Cindy's Blog

Well, this weekend I had the second rather large open house I've had in the past month, and while I'm sure that some of those folks were just toodling around, I've got to say, things seem to be slowly (knock on wood) getting back on track.

As the front page of the Richmond Times Dispatch Real Estate section said this Sunday, there was a large article talking (surprise, surprise) about the current status of the market, and the fact that it is not as bad as much of the markets are around the country. The homes that are in the 275-400k price rangeare still, for the most part selling, and not taking too much longer to do it.

I apologize to anyone who checked my site on Friday, as the site was down for most of the day (part of the reason I'm late in my blog post!). This has been yet another strange week in real estate, with all of the crazy news on the state of the economy and the real estate and mortgage markets. There are loads and loads of homes still sitting on the market, but plenty that are selling as well. As I've said in nearly every post, it is still a great time to buy, and the homes that are priced well and show well, are the ones that are still selling. Rates are back down, and still tremendous, as I'm seeing most things close at or right around 6%. You can't beat that. Certainly if you're renting, this is an awesome time to buy.

News to watch this week- Wednesday is the afternoon release of the minutes to the last FOMC meeting. These may be a major mover of the markets or could be a non-factor, depending on what they say. The key will be concerns over inflation and the Fed's next move. If the Fed members were concerned about inflationary pr essures, we may see the bond market move lower and mortgage rates higher Wednesday afternoon. However, if they indicate a likelihood of another rate cut in the coming months, we should see the bond market rise and mortgage rates drop during afternoon trading.

October's Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be released at 8:30 AM ET Thursday morning. This index is similar to Tuesday's PPI, except it measures inflationary pressures at the more important consumer level of the economy. The overall portion is expected to show a drop of 0.8% while the core data is expected to rise 0.2%.

Overall, look for Tuesday or Thursday to be the most important day of the week with the PPI and CPI reports scheduled for release those days. They are the two most important releases of the week and can individually lead to large swings in the markets and mortgage rates. The FOMC minutes may also heavily influence trading and deserve to be watched also. I think this will be a fairly active week for mortgage rates, so please maintain regular contact with your mortgage professional. If you need a mortgage professional with whom to discuss your options and get an idea of what you can spend, etc., please give me a call- I do have a number of lenders with whom I've worked and have great confidence in whose names I'd be happy to share!