A whole year. Well I would venture to say that most of us knew that already. The question that remains, however, is how long this thing will last and how bad will it get before it gets better. Frankly, I don't know that anyone has an answer to those questions.
Stocks dived on the news, but interestingly enough 30-year mortgage rates have hit a low not seen in many years—5 percent. The big reason this happened is the Fed announced that it was actually going to use some of the bailout money to buy Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bonds (like they said they would in the beginning, whatever.) In a rather bizarro co-ink-y-dink, I am writing a freelance piece on the deals available now for first time home buyers. The bank folk I have spoken to locally are all saying that the gloom and doom we hear on TV is not the reality and now is a great time to buy. Ok, I will grant you that if you have the cash now is a good time to buy, but I question how readily the banks are going to be giving money out these days. I don't mean to scream about the sky falling when I am merely getting dinged by a pecan, but something tells me that unless you have some stellar credit and cash in reserve, the banks are not going to welcome you with open arms.
But if I am wrong, that's great. I would personally love to refinance for a 5 percent interest rate on my mortgage . . .
