Inflation Higher There was a lot of volatility during the middle of the week, but mortgage rates ended nearly unchanged. Weak manufacturing data offset higher than expected inflation readings. Similarly, increased social unrest in Greece early in the week was …

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Has Renting Become the New American Dream? If you have wondered if buying a home is right for you, think about this simple phrase “Everybody has to live somewhere and of course the location can be one of the deciding …

Is Renting YOUR American Dream? Read more »

SOLID Stays Informed: The Inside Edge from the Raleigh Mortgage Guy Mortgage Rates Improve on Debt Warning With little economic data, it was a relatively quiet week for mortgage rates. The biggest economic news was a surprise warning from a …

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While consumers certainly struggle with higher gas prices, longer-term inflation trends generally are more influenced by other factors such as wages and housing costs, which recently have been increasing very slowly.

Even with higher energy prices, consumers continued to spend freely on other items last month. The March sales figures from about two dozen large retail chain stores released on Thursday were stronger than expected. Consumer spending accounts for about 70% of economic activity, so this data was encouraging news for the economy.

That is because home loan rates are tied to Mortgage Backed Securities, which are a type of Bond. So as Bond prices improve, so do home loan rates. The simple truth is when inflation or just the fear of inflation grows, both Bonds and home loan rates take a turn for the worse. That’s because lower Bond prices are needed to give Bond investors juicier yields that will help out-pace inflation.

Today’s historic low real estate prices in Raleigh North Carolina and the surrounding areas along with similarly low rates have made homeownership the best tool or hedge against inflation the average person can use to protect themselves from the imminent rising prices. If you have been waiting for the bottom, this loan officer is going on the record as saying THIS IS IT! Of course we will have no way of knowing that to be true until we look back six months from now and see that I was right, but by then it will be too late and you will have missed the best opportunity to have bought real estate in easily 30 or more years!