Church of Cowherd

Home loan modification was a buzz word for quite some time in early 2009.  Everyone and their brother, or sister for that matter, wanted to modify their mortgage.  Some people were modifying to avoid foreclosure while others were refinancing at extremely low rates to save large sums of money.  Either way, the historically low mortgage rates made it very alluring to get a mortgage modification.

For the last few weeks the mortgage rate trends have totally changed.  At the beginning of the year mortgage rates were going down, down and down some more.  Now that the 10 year treasury rate is uptrending, the mortgage rate trend has also changed.  No one really knows how high mortgage rates are going to go, but it sure seems that the uptrend has begun.  It is scary to think about what this is going to do to the overall housing market; only time will tell.

Since the beginning of the year, the 10 year treasury rate has been in a steady uptrend.  In December, the rate was at 2.07% and just recently we almost hit 4%.  This amazing ride has not been coupled with mortgage rates which is quite unusual.  There is a strong correlation between mortgage rates and the 10 year treasury rate so it is very unusual see to one uptrend while the other is downtrend.

Well, that all changed about three weeks ago when it is likely we saw the end of low mortgage rates.  Rates may have hit a bottome when they went under 4.8%.  Since then it has been a straight up shot to over 5.5%.  Bankrate is even reporting that average rates are just under 6%.  There is a HUGE difference in getting a 30 year fixed rate mortgage in 4.8% and 6%.  I hope all of you locked in on low rates!

A very good article on Inflation Investments points out that hyperinflation is quite possible in the very near future.  With Ben Bernanke printing as much money as possible, it is almost inevitable.  If we do see inflation in the coming years, the place to be is in commodity investments.  As many of you know, this site has been strongly invested in commodities for quite some time and we think the commodities bull market is only half way complete.  That means we could see another NINE years of heavy commodity gains.

On the front page of CNBC this article appears.  Mortgage Rates jumped from 4.91% to 5.32% in just one week!  Looks like we really need to keep an eye on interest rate predictions.  The 10 year treasury yield uptrending has DEFINITELY pushed mortgage rates MUCH higher.  WOW!

Over the last few weeks, many people have been attempting to forecast mortgage rates.  Prior to last week most mavens leaned to the side of the fence that said mortgage rates would head lower.  Well, after getting a bounce,  the mortgage rates forecast looks to be getting a little more clear.  If sure seems with treasury yields heading higher that mortgage rates will follow.  It will be interesting to see what President Obama and Ben Bernanke have to say about this though.

For those of you who have to opportunity to lock in at extremely low Wells Fargo mortgage rates, consider yourself very lucky because you never know when that chance may come again.

There are a lot of mortgage news resources out there but one of the most interesting and opinioned that I can find is Daily Mortgage Rates News by Subprime Blogger.  Although I don’t always agree with everything he has to say, he definitely brings opinion and fire to the conversation.  Make sure to head over there and check him out as he is a very good friend of mine.  There are some other great aspects to his website but that is one of my favorites.  There are also some really good mortgage rate predictions at that site as well.

There is a great article at Subprime Blogger about mortgage rate trends, check it out here:

Mortgage Rate Trends - Refinance Rates Continue to Head Lower?

There are also some great links in the article to resources that will help you get a lower refinance rate.

Yesterday we learned that Fannie Mae still needs another $19 even after the government has been assisting them for over a year.  I know that the subprime mortgage crisis was bad, but is it going to continue to last for many years into the future?  I guess we better make sure to read every relevant mortgage blog out there to get our information.

When President Obama released his mortgage plan in March, one of the intentions was to lower mortgage rates to assist those who wanted to save money by refinance.  Little did President Obama know that Ben Bernanke would sink over $1 trillion into mortgage backed securities.  Oh wait…  Now that the Federal Reserve has printed as much money as the press will allow, mortgage rates have fallen well below 5%.  With rates at historic lows, one must admit that the Obama Mortgage Plan has been somewhat of a success.

We still do not know how many refinances are actually being completed, but we know the amount of applications continues to rise.  In the next few months we will find out if these applications are actually completing the process or are they getting held up due to the decline in home prices.  Ultimately, the goal of hte Obama Mortgage Plan is to find a floor in home prices and that has yet to happen.  By pushing mortgage rates well under 5% there is a very good chance that many first time home buyers will make the leap.

President Obama can only hope that this will be the case as unemployment continues to take its toll on the overall economy.  Many financial pundits predict that the housing market and increasing home prices will lead us out of this recession.  If that is the case, now might be one of the best times in history to refinance your current mortgage or take the leap and buy your first home.

Daily Mortgage Rates News - Bernanke Sees Recovery in the Housing Market