Mortgage News:

With interest rates near all time lows, the cost of borrowing money to buy a home is as low as I have ever seen. Hopefully, this will stimulate buyers to make offers and close on purchases.

 One side effect of the low rates is the increased refinance activity.  Appraisers are taking longer to complete appraisal reports and lenders are taking longer to process and underwrite loans.  I would encourage you to review time frames with lenders before setting loan contingency removal dates.  In my opinion, 45 days is currently an appropriate time frame for closing, or 30 days with an option to extend for 15 days.

 Economic News:

Even though President Obama gave an impassioned speech on job creation, the markets remained relatively quiet over the past week. As the Update details, there was very little movement among most current numbers.

At the same time, however, the numbers we have before us suggest that the economy is still capable of a gradual recovery, and that it's not sliding rapidly into another recession. There is much to watch in the coming weeks and months--notably the sovereign debt problems in Europe--and we'll keep scrutinizing the data to find the overlooked glimmers of light that suggest all is better than most of the media is reporting...though there is no real rebound in sight.

Written by Steve Peterson, submitted by Tim Lampe