech months before she delivered it to me in junior high, and presently I know the Cubs and Bears are not going to win championships this year despite their winning records (*trust me on this, Sports Fans). But here’s an interesting fact: In the 21 years, I’ve been a mortgage broker I have never had the pleasure of knowing in advance the bad news of when interest rates would go up. Until now. But more about that later in the blog…
Pizza Quote of the Day: “You can’t make everyone happy. You’re not a pizza.” – Author Unknown
This Week in Economic History: it was on September 21st, 1931 Great Britain abandoned the gold standard for its currency (*the gold standard is a monetary system where a country’s currency or paper money has a value directly linked to gold.). This made Americans freak out for fear we would follow suit – and people started pulling their money from banks across the country. (*I did the same move when boy bands started gaining popularity in the 90s, scared the hell out of me.) They feared not having gold backing their money’s value would leave them broke. This resulted in 827 banks shutting down; it took another two years before the U.S abandoned the gold standard. What’s that? Do you want to waste more time before getting back to work? Okay, here are 10 fun facts about gold.
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’ve got the PMI report, tomorrow Initial Jobless Claims (previous: 860k) and New Home Sales, and on Friday the Durable Goods Order Report. (*this is a report of items being bought that last more than three years, i.e. cars, refrigerators, and the box of 64 mini egg rolls my wife bought at Costco years ago that she refuses to throw away even though it’s taking up a third of our freezer space.) As usual, if these reports are good for the economy rates will tick up, and vice-versa if the numbers disappoint.
Interest Rate Update: Earlier this year Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac announced that they would implement a refinance tax because they wanted to make more money during a pandemic when people are losing jobs left and right. (*When I run for President in 2050 I am going to promise voters I will get rid of this for good.) This tax takes place for any loan delivered to them on December 1st or later. This means banks will start to price this into their rates on Oct 1st, which means if you haven’t refinanced yet this year and still want to get the very lowest rate you should apply for your loan in the next seven days or forever hold your peace. This tax will force rates on refinances to bump up anywhere from .125% – .25%. Despite the fact that this act of greed couldn’t come at a worse time, at least we have the luxury of knowing for a fact that rates will be higher on Oct 1st than they will be on September 30th. For now, 30-year fixed conforming loans (*that’s any loan at $510k or less) can be found anywhere from 2.625% – 3.375%, 15yr fixed loans in the mid-2s, and Jumbo (*over $510k) in the low-3s. As usual, rates will vary based on credit score, type of home, equity in the home, or if you decorate your home with beer cans.
Don’t Forget to Remember: Any purchase or refinance loan that closes with me I will waive $575 in closing costs! Grab yourself a cup of instant karma and pass my info along to any friends, family, coworkers, or fans of RBG quotes
Pizza Quote of the Day 2: “My kid wants pizza without the crust AND a side of breadsticks. It appears I’ve given birth to everything that’s wrong with America.” – @shariv67
Timeout for Trivia: Congrats to those who last week guessed Arianna Grande. Want to be entered into a drawing to win a Play-Doh Buzz ‘n Cut Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop (easily the best prize I’ve offered this year). Simply email me the answer to this week’s Who Am I? question. Good luck: “It was on this date in 1994 that my movie was released. Not a ton of people saw it in the theaters but it gained cult-status and now it’s on cable almost every day. The author of this blog ranks it in his top 3 dramas ever made, and I also rank in his top 3 best comedies ever made in regards to my 1988 movie where my character name was a weapon of mass destruction. I met my girlfriend on that set of that movie and our relationship lasted 21 years, but it got to the point where the arguing was so bad I just wanted her to drive off a cliff and leave me alone. Let’s talk about better times though, like the ’94 movie I was talking about earlier. My co-star in that movie has a god-like voice. Hmmm… maybe he could even be God.”
