How Rising Gas Prices Affect Consumers

Crude oil prices have been increasing lately and that tends to lead to higher gas prices at the pump.

The heat map at right is courtesy of GasBuddy.com, a Web site that tracks gas prices on a national, state, county, city and hyper-local basis.

According to GasBuddy.com, gasoline prices are beginning to rise after 7 weeks of decline.

Typically, higher gas prices lead to less disposable income for Americans and that normally puts downward pressure on mortgage rates.

This year, however, traders have been largely ignoring that once-common Rule of Thumb because — despite the cost of the world around them — consumers continue to consume at a dizzying pace.

Mortgage rates will likely not respond to crude oil or gas prices unless they reach new all-time highs.

(Image courtesy: GasBuddy.com)______________________________________________

Tony Gallegos - Serving the mortgage needs of Kennesaw, Marietta, Roswell, Smyrna, Powder Springs, Dallas, Acworth, Woodstock, Douglasville, Hiram, Austell and Atlanta. Subscribe to The Mortgage Cicerone:

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Week In Review (July 30, 2007): What To Watch For

The stock markets faced large losses last week and the bond market was a beneficiary.  That was good news for mortgage rates, but the news could have been better.

Unnerved by losses in the sub-prime market, investors are beginning to question the safety of mortgage bonds overall.  Once considered a “safe” investment, mortgage bonds may be losing their luster and that could drive mortgage rates higher. 

Less demand for mortgage bonds forces mortgage rates up.

This week, markets should stop taking their cue from “sentiment” and instead focus on actual data.  There’s a lot of inflation-related news coming up.

Tuesday is the first big data day of the week, featuring Personal Consumption and Expenditures (PCE) and the Employment Cost Index.  The former answers “What is the cost of living for ordinary people?” and the latter answers “What is the cost of keeping a workforce?”.

Increases in either will be viewed as inflationary which should contribute to a rise in mortgage rates.

Then, on Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the jobs report from July.  Markets are expecting 135,000 new jobs created, a 3,000 increase over June 2007. 

As always, though, the real story in the Non-Farm Payrolls report is not the headline, but the upward or downward revisions to May’s data and June’s data.

It’s been a wild ride for mortgage rate shoppers lately.  This week does not figure to get any smoother.

(Image courtesy: Seeking Alpha)

Tony Gallegos - Serving the mortgage needs of Kennesaw, Marietta, Roswell, Smyrna, Powder Springs, Dallas, Acworth, Woodstock, Douglasville, Hiram, Austell and Atlanta. Subscribe to The Mortgage Cicerone:

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Suwanee, Georgia - Top Ten Places To Live | Money Magazine

The honors for suburban towns on the north side of metro Atlanta keep rolling in endlessly. Subsequently, Suwanee, Georgia was named by Money Magazine (August, 2007 issue) as one of the top ten places in the nation to live. Factors considered by Money included economic opportunity, good schools, safe streets, things to do, and a real sense of community.What makes Suwanee such a great place to live? According to Money, Sauwnee has:

• A progressive and friendly community
• More than 500 acres of parkland and miles of walking and biking trails - Suwanee is known throughout the state for preserving greenspace and creating parks
• Newly developed Town Center Park that boasts top quality restaurants, shops, office spaces and an ampitheatre that meshes with nearby townhouses and single-family homes
• Free city sponsored concerts and activities
• Top ranked schools
• Affordable housing - you can get into a nice four-bedroom for $250,000

Located about 13 miles north of Atlanta, Suwanee is well-known around the region for its distinctive parks, crowd-pleasing events, and high-quality mixed-use developments.