Wind Quote of the Day: “When you can’t change the direction of the wind – adjust your sails.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.
This Week in Economic History: It was on this day in 1886 congress voted to discontinue the use of the half-dime as currency. In its place the five-cent piece – which became known as the nickel – was introduced. (*And that, my friends, is your lesson today about how to market effectively because it’s all about how you word things. Today I’m going home to tell my wife we’ve got money in the bank instead of telling her we are half-broke).
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 Retail Sales (expected: up 0.2%), tomorrow Weekly Jobless Claims (expected: 217k), and on Friday the Consumer Sentiment Report which is the least important of this week’s reports. If the numbers come in good for the economy you can expect rates to go up, and vice-versa if the numbers fall short.
What do interest rates have in common with swimming naked? They’ve both taken a skinny dip recently. And my apologies,that will be the last bad joke I tell during this week’s blog. Today you’ll find a 30yr fixed jumbo rate (*any loan over $484k) in the low-4s and conforming rates (under $484k) in the low-to-mid 4s. Adjustable rate mortgages remain a sliver less and not a great loan product unless you are 99.4% sure you’ll be selling before the rate adjusts. As usual rates will vary based on type of home, equity in the home, your credit score, and if you liked watching Family Ties.
Don’t Forget to Remember my Cinco ‘all month of Mayo’ Special: Any purchase or refinance loan that is started with me during this month I will eat the appraisal fee. Want a cup of instant karma? Pass this info along to any friends, family, coworkers, or people wondering if the chicken or egg came first that can use this gift.
Wind Quote of the Day 2: “The wind just blew a napkin off my table and down the street. That one’s on you, Earth.” – @yoyoha
Personal note to Bob B: For years you begged me to work Doris Day into a trivia question. I never got the chance, but like you, Bob, she was a true icon.
Timeout for Trivia: Congrats on those who guessed Billy Joel last week. Want to be entered into a drawing to win a Betty White pin? Simply email me the answer to this week’s Who Am I? question. Good luck: “I was fired by the Fox network in this day back in 1987. 27 years later I died when a surgery went bad. But in between those two things I had quite a career. My real last name is Molinsky but you may know my stage name as it relates to water. I’ve written 12 books and was named the 6th best Stand-up comedian of all-time by Rolling Stone Magazine, but most of my income has come from peddling accessories on TV.”
