There’s an old joke about an attorney reading Goldilocks & the Three Bears to his kids and pointing out all the laws Goldilocks broke – breaking and entering which is a misdemeanor, petty theft for eating the porridge, and criminal damage to property for breaking the chair. Sometimes you can take something so innocent and twist it the other direction. As a joke for the cable station he worked for in 1998, Rick Polito wrote this description for The Wizard of Oz: “Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.” That’s great stuff! Maybe the real challenge would be to figure out how to write what’s happened this year and twist it in a positive direction. Here’s my attempt: ‘In 2020 we re-learned what we were taught as kids: Wash your hands, treat everyone equally and with respect, spread the love, and treasure your friends and family – they won’t be here forever.’ Shifting to another subject now – the dreaded ‘I’ word: Inflation. (*which also describes my waistline this year). The Fed has started to whisper about inflation working its way back into the economy which to interest rates is kryptonite. (*that last sentence sounds like a bad SAT question: ‘Kryptonite to Superman is like Inflation to _______’). Two things can make interest rates go up – inflation and a healthy economy – both of which we will probably have next year. For now, rates are low. Treasure them, they won’t be here forever.
Love Quote of the Day: “All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” – Charles M. Schultz
This Date in Economic History: It was on this date in 1943 that Lifesavers’ candy creator Edward Noble bought one of NBC’s radio networks, renaming it American Broadcasting Company, Inc. (ABC). I Googled ‘Worst ABC shows of all-time” but nothing came up, so instead I’ll give you the 21 Most Hated Shows of All-Time.
Interest rates continue their October dance up and down. Jumbo rates (*that’s any loan over $510k) saw the high-2s just briefly before going back into the low-3s. Conforming (*under $510k) 30yr fixed rates remain in the upper-2s to low-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, and if you plan on buying the Silence of the Lambs home.
Don’t Forget to Remember: Any purchase or refinance loan that closes with me I will waive $575 in lender fees (and more for essential workers or my mom). Grab yourself a cup of instant karma and pass my info along to any friends, family, or people that like live bear cams that can use this gift!
Love Quote of the Day 2: “If I’m ever in a coma, don’t try and wake me. I’m doing what I love.” – @badbanana
Timeout for Trivia: Congrats to those who guessed Yo-Yo Ma last week. Want to be entered into a drawing to win a Dubble Bubble 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 like to celebrate when so many people are hurting. What’s the expression? Let’s just… something about bringing in a new year. Anyway, mostly only friends and family know my last name (which is the first name of a comedian who had his own sitcom that everybody loved). My music career started in my teens and it was a nice and slow ride up to the top – my first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 was in January of ’98 from an album whose title makes you think of a Sinatra single. What else can I tell you? Oh yeah – my 4th studio album had a song that held the number one spot for over six weeks (and that song’s title is somewhere in the last two sentences). I’ve sold over 80-million records worldwide and Billboard ranked me the second most successful artist of the 2000s decade. You know what that means? I’m rich! You’ll never see me working a minim-wage job like at a movie theater for example.
