This entry was posted on Saturday, October 4th, 2008 at 7:54 am and is filed under Mortgage Rates. 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.
Sacramento Mortgage Rates: An Historic Week You Betcha
Volatility in mortgage rates resembles nothing so much as the hurricane force winds blasting Gulf coast & Eastern seaboard, first blasting one direction then the other. It has become difficult to quote rates without being wrong a half an hour later when lenders reprice yet again.
Consumers have a hard time with this. But, combine advertising (institutionalized lying) with this kind of volatility and you get such poor quality information that making a good decision becomes challenging. I completely support the idea of becoming a wise and educated shopper where important financial decisions are concerned, but it is best to stick with trustworthy sources.
So here’s one. Each Thursday, Freddie Mac publishes a weekly survey of mortgage rates. This last week’s average 30 year fixed rate mortgage was 6.10% at .6 points. Use this as a benchmark. If the quote you receive varies a lot from what you see here, it may have hidden costs or requirements. They also provide a decent summary if you want to know a little more about what was influencing rates.
Check it out if you want to have a good general of rates and recent trends, and the spread between the various fixed rates and adjustables. Although rates can vary during these volatile times, this is a reliable place to start.