An Expert’s Take on Our Market’s Current Interest Rates

Today, Eric Almquist of Benchmark Mortgage joins me to discuss the latest trends regarding interest rates. Stay tuned!

Interest rates are very good in our current market. But don’t just take it from me—Eric Almquist of Benchmark Mortgage joined me today for a discussion about the latest trends regarding interest rates.

Anyone who watches the news has seen rates drop by nearly 1% over the course of the last year. That’s happened for a number of reasons, but one of the main reasons is that the global bond market has been rallying. By this, Eric means that bond prices have been going up and yields have gone down. That, in turn, has affected our bond yields, which interest rates tend to follow.

Currently, interest rates are as good as they were in 2016, when they dipped in October of that year due to the Brexit issue in England. At that time, a similar thing occurred where bond yields were pushed down and prices went up.

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From a buyer’s perspective, the market is as good as it has been in a long time.

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Eric believes that it will be hard for interest rates to go up in the foreseeable future. The Federal Reserve cut short-term interest rates, which many confuse with mortgage rates. The Fed only slows down or speeds up the economy by lowering or raising the costs of money borrowed between banks. When the Fed lowers short-term borrowing costs, they’re not concerned about inflation; they’re trying to promote growth. In Eric’s mind, this will only continue to drive rates down over time. 

How low they’ll go, Eric’s not sure. Some experts are predicting historically low rates, but we’ll have to wait to see if that becomes the case. However, that’s not an excuse to wait, as rates are still in a very favorable spot right now. From a buyer’s perspective, the market is as good as it has been in a long time.

If you are looking to buy a home or at least want to see what you’d qualify for, definitely reach out to our team. We can show you our model homes and put you in contact with Eric at Benchmark Mortgage to help you qualify for your next home purchase. Hope to hear from you soon!

A Step-by-Step Guide to Proper Faucet Maintenance

If you’re experiencing issues with your kitchen or bathroom faucets, follow along with today’s message for a quick demonstration on how to resolve them.

Faucet maintenance is a necessary, but often forgotten, aspect of homeownership. 

Many people will eventually notice issues with the pressure and flow of water from their faucets, but few know why this happens or what they can do to resolve it. 

One of the most common reasons for these problems is that debris within the plumbing can work its way toward the faucet’s screen or aerator over time, thus creating a blockage. 

Hard water or mineral deposits may also be the culprit if your home is more than six months to a year old. Brillo or S.O.S. pads can be used to fix this issue, but if the source of your faucet’s problems is related to a debris buildup, you’ll need to take a more involved approach. 

To demonstrate, we’ll be taking apart a faucet in one of our model homes in today’s video. You can follow along starting at 1:55.

By following this guide, you should be able to easily resolve most issues related to your kitchen or bathroom faucets. 

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Paint Touch-Ups: A Demonstration

Today I want to demonstrate some helpful tips for touching up your wall paint. Stay tuned!

If the paint on your home’s walls needs some TLC to look its very best, then stick around: Today we’re going to demonstrate how to touch up paint so that your home will shine.

In this particular property, the painters applied two coats of paint on everything and after the final touch-up coat, they left the remaining paint behind in a bucket. It’s very important to save this bucket, even if it’s empty. If you ever need to get additional paint to touch up your walls, then knowing exactly what batch number of paint to mix will allow you to get the color you need. Without that, the batch you do purchase could be slightly off, meaning your walls will not match.

Beyond that, anyone who plans to touch up their walls should have these essential tools on hand:

• 5-in-1 tool. This tool can help you scrape, spread compound, clean your rollers, remove putty, and open cracks.  

• Paint rollers. These come in all sizes to suit any of your projects. You can use a 12-inch roller to paint a whole wall, or a smaller one to touch up just a few spots. Regardless of the roller’s size, if you’re only touching up a small part of the wall, be sure to use less paint—you won’t have to blend as much.

• TIMELESS paint. True flat paints can smudge when you touch them, but the TIMELESS paint has intrinsic cleaning properties and doesn’t smudge as easily.

• Foam/felt rollers. These are good for touching up paint on trims and allow you to match bumpy textured surfaces.

• Worcester brushes. There are a variety of these, but a good, quality brush will carry you a long way. With the less expensive brushes, the bristles tend to fall out. Worcester brushes last for quite a long time.

• Paddle mixer/drill. This combination will help you to mix your paint from the bottom to the top of the pail, especially if it’s full. For smaller amounts of paint, you can use a traditional stir stick, or you can slosh it around in the bucket to mix it up.

• Paint rolling tray. This will allow you to control how much paint is on your roller/brush so you don’t apply too much to your walls.

If you have any questions about touching up your paint, feel free to reach out to us. We’d be glad to advise you on tools and techniques that will make your home look as good as new. In the meantime, check out the model homes on our website!