Rates Holding Steady

Rates have held steady for the past few weeks as markets have attempted to decipher the conflicting reports about what the Fed will do next.  Ben Bernanke has made contradictory statements in several different for a about whether he is a “hawk” or a “dove” on inflation.  Like the regular hawks and doves on war, no one wants to be seen to be a dove, even if that’s what they really are.  So I would bet on hawkish moves from Bernanke even of there’s evidence that the economy is cooling dramatically.  There won’t be any such evidence, but there also won’t be any evidence of inflation, so the markets are in limbo and likely to remain so.

That puts the 30-year at about 6.625% and the 15-year at 6.25% or thereabouts.

We’re getting a large number of calls on the Mortgage-Saver loan, which we detailed in the latest issue of our newsletter (available upon request).  We were of the impression when we began working with this loan that it would benefit primarily those that had irregular incomes (like ourselves), salesmen, business owners, and the like.  But we’ve also seen superior analysis results from those who have regular incomes, who just want to pay their mortgages off sooner but don’t really want to have their equity locked in their houses.

This is a truly exceptional loan program, and the best bet I’ve seen for actually reducing the average family’s mortgage debt in a rational way.  We’re going to talk more about this as we go along here.  It’s important.

Still Scrambling

One day I'll write something comprehensive on how child #7 has scrambled the works here at the Clan Jones Abode, but for now, suffice it to say that far from being a simple integration of one more into a household of eight, this addition has meant a re-ordering of family relationships that has kept me far busier than I thought it would. Maybe this happened the other times as well, and I just wasn't around enough to see it. But there have been some really difficult emotional moments here for many of the children, and personally, I don't recall ever being this tired.

But I still had ten seconds today to peruse the list of the top grossing movies of all time. Adjusted for inflation. Do yourself a favor, write down your predicted top 5 before you go.

More later, Duffy.

By Way of Recommencing

I've got a rule here at The Chris Jones Group, and that is that whatever else has to get done, the client comes first. The Hansmanns have needed me to be true to that for the past couple of days, and thanks to the wonderful people at First National Lending Services, we closed this morning and Tod and Lorna will be moving into their beautiful new home on Saturday.

Of course, this leaves little time for blogging, so I'm sorry, but you'll have to make do with a couple of filler articles that I loved.

Here's a challenge: work only a four-day week.

And here's a post from the What's Next Blog, one of our favorite things:

A new study proves that the Chihuahua is actually a type of large rodent, selectively bred for centuries to resemble a canine, says The Watley Review. "This is clearly going to raise some eyebrows in the Chihuahua world," said Peggy Wilson, president of the Chihuahua Club of America.

Just in case you're not familiar with the Watley Review, read their disclaimer, sure to resonate with a lot of bloggers:

"dedicated to the production of articles completely without journalistic merit or factual basis, as this would entail leaving our chairs or actually working."

via Judy Vorfeld, via B.L. Ochman

And maybe tomorrow will allow me to have fun blogging. I hope so.

CJ Gets One Right

None of my other predictions came true, but this one did. We had a boy at 1:36, about two hours after I wrote last. He is 8 pounds, 21.5 inches long, and I believe we have decided to call him Nathaniel Miller Jones. The boys immediately named him Nate the Great.

Mother and baby are doing beautifully.

Oh, and the Fed raised for the 16th consecutive time. Prime is now 8%. Good thing my favorite construction loans are fixed at 7.5%.

And the Verdict is....

Well, may my wife forgive me, we're in labor right now and will have the baby in about three hours.

Predictions?

It's a Girl!

Sinister Minister finished 15th.

The Suns beat the Lakers by 31.

The Spurs beat the Queens by 20 in Sacramento in Game 6.

Steve Stockdale started talking about the hockey playoffs just about the minute he got to my house on Saturday.

It is Monday, and we still have no birth.

Therefore, given that all my predictions were wrong - no, not just wrong, hugely, extremely, embarrassingly wrong - dare I say, FED wrong - I conclude that the baby must be a girl, given my prediction of last post.

I'll let everyone know when there's something to announce.

It's A Boy!

Well, no, despite the headline, we still don't know what it is, because we haven't had it yet. We're oddballs. We never find out what it is before it gets here. We also don't open our Christmas presents in October, though, so we think we're pretty normal, and everyone else is odd.

The key point here is that we still haven't had it, but it occurs to me that I haven't made any predictions in a good while, so here's a doozy - this baby will be a boy. It will be born Sunday, which is the birthday of Valerie Harmon and of Candi Wilson, two of the best people in the world.

Other predictions:

The Kentucky Derby will be won by Sinister Minister, not by Brother Derek, though the rooting money in this house will absolutely be on the South Jordan-broke horse. Derek, incidentally, of Brother Derek, is serving an LDS mission in Armenia, just for those trivia buffs out there.

The Phoenix Suns will lose to the LA Lakers at the buzzer in game 7.
The San Antonio Spurs will need a game 7 to eliminate the Sacramento Queens (which nickname, it seems, will need revising).
No one will comment on the fact that for the first time since 2004, there are playoffs in hockey.

Have a good weekend. We'll be back to the regular blog schedule next week sometime.

No News Is Bad News

My wife, as you know if you’ve called me recently, is 8.92671 months pregnant.  She’s “nesting”, whatever that means, and I’m spending most of this week taking care of her and the kids and the house, so blogging is just not getting very high on the list of business things I have to do.

If you’re bored, I strongly recommend Not All Who Wander Are Lost, one of the most poetic and thoughtful blogs on the net.

I’ll check in periodically, just to see how you’re doing.  And of course, if anything exciting happens (my sister Allison just had a baby this morning, for instance, name of Isaac Singleton Flannery), I’ll let you know more or less immediately.