Business > Your Money > Market Week: As Mortgage Rates Rise, Dreams Are Downsized” href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/16/business/yourmoney/16mark.html?ex=1085284800&en=c79f86468efe4193&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE”>The New York Times > Business > Your Money > Market Week: As Mortgage Rates Rise, Dreams Are Downsized: “HOME shoppers have been losing purchasing power week by week because of the surge in mortgage interest rates. Eventually, that should take some of the zip out of the economy.
“Last week, the national average rate on a 30-year mortgage jumped to 6.34 percent, according to Freddie Mac. That is up almost a percentage point from March 18, when the rate was 5.38 percent. Last June, the average was only 5.21 percent, the lowest since Freddie Mac began recording rates in 1971.”
It seems like our timing was perfect in purchasing our home — any later and we would not have been able to buy as much house for our dollar. Our rate is locked at less than the current national average, which is quite good, especially considering the historical perspective and that these are likely the lowest rates we’ll see in our lifetime. The only thing I’ve been kicking myself about (due to not having known it was an option at the time) was for not locking in the first rate we were quoted on April 14 (5.75%).
So it goes.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Whitney // May 19, 2004 at 3:53 pm
Heh. We bought our house 4 years ago (this month, in fact) and our rate was 8.25%. Owie.
(we later refinanced.)
2 glenn // May 19, 2004 at 4:59 pm
“you have to know when to hold em’, and know when to fold em’… you don’t count yer’ money when you are sitting at the table, you have time enough to count it when the dealing’s done…”
-The Gambler
remember that it (interest rate on mortgage) is all a version of artifice, as you are writing it off, paying it toward an asset, and renting money to increase your net worth.