News You Can Use from Gary Moore

Mortgage interest rates dipped this week in step with the 10-year Treasury which broke under 2% yield and closed yielding 1.85%. When the 10-year has dropped below 2% yield, it has been a good day to lock a mortgage rate. There is speculation that a sliver of a pricing hike will soon kick in as part of recent legislation enacted by Congress.

Note the FHA 30-year fixed rate of 3.75% (hypothetical APR of 3.883% on $300,000 loan amount).

Major stock indexes have been heading up so far in this young year, but the gains have come on thin volume, which is not particularly bullish. Fourth-quarter earnings will start making news next week. Markets are closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday.

The Dow closed at 12,422, losing 49 points on Friday but ending higher for a second week in a row. The S&P 500 closed at 1,289, down 6.4 for the day and up 0.9% for the week; and the Nasdaq closed at 2,711, off 14 on Friday but up 1.4% over the previous Friday.

Apple for the first time released a list of its suppliers, and the release was accompanied by the admission that 93 of the facilities worked its employees more than 60 hours a week, excessive injuries were occurring at some and others were not paying overtime. At Foxconn, a Chinese manufacturing facility that makes the iPhone, about 150 workers this week threatened to protest working conditions by committing suicide by jumping off the building's roof. The company said the disagreements got worked out with no deaths or injuries.

We are in the "sweet spot" of seasonality for refinancing. What the heck does that mean? It is an especially good time to refinance if you have a mortgage that escrows for taxes and insurance. Your servicing lender has just paid your 2011 property taxes, and they will not have to be collected at the closing---or thus rolled into the loan amount, which increases the need for a higher loan amount---of a refinance mortgage. The amount that will be escrowed for 2012 taxes on your new loan is thus at its lowest point after the prior year's taxes have been paid.

Call me to get pre-approved for a purchase or to run a refinance analysis to weigh your options. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Gary Moore 615-579-8658

30-Year Conventional Fixed

4.0% $100,000-$417,000


5/1 ARM

3.0% $100,000-$417,000

15-Year Conventional Fixed

3.375% $100,000-$417,000


30-Year FHA-100% VA

3.75% $100,000-$393,300


30-Year Jumbo Fixed

4.75% $417,001-$1,500,000

(Interest-only available-Call me)

Rural Development 100%

3.875% $100,000-$417,000

THDA Great Start 100% with Gift

4.55% $100,000-$393,300

4% of loan amount Gift

Call for free pre-approval and to discover

the best financing for you!

...by Gary Moore

Mortgage Planner, First Community Mortgage

...a subsidiary of First Community Bank

Cell: 615-579-8658 Toll-free fax: 866-321-6513

Quote of the Day

"We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give." --Anonymous

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http://www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.com

National Mortgage Licensing System #186007