Under Six! August 16, 2002February 21, 2017 Fixed-rate 30-year mortgages have fallen a hair under 6% for the first time in something like 40 years. MSNBC reported a 5.95% average rate. Just by way of perspective: from 1880 to 1965 – 85 years – there was never such a thing in this country as a home mortgage at more than 6%. (And didn’t Hamurabi’s Code impose the death penalty for charging interest above 6%? My memory’s a little less clear on that one.) So, far from being all but impossible, sub-6% mortgages are actually just the way things ‘always’ were. Yet something tells me it won’t remain this way for 85 years this time. Not the worst opportunity to refinance – perhaps with a 15-year loan at a 5.7% rate. Later this weekend or Monday: Andy learns to press clothes. (If he had ever learned to pack properly, he wouldn’t have needed to learn to press clothes.)