After Several Ugly Days, Mortgage Rates Level Off

After several days of progressively worse Mortgage Rates, things turned around a bit today.  Or rather, it might be better to say that things LEVELED OFF.  On average, rates are ending the day unchanged to microscopically better than yesterday's latest offerings.

Month and quarter-end are creating some behind-the-scenes causes for recent market volatility and with two more days left in September, things could remain volatile.

Today's Rates: 

• BESTEXECUTION 30YR FIXED -  4.0%, but with a few 3.875%'s being offered
• FHA/VA - still at 3.75% !!
• 15 YEAR FIXED -  solidly back to 3.375%
• 5 YEAR ARMS -  low to mid 3% range, variations from lender to lender.

GUIDANCE:  As a general rule and as a hard and fast rule for anyone involved in a purchase or who can otherwise not afford to lose any ground, locking is advised.  We'd also continue to advise locking to anyone not looking to take risks, and do so happily considering how close rates are to all time lows.  But we also know there are some folks in the audience who are looking to squeeze out that extra eighth or two.  For those thrill-seekers, we like floating here given today's supportive events in the secondary and bond markets.  As long as MBS ('mortgage-backed-securities') hold above a certain level, we continue to feel OK with floating, as long as that level is treated as a stop-loss.  The only tricky part is how much credence you give markets over the next two days.  Indeed the risks of weakness in the near term are substantial, but we wouldn't confirm our read of the situation until we got to see how things started happening in early October, particularly after the Fed starts buying MBS again on 10/3.  In the meantime, if you're going to float, you'd need to decide how ugly things would get before you'd lock at a loss.  We'd suggest something around .25% higher in rate from whatever you're being quoted today.