If other mortgage companies have been anything like mine, it's been a pretty busy time these past 4-5 weeks! When the 30 year conforming fixed rates being locked in hit the mid-high 4's, the phones lit up like I haven't seen in a while.

Well, they are still lighting up, with homeowners and investors trying to catch the tail end of this dip in mortgage interest rates before they are gone. Already, I've seen a 3/8% increase in the rates for most of these fixed rate loan programs over the past week. The USDA Guaranteed Rural Housing program eligible buyers are using for their purchase money transactions seems to still be holding pretty steady, though...that is for the lenders still closing these loans right now TODAY.

"Will the low rates come back?" The answer depends on who you ask. The treasuries market is being flooded with the sale of T-Bills to try to help the U.S. government finance all the stimulus packages on the horizon, and the T-bill buyers seem (comments following the article are an interesting read) to be following the Feds over to buy mortgage backed securities instead. Illiquid T-bill market drives yields/rates up. The flip side of this coin is the stock market/equities side of the market is just as uncertain - uncertain to the tune of -226 today at close. Traders here pull out and head to bonds for security.

So what is a homeowner deliberating over refinancing to do? Go for it now? Wait? Flip a coin? I'm seeing people choosing to do all three... 

See you at the closing table!

Karen Cooper - OR/CA Mortgage Consultant - www.Quality4Loans.com