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From: MastersInIt.org
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New York, NY June 13, 2013 (PRNewswire) Mortgage rates increased for a sixth consecutive week, with the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate setting a new 14-month high of 4.14 percent, according to Bankrate.com’s weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.32 discount and origination points.
To see mortgage rates in your area, go to www.bankrate.com.
The average 15-year fixed mortgage increased to 3.32 percent, while the larger jumbo 30-year fixed mortgage rate is at a 9-month high of 4.32 percent. Adjustable rate mortgages moved higher also. The popular 5-year adjustable rate jumped to 3 percent, the first time at the 3 percent mark since last June. The average 7-year ARM is at 3.24 percent and the 10-year is now 3.58 percent.
All eyes now turn to the Federal Reserve, with next week holding a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee followed by Ben Bernanke’s press conference. Long-term interest rates – to which mortgage rates are closely related – have jumped in recent weeks on speculation that the Fed will decrease the amount of monthly bond-buying stimulus. Where mortgage rates go from here is dependent on what comes out of next week’s Fed meeting.
The last time mortgage rates were above 5 percent was Apr. 2011. At the time, the average 30-year fixed rate was 5.07 percent, meaning a $200,000 loan would have carried a monthly payment of $1,082.22. With the average rate currently at 4.14 percent, the monthly payment for the same size loan would be $971.04, a difference of $111 per month for anyone refinancing now.
Survey Results
30-year fixed: 4.14% — up from 4.10% last week (avg. points: 0.32)
15-year fixed: 3.32% — up from 3.28% last week (avg. points: 0.28)
5/1 ARM: 3.00% — up from 2.93% last week (avg. points: 0.29)
Bankrate’s national weekly mortgage survey is conducted each Wednesday from data provided by the top 10 banks and thrifts in the top 10 markets.
For a full analysis of this week’s move in mortgage rates, go to http://www.bankrate.com.
The survey is complemented by Bankrate’s weekly Rate Trend Index, in which a panel of mortgage experts predicts which way the rates are headed over the next seven days. The majority of the respondents – 64 percent – expect mortgage rates to remain more or less unchanged, while 27 percent predict mortgage rates will pull back. Just 9 percent forecast further increases in mortgage rates in the coming week.
For the full mortgage Rate Trend Index, go to www.bankrate.com.
To download the Bankrate Mortgage Calculator & Mortgage Rates iPhone App 2.0 go to
itunes.apple.com.
About Bankrate, Inc.
Bankrate is a leading publisher, aggregator, and distributor of personal finance content on the Internet. Bankrate provides consumers with proprietary, fully researched, comprehensive, independent and objective personal finance editorial content across multiple vertical categories including mortgages, deposits, insurance, credit cards, and other categories, such as retirement, automobile loans, and taxes. The Bankrate network includes Bankrate.com, our flagship website, and other owned and operated personal finance websites, including CreditCards.com, Interest.com, Bankaholic.com, Mortgage-calc.com, CreditCardGuide.com, Nationwide Card Services, InsuranceQuotes.com, CarInsuranceQuotes.com, InsureMe, Bankrate.com.cn, CreditCards.ca, NetQuote.com, and CD.com. Bankrate aggregates rate information from over 4,800 institutions on more than 300 financial products. With coverage of nearly 600 local markets in all 50 U.S. states, Bankrate generates over 172,000 distinct rate tables capturing on average over three million pieces of information daily. Bankrate develops and provides web services to over 80 co-branded websites with online partners, including some of the most trusted and frequently visited personal finance sites on the Internet such as Yahoo!, AOL, CNBC, and Bloomberg. In addition, Bankrate licenses editorial content to over 500 newspapers on a daily basis including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe.
For more information contact:
Kayleen Yates
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
kyates@bankrate.com
(917) 368-8677
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Contributor: J. Philip Faranda
J. Philip Faranda
I’ll take it a step further: when I tell someone that I am out and about all day and that the best way to reach me by far is my mobile number, it feels almost passive aggressive when they leave a message at my office, especially if it is accompanied by frustration that they can’t reach me. Baloney! Text me. Lower your eye an eighth of a millimeter on my card and there’s my cell number. Use it. You might get voicemail, true (I have been known to use the bathroom or attend the odd meeting), but I do return calls and texts.
Real estate is not a private career pursuit, nor it is one that is conducive to bankers hours. I’ll be the first to admit that many in our life take it too far and sacrifice too much of ourselves at the expense of family time, rest, and perhaps even sanity at times. That is curable. State secrets aren’t. Being reachable, communicative, and accessible are part of our value propositions to our clientele and public (you didn’t think it was access to listing data, did you?), and if it is more important to you to have time to yourself instead of answering my call to let you know that the key is no longer in your lockbox, you are pretty much obstructing me, my client, and your client from getting things done.
I have stood in the rain or snow with a client staring at a combination lock box when we were told to expect an electronic device. I have witnessed burst pipes, exploding toilets, freshly vandalized property, squatters, home inspections on a home we were told had no offers, and dozens of other scenarios where speaking with the listing agent was not just desired, it was urgent. This business requires agility and access. It would be nice if we could unplug more often, but that’s the job. Weekends are prime time, evenings are when clients are free, and we’ll never be Ward Cleaver. Moreover, Westchester and suburban NYC clientele can be demanding, and rightly so. They deserve fast answers in 2013. If I am trying to reach you, I am trying to help you earn money.
I will readily admit to being more hardcore than most, with a man purse containing two cell phones, a portable charger, spare batteries, an iPad mini and enough wires to jump start a Prius.
Unfortunately, as the market gains health and more properties will sell as a matter of course, more agents will start being secret agents because that’s what they are being told by their life coaches or business gurus. “Start running your business like a business” is one of those abused anthems we hear, justifying non real estate paradigms on a business that has some pretty immutable (ironic term huh?) principles of its own.
I run a company. I have 40+ listings of my own, 30 agents with the firm and growing, and more than my own share of pipe dreams about a day with no calls where it doesn’t cost me. I still have my mobile number out there so I can serve my clients and cooperate with my colleagues. If I can do it, you can do it. I just hope this doesn’t fall on too many deaf ears.
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