An article in CNNMoney this week reported, correctly, that 30 year fixed interest rates were rising and as a result, mortgage applications were falling. However, if you were to read the fine print, you would realize that the information contained in the report was almost a WEEK old!
See, the problem with our age of instant information is that in some cases, by the time the data is collected, it is OUTDATED! Taking that a step further is people who only read the headlines… if you ONLY read the headlines and not the articles you would think there is not a stitch of good news going on anywhere! A good example of this is when we put rates in the Real Estate section of the Dallas Morning News. I have to submit those rates early on Wednesday, and often before some lenders even post their rates for that day. Well, the section of the paper where the rates are posted in doesn’t come out until Friday and sometimes they are posted on the weekend! That can be up to 3 DAYS from the time I submitted my rates! I have seen lenders change their rates by almost a full point in 1 day, let alone the market swings that can happen in 3 days!
My point is, if you want to know instantly what is going on in the mortgage and real estate industry, consult a professional. Right now is a good time to have one in your stable of trusted people. You have a doctor, maybe even an attorney that you deal with as necessary, and chances are that person doesn’t change through the years. Now is a great time to find a real estate professional (Texas Home Central is a GREAT place to find one) as well as a mortgage professional (Texas Mortgage Team is full of them) who will give you up-to-the-minute advice on rates and the market, and look out for your best interest, not only on this transaction, but for future transactions as well! I look forward to speaking with you soon!
Craig Pollard is a mortgage professional and owner of Texas Mortgage Team. He specializes in the Dallas Fort Worth area and is a frequent voice on Texas Home Central’s blog. Craig can be reached at 972-317-9900 or emailed by clicking here.
This entry was posted on Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Money Matters, Mortgage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.