More optimism surrounding the European Debt risis and more tough times for Mortgage Rates.   Unlike yesterday's rather abrupt rise in rates versus Friday, rates held relatively steady today, with no change to Best-Execution, despite weaker bond markets.

As a bit of an ongoing public service to those who might be in disbelief, and if you didn't see it yesterday: rates are significantly higher than last week.  If you're seeing local or national news talking about rates in the "high 3's," that info is already out-dated as Best-Execution rates are now solidly back in the 4's.  

Today's Rates: 

• BESTEXECUTION 30YR FIXED -   4.25%, variation between lenders
• FHA/VA - 3.875%.  Lots of variation between lenders.
• 15 YEAR FIXED -  3.5%
• 5 YEAR ARMS -  low to mid 3% range, variations from lender to lender.

Ongoing Guidance At 4.25% Best-Execution Levels: you can approach the upcoming days in one of two ways: either rates will continue higher, and the general range of rates would be 4.25-4.75% in terms of Best-Execution, OR we've hit a wall of sorts, and can either bounce lower or hold steady.  The more days you wait to determine this, the more money you'll lose if the first scenario plays out and the more you'd gain if the second scenario plays out.  If rates don't look like they're holding steady or improving by the end of this week, we'd be locking everything (and fairly close to that sentiment already, but feel it's at least one day too soon to say for sure).

New Guidance: Make that 2 days too soon.  It's really tempting to let the weakness in the market push us into a panicked lock.  But the best time for that would have been during the weakness that began last week where you still would have saved some money relative to where things are today.  Now that Best-Execution is at 4.25%, we're very close to that next bucket higher in rates, so there's not as much to lose between here and that next solid lock indication.  It really looked like we were going to get it based on today's opening market levels, but Best-Ex remained intact, so the guidance about waiting to see if 4.25 looks like it can hold steady or improve by the end of the week gets at least one more day to play out tomorrow. Still on this spectrum for now...  Just be aware, the guidance will be to lock at a loss if rates move higher.  Don't float unless you're OK with that risk.