Luck refers to that which happens to a person beyond that person's control. This view incorporates phenomena that are chance happenings, a person's place of birth for example, but where there is no uncertainty involved, or where the uncertainty is irrelevant.
Average rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have climbed in recent weeks by about a quarter-percentage point, from 3.75 percent to almost 4 percent â about a $600-a-year difference on a $350,000 mortgage. Several sources of data suggest that buyers are paying more attention to the threat of higher rates.
Sometimes mortgage rates go up when the Fed increases short-term rates, as the central bank's action sets the tone for most other interest rates. But sometimes mortgage rates fall after the Fed raises the federal funds rate. Starting in June 2004, the Fed raised the federal funds rate 17 times in two years.