Here is a great up to date mortgage article that can be helpful to anyone looking to refinance. The article provides some clear examples and scenarios that demonstrate the benefit of pursuing and investing in a low interest rate. Take this advice and don’t necessarily accept a high rate in exchange [...]

Mill Creek Washington was recently ranked the #2 affordable city in the United States by BusinessWeek.com. Rankings were based on “the most affordable suburbs that offer the lowest crime rate, finest schools, and best quality of life for the dollar”. Find the stats on Mill Creek and see the rest of [...]

Applications for home loans (primarily refinances) shot up 46% nationally last week, compared with the previous week. Homeowners are taking advantage of great rates, and rightly so. However, credit.com wisely recommends obtaining a total-cost or “break even” analysis from a loan officer before moving to refinance. This type of analysis and consultation is what we [...]

Steve Knox

December 1st, 2008
Question: Columbia Funding Mortgage predicted the historically low interest rates that surprised consumers on Tuesday, November 25th.  On what did you base this prediction?
Steve: We closely monitor mortgage backed securities and the release of key economic reports to provide our clients with credible information about the trends in the mortgage market.
Question: In [...]

Steve Knox

Did you know that banks send us rate sheets that have lower (wholesale) rates than their own retail rates? Why? Since they are competing for us to direct the loan to their bank lines – and because they are not paying the broker a salary and benefits – they still make a fair profit [...]

Question: I recently heard that on January 23rd, 2008 there was a mini-refinance boom in which the 30 year fixed rate dropped to 5.000% (5.124apr). Why was there not more news about this at the time?

Steve: Primarily because the news at that time was about the “mortgage crisis”, and good news did not [...]