Chadd,

The EA I, II, III are still alive but finding Mortgage Insurance is pretty much near impossible or super difficult.

1980's-esque - I think we are seeing a large difference since in the 80's you needed 10% or greater and you still got 15% rate - take it or leave it.  Home ownership was a privelage that you worked your butt off for not something that you woke up one morning and decided to make happen.

The toughest thing about rates is that they are tied to bonds and libor and this or that index but there are so many other variables - the biggest being the investors and banks that post THEIR rates for the day based on margins and defaults and pair-offs and all sorts of other internal information.

My rates went up today significantly and I saw it coming from the Foreclosure report that was due out today - pretty much could have guessed that didnt go down or even get close to the 4.3% level of 2005 (20 yr low).

You asked and I provided you with...my thoughts!

I'm seeing rates going up pretty significantly over the last couple days.  Best I can figure, it's a fear of anything mortgage-backed on wall street.  The spread in yeild between mortgage-backed-securities and gov't bonds is the largest in history.  A couple places that you can subscribe to track mortgage backed securities and get decent commentary are www.mbsquoteline.com or www.mortgagemarketguide.com