Yelling Quote of the Day: “Sometimes the world seems like a big hole. You spend all your life shouting down it and all you hear are echoes of some idiot yelling nonsense down a hole.” – Adam Duritz (side note: Adam is the lead singer of Counting Crows – one of my top 3 favorite 90s bands who also hold the title as one of the top 3 worst concerts I have ever been to. This was circa 1993 and during the concert they turned Mr. Jones from an upbeat great tune into a slow 18-minute ballad which took the life out of the crowd. After the concert my car battery died, this was in the middle of Wisconsin before cell phones were common. The parking lot was on grass by a huge cornfield, and after 30 minutes everyone had cleared out except me, my friend, and my dead Toyota Camry. A farmer came by on a tractor – this was like midnight – and I flagged him down, he ended up jumping my car with the tractor. He didn’t say much but at some point he looked at me and my buddy and said, “Quiet out here at night.” “Yeah, sure is,” I said back. Then he said to us, “You could yell at the top of your lungs and nobody hear ya.” He was chewing on a toothpick with the few teeth he had left while raising his eyebrow at us, a little tobacco drool dripping down his chin. Trying my best not to cry I told him, “Hahaha. Yeah. Totally.” Felt like I was in some Stephen King movie and thoughts started swimming around my head: If he pulls a knife I’ll sprint into the cornfield….. I don’t want to die, God, please don’t let me die…. Why would they ruin Mr. Jones like that. Well, as you can guess by reading this I am still alive – he didn’t kill either of us, I gave him $20 and hightailed it out of there. Not sure why I’m telling you this story except to give you this mortgage tip: sometimes yelling doesn’t help)
This Week in Economic History: It was on August 8th, 1974 when the stock market finished it’s crash on the news of President Nixon’s resignation. The NYSE dropped 12.67 that day which, trust me, was a big drop back then. Funny how time changes – if the market only dropsped 12 points today we would have a victory party. Here’s some fun stock market facts – check out # 5 which will explain why Ronald Wayne is the Pete Best of the business world.
Wuss’up This Week: Some important reports coming out this week that can sway interest rates in either direction. Today we’ve got the Consumer Price Index (expected: 0.3%), tomorrow Jobless Claims, and the Federal Budget, and then on Friday the U of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Report (*this is a report of how willing people are to spend money now). If these reports come in good for the economy, you’ll see rates tick up, and vice versa if the numbers disappoint.
Interest Rate Update: It’s getting harder and harder to quote rates these days. This blog has to be turned in to my Marketing Department by Tuesday morning, and in a day rates can swing as much as .625% as it did a few times earlier this year. As of today a conforming 30yr fixed (*that’s for any loan at $647k or less) is in the high-5s, and jumbo 30yr fixed (*over $647k) in the low-to-mid-to-high 5s. As usual rates will vary based on type of home, equity in the home, your credit score, and if you like reading about the impossible.
Don’t Forget to Remember: Any purchase or refinance loan that closes with me, I will waive a big chunk of lender fees! Grab yourself a cup of instant karma and pass my info along to any friends, family, coworkers, or people committing safety violations that can use this gift.
Yelling Quote of the Day 2: “If I ever saw an amputee being hanged, I would just yell out letters.” – Demetri Martin
Timeout for Trivia: Congrats to those who last week guessed Kid Rock. Want to be entered into a drawing to win a Cap’n Crunch Apron? Simply email me the answer to this week’s Who Am I? question. Good luck: “It was on this date in 2007 when my divorce was finalized. I went from a ‘Mrs’ to a ‘Ms’ and now I have the bad ‘MS’ but hey, lots of good stuff has happened in my life too. I made the 80s sitcom rounds appearing in Family Ties, Silver Spoons, Charles in Charge, etc. Bit parts finally turned into a fulltime role in a sitcom that lasted for ten years (my character’s last name shared the same last name with a famous serial killer). That was the highlight of my TV career unless you count my work at KVWN channel 4. From TV I went to movies where I starred in a 2004 holiday movie so bad it was nominated for Worst Picture at the Golden Raspberry Awards. Did that stop me from making holiday movies? Nope, but wish it would’ve – that sequel bombed too. (One critic said it was twice the moms with half the laughs). Last clue before I leave you: Had Nixon hired people to break into my home it would’ve been awkward for me and my family.”
