Almost Nobody Noticed That Mortgage Rates Changed 43 Times Last Month

• Tweet

Bad news for Cincinnati rate shoppers and home buyers -- mortgage rate volatility is back.

Last month, mortgage lenders issued nearly 2 rate sheets per day on average, the most rate sheets per day since August and the first increase since June when mortgage rates rose into the 6s.

So what is a rate sheet?  It's a mortgage lender's real-time mortgage pricing.

Rate sheets list the current rate-and-fee combinations for mortgage products like the 30-year fixed, the jumbo loans, the FHA product line, and the like.  And, as you can see from the chart, pricing is always changing. Just like stocks, you can't buy mortgage rates for the same price tomorrow as you can today.

Since reaching an all-time low November 30, 2009, mortgage rates have changed 45 times.

So, throw away that Good Faith Estimate you got last month and delete the one you were sent last week.  Heck, get rid of the ones from yesterday.

If that Good Faith Estimate in your inbox is more than 4 hours old,  shred it and forget it -- its listed rate-and-fees are old news.  Once a mortgage lender's updated its rate sheets, all prior sheets get relegated to the garbage.

Expect volatility through the winter months.

With the economy recovering and the Fed withdrawing its mortgage market support, the exit tube is going to be a bumpy one.  Mortgage rates are going to be all over the place.

As a loan officer, I watch real-time mortgage market data that's not published to CNBC, the Wall Street Journal or Forbes. If you need to know what mortgage rates are doing, you need to be watching my Twitter stream, or following me on Facebook. I post regular updates and tend to alert before the lenders change their pricing for the worse.

If you need to know when to lock your rate, make sure you're getting my updates.

Furthermore, if you're actively rate shopping for a home in Cincinnati, Chicago, or somewhere else that I lend, make sure you're getting my rate quotes. Because I work for a self-funded bank, my rates and fees are often less than my broker peers and especially better than the correspondents.

Be sure to ask me for. I love to work with my readers.