Los Angeles Mortgage Rates Report: October 19, 2007

Today is the 20th anniversary of "Black Monday", the close to 23% single-day decline in the stock market.

Mortgage bonds have increased tremendously since my recommendation to float on Wednesday. If you have to close a loan in less than 10 days, and you are floating the rate, now is as good as any time to lock it.  If you have more than 10 days to close the loan or have just made application on a mortgage in Los Angeles, I still think you can hold out and float the mortgage rate.

I now want you to "cautiously float". This means that you pay more attention.  Call your loan adviser every day, right before lunch.  If your loan adviser doesn't have access to live mortgage bond quotes, he/she is wasting your money.  I took a loan application on Wednesday, advised them to "float" the rate instead of locking-in, and it has saved them close to $3,000 as of today.

I think we'll see the strong bond market have an effect on Monday's mortgage rates.  I expect the 30 year fixed rate, full documentation, loan under $417,000, to drop below 6%, early next week.

Today is the 20th anniversary of "Black Monday", the close to 23% single-day decline in the stock market.

Mortgage bonds have increased tremendously since my recommendation to float on Wednesday. If you have to close a loan in less than 10 days, and you are floating the rate, now is as good as any time to lock it.  If you have more than 10 days to close the loan or have just made application on a mortgage in Los Angeles, I still think you can hold out and float the mortgage rate.

I now want you to "cautiously float". This means that you pay more attention.  Call your loan adviser every day, right before lunch.  If your loan adviser doesn't have access to live mortgage bond quotes, he/she is wasting your money.  I took a loan application on Wednesday, advised them to "float" the rate instead of locking-in, and it has saved them close to $3,000 as of today.

I think we'll see the strong bond market have an effect on Monday's mortgage rates.  I expect the 30 year fixed rate, full documentation, loan under $417,000, to drop below 6%, early next week.