"Interest rates and old junk"

We are in the clouds this morning. There are lots of mornings during the winter that foothill communities spend in the clouds. Agents will frequently tell their buyers who are considering a move to El Dorado Hills or Auburn that “We are above the fog and below the snow-line. “ They probably don’t tell them that we have clouds up here obscuring commuter’s drive time. What is the difference between fog and clouds anyway? Maybe we need another disclosure for our foothill buyers called the “Cloud Disclosure”.
My wife Vicki is a saver. She saves everything. If anyone needs to borrow a 16mm movie projector we have one. We have an ice cream and a bread maker that we haven’t used in 5 years resting patiently on a pantry shelf. We have paper plates, cups and three hats from a New Year’s party seven years ago and we have 175 wine glasses from various wine and charity events that we have attended going back to 1989 when we decided to give up on the boxed ripple red.
The problem is nobody wants our old junk. So, it goes into permanent retirement in a closet, our storage shed or MY garage. Garage Sales don’t work in remote locations. Few can find our place hidden in the clouds. My neighbors are a suspicious looking lot and scrutinize strangers carefully. Once I put a Ben Franklin wood stove and an old microwave on the corner with a “Free Take Me” sign. Someone did.
I gave myself a new 17 inch monitor for Christmas and now can’t find a home for my old 15 inch one. I must have been the last person in the world to trade their 15 inch monitor for a larger one. Maybe I will take it down the street and put another “Free” sign on it but will I be guilty of littering or dumping illegally? I can see the headlines in our local paper “Local Broker does hard time for trashing community” Maybe I will just store it along with our 16mm movie projector.
Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.15 percent, with an average 0.6 point, for the week ending January 12, 2006, down from last week's average of 6.21 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.74 percent.
Adjustable rate mortgages are not much lower. Five-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 5.76 percent this week, with an average 0.5 point, down very slightly from last week when it averaged 5.78 percent. A year ago, the five-year ARM averaged 5.05 percent.
One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.15 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, down very slightly from last week when it averaged 5.16 percent. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 4.10 percent.
"Interest rates for long-term mortgages slipped lower this week due to some economic data releases that pointed towards more subdued inflation in the near term," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "Rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are about the same as they were in late October of 2005. However, shorter-term rates, such as those for adjustable-rate mortgages, were basically unchanged due to market expectations of another rate hike by the Federal Reserve Board at the end of January."
"Our January forecast calls for a gradual rise in long-term rates throughout 2006, ending the year at about 6.5 percent for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, while relative rate differences with adjustable-rate mortgages will narrow. This should induce some slowing in housing market activity, but we expect the housing market in 2006 to be strong, nonetheless."
Enjoy your weekend. Vicki and I are off to preview some acreage in the Russian River appellations of Dry Creek, Russian River Valley and Alexander Valley. I suspect that we will return with a few more glasses to add to our collection.