Patty McMillen

Say goodbye to the lowest mortgage rates in about 50 years!  For the past 16 months the Federal Reserve has helped keep rates low-around 5% for a 30 year loan but purchasing mortgage backed securities.  But that program is scheduled to end on June 1 and private investors aren’t expected to step in to fill the void at the same low rates.  As a result, the consensus amount economists is that the rates will climb to between 5.3% and 6% by the end of the year.  It will be a gradual rise, if this happens the Fed will get back into the market.  Jumbo mortgages are expected to hold steady at about 6% or so and that is because the government wasn’t propping up the jumbo market, so these loans won’t be affected much by the Fed’s exit.  The upper end housing in the Mendocino County area is still just sitting there…housing over 500,000 are just not moving.