Index says mortgage demand lower - 2004-02-11
The number of Americans applying for a home loan dropped last week even as borrowing costs decreased, but lending activity remained robust and promised to keep bankers busy.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its market index, a measure of weekly mortgage activity, fell 6.8 percent in the week ended Feb. 6 to 797.8.

At the same time, the trade group's purchase index, a gauge of new requests for loans to buy homes, fell 9.4 percent to 402.
Read the full story at CNN/Money

The options: invest cash or pay off mortgage - 2004-02-11
Before the stock market crumbled, many readers who could pay off mortgages put the money in the stock market instead. They weren't stupid. Their investment advisers stated that paying 6 percent interest was smart when you were earning 20 percent.

"If I inherited $60,000, would it be better to leave it in an existing investment account, or use it to pay off a 15-year, $60,000 mortgage at 6.25 percent?
Read the full story at Houston Chronicle