Online articles, even the ones on major news and business websites, aren’t a great source of the “real time” position of the South Bay real estate loan market. It takes time to write and publish an article, but the actual market is dynamic and changes hourly. From the time the data is recorded and written to the time it is published there could be a delay of days or even a week. In the mortgage industry, a few days can mean dramatic variations in rates. It’s very similar to reading about a stock that has gone up, but by the time you read it you’ve already missed the opportunity. Most articles that are written about interest rates are reactive and they are simply reporting what has already occurred.
Articles like this one use “averages” and data from previously closed loans. However, those loans were started and locked at an earlier date. Since the market is ever-changing, the data is, almost certainly, not current. The rates from one day to the next will vary. An average gives the general idea of where rates are, but isn’t always accurate for that current day. Most articles pull their data from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD or FHFA which are government organizations that report information on the prior months closed loans. Since the information is based on averages of loans that are closed in most cases the information is at least two weeks or in some cases a month behind.
Today’s South Bay real estate and mortgage market it is not a “one size fits all” scenario when it comes to interest rates. In some cases South Bay homeowners qualify for lower rates than the media reports and in other cases rates may be higher than what the media reports. The media is a good source of information but information does not always equate to knowledge. In today’s market more than ever, it is extremely important to have someone who is knowledgeable and in tune with the real time swings of the South bay real estate market. Projecting where rates are going based on where they have been is something you can’t obtain from one article, just like you can’t find the next Apple stock by reading one finance website. That is why the experience and knowledge of the mortgage professional you work with is more important thing when obtaining a home loan for South Bay properties in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, or the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
