-The chart below is treasury bond prices over the last year and a half. As the treasury bond prices go up, mortgage interest rates go down. As you can see we are at the top of a range and in fact bond prices are so high that interest rates have never been this low. Even after Congress recently added 0.125% to rates as a fee to cover the two month payroll tax extension. Which by the way is going to expire shortly but the rate hike is here to stay. Let your congressman know you’re not happy about this.

-Normally bond prices tend to stay near the pink line which is the 200 day moving average. Yesterday we were way above that. If you look back to October 2010 we had hit new highs (interest rate lows) back then and soon after bond prices came crashing down. Interest rates were near 5% and a lot of people missed out on a buying opportunity. We are again at a huge buying opportunity. There are so many different forces keeping bond prices as high as they are however none of the are sustainable and therefore they will come down. So if you’re in the market to purchase or refinance a home in Charleston, South Carolina or Sunny San Diego now is the time to do it. I know from experience that if you got a 3.75% 30 year fixed (unbelievable isn’t it) and after closing the rate dropped to 3.625% or 3.5%. That’s a lot easier to live with than the rate going up to 4%. It’s harder to swallow if you end up paying more. It’s a great time to buy because this is almost free money at this point.

-Another great program that start this week is HARP 2 which is allowing underwater homeowners an underwater refinance. So even if you owe $400,000 and your house is worth $300,000 you can still refinance and save. Just give us a call and we can let you know if you qualify for HARP 2 within just a few minutes.