Money Quote of the Day: “Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.” – Ayn Rand
…and speaking of money. I know my Kansas Jayhawks are a 60-to-1 longshot to win the tourney but I still laid down $20 on them in my bracket to win the whole thing. Gotta be loyal, they gave me the best seven years of my life! (*just kidding, Mortgage Fans – only 4 ½ years)
This Week in Economic History: It was on March 19th, 1985 that IBM shut down their PCjr – it was their first attempt at tapping into the new home computer market, but it failed miserably as they only sold 240,000 since it was first introduced in 1983. (*in other news: the Whopper Jr. continues to thrive which should teach marketing people everywhere that naming anything besides food a ‘junior’ will leave people disappointed.)
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’ll see the Fed release a statement about how they (probably) won’t raise rates for the foreseeable future. That’s good, right? Well, sometimes it’s the wording in the statement that gets analyzed to death – and this will determine if mortgage rates will go up or down. Tomorrow we have Weekly Jobless Claims, and on Friday Existing Home Sales. Any report that’s good for the economy will sway rates the wrong direction and vice-versa if the reports come in bad.
Interest rates continue to be friendly to us! A 30-year fixed jumbo rate (that’s any loan over $484k) can be found in the low-4s, and a 30-year fixed conforming rate (under $484k) in the mid-to-upper 4s. Adjustable rate mortgages on both ends are anywhere from .25 – .50% less. As usual rates will vary based on credit score, type of home, the equity you have in your home, and if your home is in a town where a goat is the Mayor.
Don’t Forget to Remember: Any purchase or refinance loan closing with me between now and April 30th will get their appraisal fee waived (a $450 credit!). Grab a cup of instant karma and pass this info along to any friends, family, coworkers, or people who make trick shots in every day life.
Money Quote of the Day 2: “Just put my money where my mouth is. Pennies taste disgusting.” – @ClarkeKant
Timeout for Trivia: Congrats to those who last week guessed William Macy. Do you want to be entered into a drawing to win a Twinkie the Kid T-shirt? Simply email me the answer to this week’s Who Am I? question. Good luck: “It was his week back in 2010 that my movie about time travel was released – it earned over $50-million at the box office (the author of this blog says it’s a good cable movie, lousy theater movie) but not one of my better ones. You want to talk about my great movies? Let’s talk about my ’97 summer thriller where I tried to capture a bunch of bad guys in the sky, and one of those guys – even though I’m not a shrink – I was able to get inside his head in a movie two years later. One of my all-time favorites was a screenplay adapted from a Stephen King story where I played a dead brother. Interesting that one of the boys in that movie died too young and his brother still lives.”
