Buying a home in the New York area, as you may expect, is not cheap.

The deal is, for a loan larger than $417,000, you need to get a "jumbo mortgage." Now, in NY, the typical house will cost you more than 417,000 even after putting 20% down.

What makes things worse for home buyers now, is that the jumbo mortgage rates have jumped from 6.87% to 7.64% in a couple weeks. Why? Well, because the lending market was too free going back in the day and many borrowers are going into default. So mortgage companies are now going bankrupt.

This rate hike is not something to laugh at, it can increase your payments to a few hundred dollars per month!

The WSJ has a very clear article on this named Home Inequity where they explain that borrowers with the good credit are not getting hit with this. You see, someone needs to make up for the loses. Now, overall, it is much harder for people to get mortgages, especially jumbos. Which, I think, it should have been for from day one. Lend wisely, like you would to anyone. But due to lending practices, the jumbos are all out of whack with the typical "conforming" loan which have been going down because those are under $417 and backed by the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

I personally locked in a solid rate, but it cost me to do so. In addition, I am trading up, so I am selling my current home to the person I am buying from, so that helps a ton. It is just weird times for the real estate market. Pricing of homes are declining but some mortgage rates are increasing. Timing it right, is well, what they say, "it is all about timing."