Market Commentary for the Week of June 20th

      
This week brings us the release of five economic reports for the markets to digest in addition to two Treasury auctions that have the potential to come into play. The week's calendar begins Tuesday morning though when Fed Chair Janet Yellen will start her semi-annual update about the economy and monetary policy before Congress. She will speak before the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday and the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday, each at 10:00am ET. Her testimony will be broadcast and watched very closely. Analysts and traders will be looking for the Fed’s opinion on the status of the economy and their expectations of future growth, inflation and unemployment concerns that will lead to the Fed’s next monetary policy move. These topics should create a great deal of volatility in the markets during the prepared testimony and the question and answer session that follows. If she indicates that inflation may become a point of concern or anything that hints at rapid economic growth, we can expect to see the bond market fall and mortgage rates rise Tuesday.

We usually see the most movement in the markets and mortgage rates during the first day of this testimony as the speaker’s prepared words for both appearances are quite similar to each other, meaning that the second day of testimony rarely gives us anything we did not hear during the first day. The general exception is something asked or answered during the Q&A portion of the second day’s appearance.

Also worth noting about Tuesday is the Fed will be selling debt this week that could affect mortgage rates. These sales may influence broader bond trading enough to affect mortgage rates if they show strong or weak investor demand. There are sales several days but the two most likely to have an impact on rates areTuesday’s 5-year Note sale and Wednesday’s 7-year Note auction. If they are met with a strong demand, we could see bond prices rise during afternoon trading. This could lead to afternoon improvements to mortgage rates also. On the other hand, if the sales draw a lackluster interest from investors, mortgage rates may move slightly higher during afternoon trading those days.

The first of this week’s economic reports comes late Wednesday morning when the National Association of Realtors posts May’s Existing Home Sales. This report tracks resales of existing homes, giving us a measurement of housing sector strength. It is considered to be moderately important to the markets, but can influence mortgage rates if it shows a sizable difference between forecasts and actual results. Analysts are currently expecting to see a small increase in sales, pointing towards a slightly strengthening housing sector. That would be bad news for the bond market and mortgage rates. A weaker housing sector makes overall economic growth more difficult, so a sizable decline would be ideal for the bond market and mortgage shoppers.

Thursday has two monthly reports scheduled to be posted at 10:00 AM ET. May’s New Home Sales report is the first. It helps us measure housing sector strength by tracking sales of newly constructed homes. This report is similar to Wednesday’s Existing Home Sales report, but covers a much smaller portion of sales than that report does. It is expected to show a relatively large drop in sales, but will likely not have much of an impact on mortgage rates because this data gives such a small snapshot of the housing sector. I believe it will take a large rise in sales or a sizable decline for this data to influence mortgage rates.

Also late Thursday morning will be the release of May’s Leading Economic Indicators (LEI). The Conference Board, who is a New York-based business research group, produces this data. The LEI attempts to predict economic activity over the next three to six months. Good news for mortgage rates would be a decline in this index, but it is expected to show a 0.2% increase from April’s reading. This means it is predicting a minor increase in economic growth over the next several months. Since this report is not considered to be of high importance, I don’t see it causing too much movement in rates regardless if it shows a particularly strong or weak reading.

Friday has the two remaining releases, one of which is the most important report of the week. This would be May’s Durable Goods Orders from the Commerce Department early morning, giving us an indication of manufacturing sector strength. It tracks orders at U.S. factories for big-ticket items, or products that are expected to last three or more years such as electronics, appliances and airplanes. This data is known to be quite volatile from month to month and is expected to show a decline of 0.6% in new orders from April to May. A large decline would be the ideal scenario for the bond market and would hopefully lead to an improvement in mortgage pricing as it would indicate manufacturing sector weakness.

The University of Michigan will close out this week’s data when they update their Index of Consumer Sentiment for May late Friday morning. This index measures consumer willingness to spend. If consumers are more comfortable with their own financial and employment situations, they are more apt to make large purchases in the near future, fueling economic growth. Accordingly, any consumer spending related data has the potential to affect bond trading and mortgage rates. A downward revision would be considered good news for bonds and rates. Forecasts are calling for little change from this month’s preliminary reading of 94.3.

Overall, I see Tuesday as the most important day of the week solely because of the semi-annual Fed testimony. Friday may also be pretty active also with the most important economic data of the week. Monday could end up being the calmest day for rates, assuming nothing unexpected happens. We are likely to see a fair amount of movement in the financial and mortgage markets this week. Therefore, it would be prudent to maintain contact with your mortgage professional if still floating an interest rate and closing in the near future.

Market Commentary for the Week of May 9th

     
This week brings us the release of only three economic reports that have the potential to influence mortgage rates. All of the week’s relevant events will take place the middle and latter days, with nothing of importance set for Monday or Tuesday. Two of the reports are considered to be of elevated importance to the bond market and therefore mortgage rates. This raises the possibility of seeing noticeable movement in rates multiple days this week.

Before we get to the week's economic reports, we have to deal with a couple of Treasury auctions. The Treasury will hold a 10-year Note sale Wednesday and a 30-year Bond sale Thursday. Results of the auctions will be posted at 1:00 PM ET each day. If they are met with a strong demand from investors, we could see bond prices rise enough during afternoon trading to cause downward revisions to mortgage rates. However, lackluster bidding in the sales, meaning longer-term securities are losing their appeal, could lead to higher mortgage pricing those afternoons.

The first piece of economic data this week is April’s Retail Sales at 8:30 AM ET Friday morning. This is an extremely important report for the financial markets since it measures consumer spending. Consumer spending makes up over two-thirds of the U.S. economy, so this data can have a pretty significant impact on the markets. Current forecasts are calling for a 0.8% increase in sales from March to April. A weaker than expected level of sales should push bond prices higher and mortgage rates lower Friday morning as it would signal that economic activity may not be as strong as thought. However, an unexpected increase could fuel concerns of economic growth that would lead to stock buying and bond selling, pushing mortgage rates higher.

April’s Producer Price Index (PPI) will also be released at 8:30 AM ET Friday. It helps us track inflationary pressures at the producer level of the economy. If this report reveals weaker than expected readings, indicating inflation is not a concern at the manufacturing level, we should see the bond market improve. The overall index is expected to rise 0.3%, while the core data that excludes more volatile food and energy prices has been forecasted to rise 0.1%. A decline in the core data will be ideal for mortgage shoppers because inflation is the number one nemesis for long-term securities such as mortgage-related bonds. As inflation rises, longer-term securities become less appealing to investors since inflation erodes the value of those securities’ future fixed interest payments. That is one of the reasons why the bond market tends to thrive in weaker economic conditions with low levels of inflation.

May’s preliminary reading to the University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment will close out the week’s calendar just before 10:00 AM ET Friday. This index measures consumer willingness to spend, which relates to consumer spending. If consumers are more confident in their own financial situations, they are more apt to make large purchases in the near future. This report usually has a moderate impact on the financial markets though, because it is not exactly factual data. It is expected to show a reading of 89.7, which would be an increase from April’s final reading of 89.0, indicating consumers are more confident than last month. If it shows a large decline in consumer confidence, bond prices could rise and mortgage rates would move slightly lower because waning confidence means consumers are less apt to make a large purchase in the near future. I suspect that the earlier reports will draw the most attention Friday and have the bigger impact on mortgage rates.

Overall, the calmest day for mortgage rates will likely be Tuesday while the best candidate for most active day is Friday. We also need to watch stocks for mortgage rate movement. Generally speaking, stock weakness usually makes bonds more attractive while stock gains tend to draw funds from bonds, leading to higher mortgage rates.

Market Commentary for the Week of May 2nd

      
This week brings us the release of five pieces of economic data that are likely to influence mortgage rates. While that's not an overly large number of reports, it is worth noting that two of them are extremely important and they all come over only three days. That leads me to believe it is going to be a very active week for the financial and mortgage markets.

The week’s calendar begins Monday with the release of April's Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) manufacturing index at 10:00 AM ET. This is usually the first important economic report released each month and gives us an indication of manufacturer sentiment. A reading above 50 means that more surveyed trade executives felt business improved during the month than those who felt it had worsened. This points toward more manufacturing activity and could hurt bond prices, pushing mortgage rates higher. Analysts are expecting to see a reading of 51.4, down slightly from March’s 51.8. Ideally, bond traders would like to see a reading below 50.0 as it would hint at contraction in the manufacturing sector rather than growth, but a decline from March’s level would still be good news for mortgage shoppers.

Tuesday has nothing in terms of economic reports that we need to be concerned with, but Wednesday has three. The ADP Employment report is set for release early Wednesday morning, which has the potential to cause some movement in the markets if it shows much stronger or weaker numbers. This report tracks changes in private-sector jobs of ADP’s clients that use them for payroll processing. While it does draw attention, it is my opinion that it is overrated and is not a true reflection of the broader employment picture. It also is not accurate in predicting results of the monthly government report that usually follows a couple days later. Still, because we do often see a reaction to the report, we should be watching it. Analysts are expecting it to show that 196,000 new payrolls were added. The lower the number of jobs, the better the news it is for mortgage rates.

The second report of the day will come from the Labor Department, who will release its 1st Quarter Productivity and Costs data during early morning hours. This information helps us measure employee productivity in the workplace. High levels of productivity help allow low-inflationary economic growth. If employee productivity is rapidly rising, the bond market should react favorably. However, a sizable decline could cause bond prices to drop and mortgage rates to rise slightly Wednesday morning. It is expected to show a 1.4% drop in worker productivity during the first three months of the year.

Wednesday's final report will be February’s Factory Orders at 10:00 AM ET. This data is similar to the Durable Goods Orders report that was posted last week, except it includes orders for both durable and non-durable goods. It will give us another measurement of manufacturing sector strength. It is considered to be only moderately important to the bond and mortgage markets, so unless it varies greatly from forecasts of a 0.5% increase, I suspect that the data will have a minimal impact on Wednesday’s mortgage rates.

The biggest news of the week will come early Friday morning when the Labor Department posts March’s Employment report, revealing the U.S. unemployment rate and the number of jobs added or lost during the month. This is an extremely important report to the financial and mortgage markets. It is expected to show that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.0% and that approximately 207,000 payrolls were added to the economy during the month. A higher unemployment rate and a much smaller than expected payroll number would be good news for bonds and would likely push mortgage rates lower Friday morning because it would indicate weaker than thought conditions in the employment sector of the economy. However, stronger than expected results would probably fuel a stock rally and bond selling that leads to a sizable increase in mortgage pricing.

Overall, Friday is the single most important day of the week due to the significance of the monthly Employment report, but Monday’s ISM report is considered highly important also. Tuesday is the best candidate for lightest day because traders will probably be making adjustments Thursday before Friday's key economic release. Due to the significance of some of this week's data, I highly recommend maintaining contact with your mortgage professional this week if still floating an interest rate.

What You Need to Know About PMI

  
If you are looking into buying a home, you may have come across the acronym PMI, which stands for private mortgage insurance. While PMI results in additional monthly or annual payments, it may be financially beneficial to consider a mortgage with a PMI plan. Consult with your real estate agent or mortgage loan officer to determine whether PMI is appropriate for your financial situation.

What PMI Is

If your down payment is less than 20% of your home's value, the lender may want you to purchase PMI to cover its losses in case you default on the payments. Typically, you will pay a PMI monthly along with each month’s mortgage payment. Your PMI can be canceled at your request, in writing, when you reach 20% equity in your home based on your original purchase price if your mortgage payments are current and you have a good payment history. By federal law your PMI payments will automatically stop when you acquire 22% equity in your home based on the original appraised value of the house as long as your mortgage payments are current.

What PMI Isn’t

PMI is different than FHA. Recent FHA-insured loans require payment of mortgage insurance premiums for the life of the loan. The mortgage insurance premiums can’t be canceled. Instead, you have to refinance the loan.
PMI is also different from homeowner’s insurance. Homeowner’s insurance protects the owner of the home, who also pays the insurance premiums. Private mortgage insurance, on the other hand, is paid by the homeowner monthly but protects the mortgage lender.



According to Bankrate.com, PMI usually costs between .5 and 1 percent of the total loan amount. This figure is the annual premium, which is divided into monthly payments. According to Allie Mae, average monthly costs tend to run between $50 and $80 per month. However, prices also vary based on down payment amounts and the type of mortgage. So talk with your loan professional if it’s required for you, and how much it will add to your monthly costs.

So, if your home increases dramatically in value, then it’s time to look into canceling your PMI. In general, on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage, it takes approximately 15 years to build up to 22% equity. This may seem a little astonishing, but it’s in the nature of an amortized loan. You pay mostly interest in the beginning and slowly chip away at the principal. This is why it’s great to pay even a few extra dollars a month towards the principal of the loan. So your next step would be to pay for an appraisal. If your equity is 20% or greater, request that your PMI be canceled in writing. (And put the money that went towards PMI directly to your loan. You will pay it down even faster, and you’ve already learned you can live without that extra money each month.)

If you’re applying for a VA loan, you should never be required to pay PMI. If it looks like it’s added in, double check with your loan officer that the loan is a VA specific loan or perhaps the fees are for something else.

5 Smart Strategies to Win Sellers Over

  In a tight market, you want your offer to be the winner. Often, buyers will fixate on purchase price and mortgage size overlooking opportunities to save money on both.

Usually, the lower the purchase price, the smaller the mortgage a buyer must borrow. We’re not suggesting that buyers buy less or resort to trickery or pressure to arrive at an attractive lower purchase price. Nor, are we suggesting a price chopped by tens of thousands. Instead, by adding value to the components of an offer, a lower purchase price may be acceptable to the seller.

Market value is not one price, but is represented by a price range. This means a property can sell at market value at any price across this range, especially when the offer is taken as a sum total of value for the seller, not just at its stated price.

By planning ahead and being prepared, you can significantly improve your bargaining position with sellers. Here are five smart value strategies to ensure the entire offer to purchase has value to the seller beyond the purchase price.

#1 Match Seller Closing Date

Prepare for home buying by becoming as flexible as possible about when the transaction closes. If you offer to match the seller’s best closing date, you may be saving them from incurring significant cost. Even the difference between popular moving dates and lower-fee moving dates can represent value for sellers. This savings may be reflected in a lower selling price.

Check out your lease options if you’re a tenant, so you know exactly how much it will cost you to close in 30 days, 6 months, or whenever suits seller needs. If you have a home to sell, consult your real estate salesperson to determine whether to sell or buy first. If the latter makes more sense in your market, get numbers on bridge financing, that is, the cost of owning two homes at once, so you know, in advance, exactly how much closing-date flexibility you have and what’s at risk. Obviously, if family or friends can help with temporary housing, furniture storage, and/or financing, you may have an advantage over other buyers.

#2 No Conditions

When faced with a firm, no-conditions offer to purchase, a seller may be tempted to accept a lower purchase price than if the offer is full of “ifs” and “maybes.” Conditions for financing, home inspection, and other significant concerns beyond buyer’s control cannot always prudently be removed, but when they can, buyers benefit. Paying for a home inspection before making an offer or arranging lender commitment in advance can provide a buyer with bargaining leverage.

#3 Don’t Ask for More

Avoid including appliances, light fixtures, furniture, or other items not automatically and legally considered part of the house, townhome, or condominium. Since appliances no longer last the decades they used to, its crazy to purchase them, or any other furnishings, second-hand through your offer. By including them in the purchase price, buyers may end up paying mortgage interest on these furnishings for decades. On the other hand, selling used appliances and furnishings online is easy for sellers who end up with cash in hand.

#4 Personalize the Offer

Sellers who love their home see value in buyers who “get” the property and who may even plan to realize a dream sellers had, but did not complete. Providing details in a letter, short video, or photos about why purchasing the seller’s home is important can also add weight to your offer. Personalize the offer and emphasize why buyers can and will close as promised. Sometimes, sellers can be won over by offering something of value to them that is uniquely available to the buyer. For instance, one experienced restauranteur/buyer offered to cook and serve at a dinner party hosted by the seller. Your real estate professional may have suggestions about what would sway sellers and add value without overly complicating the real estate transaction. Which service, experience, or convenience do you have access to that would represent value and savings to a seller?

#5 Negotiation Prowess

Market value is represented by a price range, which means a property can sell at market value, and be sold at any price across this range. Further, when the offer is taken as a sum total of value for the seller, emphasis is taken off the purchase price. Explaining these concepts, calculating full offer value, and convincing the seller of the unique opportunity provided by the buyer employs the skills of the real estate professional representing the buyer. Take time to engage a strong professional negotiator who can convince sellers how the buyer’s lower purchase price represents full value to the seller.

Prepare, in advance, to present multi-pronged value in your offer to purchase, and you may benefit with an accepted offer and perhaps a smaller mortgage which carries lower overall mortgage interest cost.

Written by PJ Wade

Market Commentary for the Week of April 25th

      
This week brings us the release of seven economic reports that may affect mortgage rates in addition to an FOMC meeting and a couple Treasury auctions. One those reports is considered to be extremely important to the financial and mortgage markets and can cause a great deal of volatility. Throw in the FOMC meeting and we have the makings of a highly important week, not only for mortgage rates but also for the broader financial markets.

The week kicks off late Monday morning when March’s New Home Sales numbers are posted. This Commerce Department report tracks a much smaller portion of all home sales than last week's Existing Home Sales report did. It also gives us an indication of housing sector strength and future mortgage credit demand, however, unless it varies greatly from analysts’ forecasts I am not expecting the data to cause much movement in mortgage rates. Analysts are currently forecasting an increase in sales of newly constructed homes. Good news for mortgage rates would be a sizable decline in sales.

Tuesday has two reports scheduled that we need to watch. The first of those two is the more important and comes at 8:30 AM ET. That is when March’s Durable Goods Orders will be released. This report gives us an indication of manufacturing sector strength by tracking orders for big-ticket items at U.S. factories. These are products that are expected to last three or more years, such as appliances, electronics and airplanes. Current forecasts are calling for an increase in new orders of 1.7%. This would be a sign of manufacturing sector strength, but this data can be quite volatile from month-to-month. Therefore, a small variance between forecasts and the actual results will not heavily influence the markets or mortgage rates. A large decline would be considered good news for bonds and mortgage pricing, while a large rise would indicate strength in the sector. A sign of solid manufacturing growth could lead to higher mortgage rates Tuesday.

April’s Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) will be posted at 10:00 AM ET Tuesday. This index is considered to be an indicator of future spending by consumers. The Conference Board surveys 5,000 consumers from across the country about their personal financial situations. If sentiment is strong or rising, it is believed that consumers are more apt to make large purchases in the near future. However, if they are concerned about issues such as job security and savings, they will probably delay making large purchases. The latter is better for the bond market and mortgage rates because the expected slowdown in spending would keep inflation and economic growth to a minimum. On the other hand, a sizable increase could hurt the bond market, pushing mortgage rates higher Tuesday. It is expected to show a reading of 96.0, which would be a small decline from March’s 96.2 reading. The lower the reading, the better the news it is for mortgage rates.

This week’s FOMC meeting will begin Tuesday and adjourn Wednesday afternoon. It will likely adjourn with an announcement of no change to key short-term interest rates, but we may see some volatility in the markets following the post-meeting statement. If the statement gives any hint of change in their current forecasts on when they expect to adjust key short-term interest rates again, we could see a sizable change to mortgage rates Wednesday afternoon. This meeting will not be followed by a Fed press conference or economic projections.

Thursday has the most important report, not only this week but arguably in general. At 8:30 AM ET, the preliminary version of the 1st Quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be released. There is a strong argument to be made that this is the single most important report that we see on a regular basis. The GDP is the sum of all products and services produced in the U.S. and is considered to be the best measure of economic growth or contraction. I expect this report to cause sizable movement in the financial marketsThursday and therefore the mortgage market also. Analysts are expecting it to show that the economy grew at an annual rate of 0.8% during the first three months of this year. That would be a much slower pace than the 1.4% pace of the final quarter of last year. A weaker rate of growth would be considered good news for mortgage rates. But a stronger than expected reading would almost certainly cause stock prices to rise and bond prices to fall, leading to higher mortgage rates Thursday morning.

Friday has the final three economic reports, starting with March’s Personal Income and Outlays data at 8:30 AM ET. It helps us measure consumers’ ability to spend and current spending habits. This information is important to the mortgage market due to the influence that consumer spending-related data has on the financial markets. If a consumer’s income is rising, they have the ability to make additional purchases in the near future, fueling economic growth. This raises inflation concerns and has a negative impact on the bond market and mortgage rates. Current forecasts are calling for a 0.3% increase in the income reading and a 0.2% rise in spending. If we see smaller than expected readings, the bond market should open higher Fridaymorning.

Also early Friday is the 1st Quarter Employment Cost Index (ECI). This index tracks employer costs for wages and benefits, giving us a measurement of wage-inflation. If it shows a large increase, we may see wage inflation concerns rise as employers will need to pass those increases into the pricing of their products and services. That would cause the bond market to fall and mortgage rates to rise. A smaller than expected increase would be good news for the bond market and mortgage pricing although I doubt this report will affect mortgage rates. Current forecasts are showing a rise of 0.6%.

The week closes with the University of Michigan's revised Index of Consumer Sentiment for April just before10:00 AM ET Friday. This report gives us an indication of consumer sentiment and their willingness to spend. Current forecasts are calling for a rise from the preliminary reading of 89.7. This means that surveyed consumers were a little more optimistic about their own financial situations as they were earlier this month. This data is relevant because if consumers feel better about their own financial and employment situations, they are more apt to make a large purchase in the near future, fueling economic growth. I don’t expect this report to have a significant impact on bonds and mortgage pricing unless it shows a noticeable revision.

In addition to this week’s economic reports, there are two relatively important Treasury auctions that may also influence bond trading enough to affect mortgage rates. There will be an auction of 5-year Treasury NotesTuesday and 7-year Notes on Thursday. Neither of these sales will directly impact mortgage pricing, but they can influence general bond market sentiment. If the sales go poorly, we could see broader selling in the bond market that leads to upward revisions to mortgage rates. On the other hand, strong sales usually make government securities more attractive to investors and bring more funds into bonds. The buying of bonds that follows usually translates into lower mortgage rates. Results of the sales will be posted at 1:00 PM ET each auction day, so look for any reaction to come during afternoon hours.

Overall, I am expecting it to be a pretty active week for the markets and mortgage rates. We have several days that appear likely to be particularly volatile. Wednesday looks to be the best candidate for most important due to the FOMC meeting but Thursday's GDP reading can easily be a market-mover. The calmest day could be Monday, although I would not be surprised to still see some movement as investors prepare for this week’s activities. If floating an interest rate and closing in the near future, I strongly recommend maintaining contact with your mortgage professional this week.

Market Commentary for the Week of April 18th - Tax Day!

     
This week has only three pieces of economic data scheduled for release that have the potential to influence mortgage rates, none of which are considered to be key or highly important reports. All of them are set to be posted the middle days, so we could see the most movement in rates mid-week. We also need to watch stocks since we are still in corporate earnings season. There is nothing of importance scheduled for Monday, meaning we can look towards stocks to help determine bond and mortgage rate direction early in the week.

March’s Housing Starts will start the week's releases early Tuesday morning. This report tracks groundbreakings of new home construction, giving us a measurement of housing sector strength and future demand for mortgage credit. It is not considered to be highly important to the markets but does draw enough attention to influence trading if it reveals surprisingly strong or weak numbers. The report will be posted at8:30 AM ET and is expected to show a small decline in starts from February to March. Good news for mortgage rates would be a sizable decline in starts that points toward housing sector weakness.

Next up is March’s Existing Homes Sales numbers from the National Association of Realtors at 10:00 AM ETWednesday. This report gives us an indication of housing sector strength and mortgage credit demand. It is considered to be moderately important to the markets, but can influence mortgage pricing if it shows a sizable variance from forecasts. Ideally, the bond market would like to see a drop in home resales because a soft housing sector makes broader economic growth more difficult. Analysts are expecting to see an increase in sales between February and March. The larger the increase, the worse the news it is for bonds and mortgage rates.

The third and final monthly release will come from the Conference Board late Thursday morning when they post their Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) for March. This data attempts to predict economic activity over the next three to six months. It is also considered to be only a moderately important report, so at best we can expect to see a slight movement in rates as a result of this data. It is expected to show a 0.4% increase from February’s reading, meaning it is predicting moderate growth in economic activity over the next several months. A decline would be considered good news for the bond market and could lead to slightly lower mortgage rates.

Overall, there is nothing scheduled this week that is expected to create much volatility or be a market mover. Chances are decent that we will see a fairly calm week for mortgage rates unless stocks make a significant move or something unexpected happens. I don't see any particular day as a good candidate for most important of the week. Still, despite the lack of key economic data, it would still be prudent to maintain contact with your mortgage professional if floating an interest rate and market conditions can change at any time.