That’s the topic for a live chat with yours truly tomorrow (Wednesday) at 10 a.m. EDT / 7 a.m. PDT.
We’ll look at which rate deals remain, and compare how all the different terms stack up.
Here’s the link: Mortgage Rate Chat
Rob McLister, CMT
Last modified: April 29, 2014
Rates aren’t going anywhere; that is why the ROIL bank is bullying us to lock in! Weren’t they the one who sucked the life out of the discounts in VRM?
Rob – I tuned in and it was informative and enjoyable as expected. I managed to get a question in as well. Glad to see you were able to address the “what do brokers do, anyway?” question that won’t seem to go away.
Thx Jeff,
The role of mortgage planning is a topic that’s more relevant than ever. In an increasingly rate-driven market, folks risk taking their eye off of what matters most: reducing total borrowing cost over the life of the mortgage.
Brokers have the ability to compare multiple financing options in depth. They also have greatest economic incentive to create long-term relationships based on sound mortgage planning strategies. (Brokers get paid on renewals. Direct lender sales forces often don’t. Moreover, lender sales forces have the benefit of strong branding and [in many cases] branch referrals.)
But we face some big challenges as an industry, including:
* a lack of public awareness of the above
* subpar brokers that degrade the reputation of our industry in general
* the inability of consumers to judge which brokers truly add value
* the inability of consumers to quantify the value added by good brokers
That said, professional mortgage planners are worth their weight in overall cost-savings. With the flow of information on the net, it’s only a matter of time before savvy consumers better understand what we do. Then it will be up to our industry to be cost-competitive and address the challenges above.
Cheers…
Rob
Rates stay pretty much where they are. This is where we go from here :)
think again John!
go back to this in a year and we’ll see who was close :)
If rates stay low for years, it’s likely a symptom of other problems in the economy (which may make mortgage rates the least of our worries).
Rates could stay low for a while, I don’t know how long. The rates have been low in Japan for more than a decade. The only thing I know for certain is: the won’t go lower and someday they will go up.
Federal Reserve down the border commuted to keep rates low till late 2014,, on 29 Nov 2011 Federal Reserve led all major central banks around the world to cut swap rate down by 0.5%
By looking around at all other major central banks rates, Bank of Canada is on 1% while bank of England is only at 0.5% that tells rate in Canada is still higher and it did not even reflect on loonie, loonie is still lower than sterling pounds, as a matter of fact European Central Bank rate is at 1% as well but Europe is still having troubles ahead, watch the European Central Bank rates to go down and you will see a cut in Canada, as a matter of fact rate should down in Canada before any move down anywhere else.
The trend is up in the US over the past year. Low rates were good while they lasted. The interesting thing is that housing prices are not falling mainly because there is still relatively little inventory on the market.