Delaware mortgage rates weekly mortgage market update for the week of January 7, 2013, from John R. Thomas with Primary Residential Mortgage in Newark, DE. Call 302-703-0727 to get a free mortgage planning consultation or APPLY ONLINE for Delaware mortgage loan. John Thomas is the Newark, Delaware Branch Manager and the author of the book, Your Guide to Buying Your First Home in Delaware. He provides a weekly mortgage rate market update to keep you current with what is happening with mortgage rates and the economy as a whole.

Delaware mortgage rates jumped higher to end the week last week as the mortgage bond market fell off a cliff on Thursday, January 3, 2013, when the Federal Reserve Meeting Minutes were released and showed that the Federal Reserve wants to end the mortgage bond buying program by mid 2013 instead of continuing till 2014 as was implied from earlier meetings.  This news weighed on both the stock market and the bond market. The bond dropped even lower on Friday to open but was able to claw its way back to where it ended the day on Thursday. This was bullish move so we recommend FLOATING your Delaware Mortgage Rate to start to the week to see if mortgage bonds can continue the bullish run and try to recover what we lost from The Federal Reserve Meeting Minutes.

We also saw Congress last week pass a bill to avert the “Fiscal Cliff“. The bill didn’t address the US debt problem at all as no spending cuts were initiated at all. The only thing accomplished was making the Bush-era tax cuts fixed for incomes below $450,000 and extending unemployment benefits that were going to expire. There was also a bunch of pork in the 154-page bill.  The bill did nothing to address the fact that the US spends more than it brings in from tax revenue. This means Congress will again be fighting over the issue of the US hitting the debt ceiling of 16.394 Trillion which it did on Monday, December 31, 2012. Congress will have to raise the debt ceiling by end of February 2013 or the United States Government will begin to shut down.

Congress did extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act till December 31, 2013. This is great news as it will not penalize people for short selling their homes or going to foreclosure. Without extending the bill the difference between what was owed on a mortgage and the amount accepted by the bank for a payoff to sell the house would count as income to the seller for that tax year. So if the short sale allowed the seller to “forgive” $30,000 on the mortgage then that $30,000 would be added to the borrower’s income for tax purposes.

Friday we saw the  December 2012 Jobs Report showed 155,000 jobs were created which was in line with estimates and the unemployment rate for December 2012 stayed the same at 7.8% but that is down from a year ago when unemployment was 8.3% in January 2012. The Labor Force Participation Rate was also unchanged at 63.6% which is the lowest reading in 31 years. This is a better read on the employment for the economy as it counts everybody eligible to work that is 16 years or older whereas the unemployment number doesn’t count people who stopped looking for work or accepted part-time work.

CoreLogic reported that Foreclosure Inventory fell 18% in 2012. There are still at least 13.5 Million Homeowners across the country that are underwater on their mortgage which means they owe more than their home is currently worth. The foreclosure option is no longer the number one option being sought by homeowners, more and more people are looking at loan modifications and short sales before walking away from the home.

I am recommending FLOATING your Delaware Mortgage Rate to see if mortgage bonds can rebound higher and move rates lower. Call 302-703-0727 to schedule a free mortgage consultation to get pre-approved for a mortgage to purchase a home or to refinance your existing mortgage to lower your rate and save thousands of dollars in interest. There are several special governments refinance programs to help underwater Delaware homeowners refinance. There is the FHA Streamline Refinance Program, the VA IRRRL Streamline Refinance Program, and there is the HARP 1.0 and HARP 2.0 refinance programs. Call us or e-mail us now to get more information or you can APPLY ONLINE.

The next Free Delaware First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, January 19, 2012, in Newark, Delaware, and Tuesday, January 15, 2013, in Dover, Delaware. Register by calling 302-703-0727 or Register online at http://www.delawarehomebuyerseminar.com/

Then next Free Maryland First Time Home Buyer Seminar is Saturday, January 12, 2012, in Towson, Maryland. Register by calling 410-412-3319 or Register online at http://www.MarylandHomeBuyerSeminars.com

John R. Thomas – NMLS 38783

Certified Mortgage Planner – Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc.

302-703-0727 DE Office / 610-906-3109 PA Office / 410-412-3319 MD Office

248 E Chestnut Hill Rd, Newark, DE 19713