Mortgage rates will vary widely for the next few days as the turmoil of the financial markets continue. Yesterday rates dropped a full .50 BUT only for PART OF ONE DAY. Today rates are back up again so this gives you a little feel of what rates can do in just a few hours time. Keep house hunting and look for pre 2000-2001 prices if possible to give you a base for property values to reach reasonable values .

B of A's announcement was not a big surprise in the fact of WHO bought them. It was a big surprise that they would throw away another 4 billion after lending them 2 billion a short time ago. It has been reported that half of that first loan has been lost in value in this short time. Countrywide made billions of dollars in doing "garbage" loans for almost anyone who could breathe just because of greed. Their returns were huge. Where is all of that money that was made for the last 5 years? This buyout will not make these bad loans turn into gold! They will still default no matter who owns the company. These loans were made to borrowers who DID NOT QUALIFY for their mortgages. Underwriting guidelines went out the window for years as these loans were made. Billions of dollars of "liar" loans (as the Stated Income Loans are known in the mortgage industry) were made by CW and now the truth is coming out about their real income and ability to make their mortgage payments. Do not get caught being one of these borrowers. Is Bank of America "throwing good money after bad" as the saying goes? It brings into question their financial wisdom.

November showed a huge increase in consumer spending and December will be high because of the holidays. Are consumers having a buying binge and spending money they do not have to ease their fears of the economy and surround themselves with new goodies that they think will make them feel better? Is this a larger sign of the "I do not care" attitude that consumers are developing as they sink further into debt? Are they running up their charge cards with no intention of paying them off? Time will tell us the answer to these questions. The credit card companies should be getting worried about the bad debt they will be left holding on to. This is more trouble for the financial markets. As a homebuyer be careful where and what you spend and keep your debt load down as it could mean the difference in getting that house you want.