Quiet and Calm in the Houston Refinance Market

We really haven't seen a whole lot of activity in Houston mortgage rates over the past week or so. With the current rates sitting in the low to mid 5's for your typical "vanilla" 30-year fixed rate mortgage, I think it is safe to say that the environment is quite favorable for anyone who might be thinking about refinancing in Houston, or getting a purchase money loan for that matter. We don't have any major economic data scheduled to be released this week, so we're not necessarily expecting to see any major swings in rates (at least not due to that), but you never know. You can never guarantee that rates are going to stay still and they may well make a significant move one way or the other regardless of how calm the horizon looks right now. If you're waiting to lock in the hopes of getting a slightly better rate, remember that the amount of money you'll save every month IF you get a rate 1.8 lower probably won't be all that significant and you would probably be better off simply locking now, knowing you're getting a very good rate, and moving on.

There is some activity that should be interesting to keep an eye on this week and that is some of the big financial companies are set to release their earnings numbers after the bell. At least one well respected Wall Street analyst, Meredith Whitney, is currently making statements about the financial sector in general that are fairly positive. Part of the 'good news' according to her is that for mortgage servicers, loan modifications are actually helping them more than the typical mortgage refinance route that many homeowners would go through to improve their rates. This is because through a modification, the servicer not only retains the loan in their portfolio rather than giving it up and losing money on an up-front release premium, but they also extend the duration of the loan.

Oh, and if you're wondering why Meredith Whitney is well respected, one reason might be that she was one who made early and accurate predictions about the troubles and eventual demise of many of the financial companies. The hope here is that she will be equally accurate in her predictions now that she has a more positive sentiment on the sector. The Houston Mortgage and Real Estate market can use all the help it can get.