Funny

"I prayed that God would give me a Porsche...
but then I found out that's not the way God works.

So I stole one and asked for forgiveness."

Pulled the trigger.

We locked. You heard me correct. And God talked us all the way through it. Rates were high. He said, "Wait." Rates went higher, He said, "Wait." Rates dropped a bit, He said, "Wait." They went lower and we were tempted to lock, He said, "Wait." They went lower again, He said, "Wait."

Today, He said "Lock", and our rate is AWESOME! :)

Horray! We have a loan!

I'll tel you what... Listening to God is a complete act of faith, and can be totally stressful - though it shouldn't be. I'm learning to trust. That said, it's also filled with a LOT of Joy.

I don't have much else to say about it all.

Except maybe, "Thank you, God."

So yeah, Thank You, God!

(Last "little" hurdle. The house we're buying still needs to appraise. Other than that, everything else is great!)

News today... lots of it

First off, thanks for ALL your prayers. I believe in the power of God, not the power of prayer, but I do know that we are encouraged to pray for one another.

"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." - Hebrews 3:13

"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." - James 5:16

Therefore, I thank you for doing God's work :).

OK, to the point... God is amazing, and He does amazing things. Anyone who's spoken to Wendy or me recently knows that we are in the midst of HUGE blessings from God. There's absolutely no reason we should be anywhere near getting this home, except that God loves us, and has plans for us, so He got involved.

The bad news...
Our house did not appraise properly. It actually was way below (30K) what we are selling it for.

The Good news - God stepped in...
The couple from Georgia considered everything, and decided to buy our house anyway! The appraisal is a total non-issue now!


Bad News....
Mortgage Rates sky-rocketed as soon as we signed a deal with Sheila.

Good News - God stepped in again...
God told me to wait. I did, counter to all "logic", and counter to the suggestion of 50% of the "experts" who said rates would continue upward. (The other 50% were divided between going back down and staying even). God said, "trust me and wait." I did. Rates went up again. "Trust me, and wait." I did again. Rates went up again.

Today? Rates are now going back down (have been since last Thurs.), and hopefully tomorrow will be lower than they were when we started :) (Today they are the same as when we started).


The point? God is amazingly good, and is active!

Mortgage Rates

Ever wonder how to "watch" the mortgage rates trends and do forecasts?

I found this site (http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/) that explains how they are tied closely with Bonds.

In short: If bonds go UP, rates go down.
The economy in general does this sort of thing... If it is Strong, stocks go up and bonds go down (which means rates go up)... if it is weak (like now), stocks drop and bonds go UP and rates go down.

Don't be tempted though to therefore equate rates to stock trends. They are far more closely tied to bonds than stocks.

Anyway, I've been learning - though there's still much that's over my head - but the site I just gave you also gives you up to the minute info on the bond/rate activity. It's pretty cool watching the graphs and having a general understand of how all the pieces go together.

Anyway, things are looking positive for rates, and Wendy and I are praying a LOT. Keep us in your prayers.

Thanks.

(Stay tuned, we'll have great info soon!)

Excerpt from the plethora of info on the site I gave:

"For new readers and as a reminder for long standing rate watchers, the foundation for how mortgage rates are generated is built upon trading in the secondary mortgage market, specifically mortgage backed securities(MBS). If investor demand for MBS is high, prices are generally moving higher which helps mortgage rates tick lower. If investor demand is weak for MBS, that drives prices lower, which increases mortgage rates. Investor demand is determined by their perception of the overall economy and the gyrations for the yield curve. If investors believe the economy is strong and growing, they tend to move their funds into higher yielding stocks as a growing economy tends to lead to higher corporate profits and higher returns for their investment dollar. When our economy is struggling, investors tend to move their money into safer lower yielding investments such as MBS and treasuries to avoid losing money by holding stocks. During a struggling economy, corporate profits tend to decrease or disapppear thus the flight into safer assets. Investors make their investment decisions based on many factors including economic reports which are released almost on a daily basis."

Tomorrow... er, Yesterday's Yesterday

Sorry for no update, but I don't really have one to give. On the positive-optomistic side, I at least have no negative news to give.

Stay tuned :)



P.S. God's still always amazing and good... He just operates on His timing, not mine :-P

Tomorrow

I believe tomorrow I will have some AMAZING news... stay tuned.

Doubt and APR

I really feel like we've been doing what we should with this house deal. I know God's been in it all, and I have been listening to what He has to say.

That said, I'm now at an impasse.

We haven't locked a mortgage rate yet. A day or two before we had our offer on the new home accepted, rates jumped up 0.25%. We decided not to lock, thinking rates would go back down... and rates are now going up, alot. They are already another 0.25% higher, and it appears they will continue upward.

We can't really afford for them to be any higher. heck, we can't really afford for them to be as high as they are now... so what to do?

I'm having conflicting ideas on what God wants me to do. I've trusted him thus far, so I know that whatever happens - if we get a good rate, if we don't and have to back out, or even if we don't and also end up losing our current home - whatever happens, God is behind it.

But like I said, I am having conflicting ideas on what God wants me to do. I'm not really hearing Him well, and I'm concerned about making the wrong decision. I'm having "doubts".


Psalm 32 says:

"The Lord says, 'I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.' - Psalm 32:8"


That's very comforting. But then it is followed up by:

"'Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.' - Psalm 32:9"

So then, God will guide me and watch over me, but I also need to not be senseless so that He has to physically force me down the path for my life. In other words, I need to play a role in the whole "acting" process by paying attention to His guidance, rather than making God always open and close doors to push me in the right direction.

So, this is where I'm frustrated. Do I lock a rate? "Common Wisdom" might suggest that I should... but is that what God wants me to do?

Do I wait and trust that God will "take care of it all for me"? This doesn't "seem" wise, and I know God wants me to be wise.

What it comes down to is that I'm not hearing Him.