As financial markets froze this very week in 2007, the real-time media market was catching fire. So instead of summarizing it all with a 140 character Tweet, below we offer some broader perspective by bringing everyone’s favorite obsessions together: mortgage rates, Twitter, and iPhones. Stat-filled timeline and rate chart are included.

Back in January, here’s what we said about rates and the economy: “As we move through 2010, our outlook is for waning Fed support to push rates approximately 1% higher, and for a choppy economic recovery marked by modest GDP growth and minimal employment improvement.”

Zero-point rates on 30yr fixed Conforming loans (up to $729k) held last week near record lows for a second straight week, and one-point rates on Jumbo loans (above $729k) are steady in the low- to mid-5% range.

Zero-point rates on 30yr fixed Conforming loans (up to $729k) begin the week back at record lows, and one-point rates on Jumbo loans (above $729k) are steady in the low- to mid-5% range. The European debt crisis flared up again last week and Friday’s jobs report was drastically lower than expected. The result was that [...]

Despite a volatile week, rates were net down .125%, bringing conventional conforming rates (on loans up to $417,000) within .1% of all-time record lows. Below is a recap of last week and rationale for a rate lock bias going into next week. And don’t forget that Friday is the last day homebuyers can be in [...]

The California Association of Realtors (CAR) predicts that the money allocated for the CA first-time homebuyer credit may run out in 10-20 days once the program starts on May 1. This is what CAR said:

California Tax Credit The newly announced California tax credit is available to homebuyers closing from May 1, 2010 to July 31, 2011, but they must be in contract by December 1, 2010. The credit is for 5% of the home price up to $10,000 cap. It’s for owner-occupied single family homes only, and it’s for [...]

As most know from our weekly coverage over the last 64 weeks, the Fed has been using a $1.25 trillion budget to buy mortgage bonds since January 1, 2009 in order to elevate mortgage bond prices and push rates down. Rates are 1.125% lower than they were when the program was announced, and the Fed [...]

The most-asked questions by home mortgage borrowers so far in 2010 are about where rates will go, how to lock rates in a volatile trading environment, and how home appraisals affect the lending process. Each question is addressed below.

A common question among mortgage shoppers is: what if rates get better after I lock a rate for my loan? The answer is that locking a rate is much like buying a stock.