I was surfing around and stumbled across this Freddie Mac chart. It dates back to 1971 and documents the average monthly interest rate for a 30-year conventional mortgage. It reminded me of a conversation I had with my late father back in the day.
It was about 1984-1985 and I was just starting out in the appraisal field. I was sitting at the dining room table writing a report when my father walked in. He looked over my shoulder to see what I was doing. Then he sat down and we started talking just about real estate in general. I'll never forget when he said, "When your mother and I bought this house, our interest rate was 5%." WHOA!!! 5%?!?! I flipped. I couldn't believe it. At the time, mortgage rates were in the 13-14% range. I recall telling my dad that when he bought the house (mid-1960's), it was back in the "old days" and 5% rates were maybe the norm then, but not anymore. I assured him they would NEVER get that low again.
Well, I was wrong. Rates today are right around 4.5% for a 30-year fixed and they even got as low as 3.35% in late 2012. My father bless his soul, passed away in 1997. So he wasn't around to see me eat my own words.
Yeah, I know. Never say never.
It was about 1984-1985 and I was just starting out in the appraisal field. I was sitting at the dining room table writing a report when my father walked in. He looked over my shoulder to see what I was doing. Then he sat down and we started talking just about real estate in general. I'll never forget when he said, "When your mother and I bought this house, our interest rate was 5%." WHOA!!! 5%?!?! I flipped. I couldn't believe it. At the time, mortgage rates were in the 13-14% range. I recall telling my dad that when he bought the house (mid-1960's), it was back in the "old days" and 5% rates were maybe the norm then, but not anymore. I assured him they would NEVER get that low again.
Well, I was wrong. Rates today are right around 4.5% for a 30-year fixed and they even got as low as 3.35% in late 2012. My father bless his soul, passed away in 1997. So he wasn't around to see me eat my own words.
Yeah, I know. Never say never.
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