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Fed raises benchmark interest rate, but home mortgage rates remain low. Will the March 15 Fed rate increase lead to an increase in home mortgage interest rates? Wednesday’s hike was widely expected, meaning the markets had already priced it in, so many experts don’t see rates moving much higher in the coming weeks, according to CNNMoney. Now is a great time to lock in a rate for a home purchase or refinance, while rates are still at historic lows.

Catch up with this week's Markets in a Minute by Academy Mortgage. The latest news on the economy and housing, and the last laugh - all in a minute! #marketsinaminute #1stCHOICELender

Wednesday Words of Wisdom. #quote #Wednesday #wise #words

Zillow's house of the week is a slice of paradise. #realestate #Zillow #house #Hawaii

Thanks for the kind words Sydnie. #testimonial #home #purchase #1stCHOICELender

Laura Ingalls Wilder said, "Home is the nicest word there is." #quote #quoteoftheday #home

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everybody! #Irish #StPattys #Irishwristwatch #holiday

This weeks testimonial comes from Barbara Osborne. Thanks again for the kind words Barbara! #testimonial #1stCHOICELender #realestate

Wednesday Words of Wisdom. #quote #inspirational #wisdom

Grace Murray Hopper (19061992) was a mathematician, pioneering computer scientist, U.S. Navy rear admiral, and posthumous recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 for her contributions to computer science. Grace put her many accomplishments and awards in perspective: The most important thing I’ve accomplished, other than building the compiler, is training young people. They come to me, you know, and say, ‘Do you think we can do this?’ I say, ‘Try it.’ And I ba...ck ’em up. They need that. I keep track of them as they get older, and I stir ’em up at intervals so they don’t forget to take chances. When Grace was seven years old, she dismantled seven clocks to learn how they work. Later Grace said: Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, ‘We’ve always done it this way.’ I try to fight that. That’s why I have a clock on my wall that runs counter-clockwise. After graduating from Vassar College in math and physics, she earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. at Yale in the 1930s. During World War II, Grace joined the Naval Reserve. The Navy assigned her to its computation project at Harvard, where she helped program the very first computer, named Mark I. Later Grace worked on the team that developed the UNIVAC I computer. Her team created the first compiler for computer languages (a compiler translates worded instructions into code that computers can read); this compiler was a forerunner of COBOL computer language. Grace continued in the Naval Reserve and then active duty, for a total of 42 years, achieving the ranks of captain, commodore, and rear admiral. When she retired in 1986 at age 79, she was the oldest active-duty commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy. Amazing Grace Hopper summed up her adventurous attitude about life, risk-taking, and service: A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for.

Your ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to relax. David Allen, author of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity... David Allen’s way to get tasks done starts with writing them down and breaking them into smaller, actionable work items. Focus your attention on taking specific actions instead of just thinking about the general task. Writing down your task and actionable steps and then following through with specific actions lowers your stress and frees your mind. You don’t actually do a project; you can only do action steps related to it. . . . Clean up, close up, clarify, and renegotiate all your agreements with yourself and others. I just suggest that you do this weekly. Here are Allen’s steps for getting things done and lowering your stress: 1. Collect and inventory all the stuff in your lifesmall tasks, big projects, errands, receipts, a problem with a friend, etc. 2. Classify and organize your stuff. a. Anything that requires two minutes or less is handled on the spot. b. Eliminate the stuff which isn’t yours or which you don’t need right now. c. Keep the rest of the stuff, and create a right place for it. 3. Take action to accomplish your stuff in a way that honors your time, energy, and life goals.

In a joint decision, the three largest credit reporting bureaus agreed to modify their rules about what to include in the credit score algorithm.

Ben Carson will be the next Secretary of HUD. Only time will tell what Secretary Carson will do with his new position and what it will mean for conventional mortgages across the country. #economy #news #housing