THE FED'S THINKING ON RATES AND THEIR SUBSEQUENT HIKES, SHOULDN'T INFLUENCE YOUR THINKING

What exactly is meant by that?  Simply put, what the Fed does, is all about short term rates and the target that the Fed sets for overnight bank lending rates and how  it buys and sells securities to keep market rates at that level.    This has some impact on long term rates, but has more to do with the global economy, the fluidity of world- wide cash, what is happening with inflation, oil, gas, futures.  In other words, their agenda has nothing to do with your agenda.  Neil Irwin of the New York Times states in a recent article, "You should make your borrowing decisions based on current market rates and whether they make a given home purchases or refinancing decision affordable.  Assume that neither you, your mortgage broker, nor your Uncle Ned, who watches a lot of Wall Street sharpies on CNBC, has any predictive capacity to know whether rates will be higher or lower a month from now.  Mortgages are usually based on long-term interest rates, not short-term interest rates, and the Fed is not on some preordained path; rather, its policy will adjust depending on how the economy evolves."  When it is time for you to buy and you have found the right property, you will want to go forward because it is part of your economic strategy for your circumstances.