Oil and Inflation Push Mortgage Rates to Highest Levels Since Early 2025
Mortgage rates moved sharply higher this week, ultimately reaching their highest levels since early 2025. Most of the damage took place on Wednesday and Thursday, but Friday ultimately made things slightly worse. The average top-tier 30yr fixed rate rose almost a quarter of a percent in total.
Is Fear of Commitment Keeping You from Buying a Home in Utah?
Buying a home is a major decision, and it is normal to feel hesitant. For many first-time homebuyers in Utah, the biggest obstacle is not necessarily credit, a down payment, or mortgage rates. Sometimes it is simply the fear of making a long-term commitment.
Highest Mortgage Rates in 15 Months, But Some Push Back on Fed Hike Expectations
Mortgage rates hit their highest level since June 2025 this week. While that milestone sounds ominous, it was the product of gradual movement and logical motivations.
Jackson Hole Jump For Mortgage Rates
Mortgage rates were on track for a fairly uneventful week until Friday morning, when a speech from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh triggered a sharp bond market sell-off. The average top-tier 30yr fixed rate jumped to its highest level in just over 3 weeks.
New Construction vs. Existing Homes in Utah: What You Should Know Before You Decide
Is it smarter to build a new home or buy an existing one? Both options can work, but they offer different experiences, costs, and long-term considerations. The best choice depends on your budget, lifestyle, and priorities.
Mountains vs Molehills: What Rates Really Cared About This Week
Mortgage rates ended the week moderately higher, but things could have been slightly worse without Wednesday's surprisingly sharp drop in longer-term Treasury yields (a key benchmark for mortgage rates). The cause was an announcement about Treasury's bond buyback program--a subject that made far more noise than its lasting impact warranted.
Debt Consolidation: Using Your Home Equity to Consolidate
Have you ever thought about consolidating all your debt into a single payment? When you consolidate debt, you use money from a new loan to pay off debts from other sources like credit cards and medical bills. Consolidating lets you make one payment to one lender, which makes bills easier to manage. A Cash-Out refinance mortgage allows you to pay off your existing mortgage as well as any other liabilities in your name and then establishes a new loan that you will make monthly payments toward. Let’s talk about what some of the main advantages are for refinancing all your debt against your home.
Lowest Mortgage Rates in 4 Weeks After July's Inflation Data
Rates may still be elevated in a general sense, but by the end of the week, they were as low as they've been since July 17th. If we have one thing to thank, it was this week's inflation data.
Love your 1st Mortgage? Why not get a 2nd?
Are you carrying high interest credit card debt? Do you need to improve or repair your home, or finish your yard? Many home owners are sitting on a lot of home equity and would love a way to access it without refinancing. I can help you with that!
Lowest Rates in Weeks After Jobs Report and Oil Price Drop
Mortgage rates moved lower almost every day this week with most of the help coming from war-related headlines and a last-minute boost from the jobs report.
5 Mortgage Tips for Self-Employed Utah Homebuyers
Being self-employed comes with a lot of freedom, but qualifying for a mortgage can feel more complicated than it should. The good news is that buying a home is absolutely possible with the right strategy.
Not Much Worse Than Last Week, But it Was a Bumpy Ride
If there's one thing to know about this week's rate movement it's that it left us almost exactly where we were last Friday. How we got there felt a bit more dramatic at times.
When a Reverse Mortgage is Right
I am a believer in reverse mortgages, and so are most people who give me five minutes to explain why.
Highest Rates in Over a Year (And a Small Recovery on Friday)
While the milestones may be significant, the underlying reasons for them remain simple.
Let's start with the milestones, even though they're not the fun kind. On Thursday, average 30yr fixed mortgage rates hit their highest level in just over a year. The average lender jumped over 6.8% after being closer to 6.5% at the end of June.
How To Win A Multiple Offer Situation
Good homes that are priced right are still getting multiple offers. It is not as crazy as it used to be, but when the right house hits the market, competition shows up. At that point, it is not about luck. It is about having a solid plan.
Rates Caught a Big Break From This Week’s Inflation Reports
It was an eventful week for mortgage rates and the bond market, but ultimately a decent one. Monday's rates matched the highest levels in nearly a year, but by Friday, we were actually just a hair lower versus last Friday. Here's how we got there.
New in 2024: Significant Refinance Savings
In preparation for the upcoming lower mortgage rates, we have worked with our lending partners to put together an excellent refinance offering. We've reduced our margins by 25%, we're waiving or paying for the appraisal fee on refinances for past clients and we no longer need to charge Title Insurance fees. We also have a new rate-watch software that allows us to set YOUR desired rate, and then automatically triggers a notification when it's available.
This Upcoming Week Will Be Significantly More Volatile
In general, you should be skeptical any time someone says a future week will be more volatile. There's really no way to know such things in advance, but this time is an exception. While we can't have any idea which direction rates will move next week, we can be sure that we'll see more volatility. Part of the reason is that the outgoing week would have been hard pressed to be any less volatile.
Despite Bigger Bumps, Fed Still Sees Path to Lower Rates
It was an action-packed week for the housing and mortgage market. Wednesday's Fed announcement was the highlight, but we also got several economic reports that caused rate volatility. Thankfully, it was mostly the good kind.
The Many Flavors of HELOCs
Many borrowers are turning to 2nd mortgage products, including Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) to access their equity for things like debt consolidation, home improvement, and other endeavors. Here’s a primer on the many options in the world of 2nd mortgage financing to explore.