Average mortgage rates rise slightly; 30-year at 2.88%

WASHINGTON — Average long-term mortgage rates were marginally higher this week as the recovering economy appeared stalled against the backdrop of a wave of new delta variant coronavirus cases. They remained under 3%.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for a 30-year mortgage edged up to 2.88% from 2.87% last week. That's very close to where the benchmark rate stood at this time last year, 2.86%. It peaked this year at 3.18% in April. Home loan rates fell in the early summer and then remained steady despite increases in inflation.

The rate for a 15-year loan, a popular option for homeowners refinancing their mortgages, ticked up to 2.19% from 2.18% last week.

Concern continues to swirl that the highly contagious delta variant could cause the economic recovery from the pandemic to sputter by reducing employment and dampening consumer spending. The Federal Reserve reported Wednesday that U.S. economic activity “downshifted” in July and August, in part because of a pullback in dining out, travel and tourism stemming from concern over the delta variant.

In a positive sign that the economy is so far outrunning the variant, the government reported Thursday that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to 310,000, a pandemic low.

Thursday's report from the Labor Department showed that jobless claims dropped from a revised total of 345,000 the week before.

A:

I am a big fan of professionally staging a home. In my real estate practice, I have two professional stagers that I work with on a regular basis. As I tell my seller clients, staging does not represent a physical change, but it does represent an emotional change. When a perspective buyer walks into a home you only have a short period of time to make a good first impression, and that is where staging helps a lot. In a sense you are visualizing for the perspective buyer.

Buyers are more likely to imagine themselves moving into the home if the house has a “warm and fuzzy” feel to it. A vacant home in general just doesn't show as well as a professionally staged home.

I am not a big fan of virtual staging. The only advantage is that it is cheaper to have a home virtually staged rather than having it physically staged. You take the risk that perspective buyer will be turned off if they see the home online than visit the home in person and it's not physically staged.

Selling a home for most people is their biggest asset. If you're going to prep the property to get top dollar for your home by doing projects like painting, refinishing hardwood floors, remodeling kitchen and bathrooms and refreshing the landscaping why would you cut corners and not have properly professionally staged.