Do the sandals in Washington affect mortgage rates?

No... Washington scandals do not effect interest rates... If a major war, or some other major tragic event, then that could.. The biggest influence on mortgage rates are the "Mortgage Backed Securities" which are sold via the bond market. Typically, the news that's good for wall street is usually bad for interest rates, and bad news for wall street usually are good for interest rates.. When good economic news hits, like last week when the job's reports for May, 2013 were released, it was a "positive economic event".. wall street liked the news, and they responded positively.. Investors flocked to stocks, driving up stock prices, but the bond market was ignored.. resulting in a lower price on the bonds to attract buyers, thus raising interest rates... conversely, if there was some bad news that had wall street investors running from the purchase of stocks, and they flood the bond market, then the cost of the bonds go up, and that allows for lower interest rates.. .. I'm a Broker here in Scottsdale AZ and I only lend in Arizona. If you or someone you know is looking for financing options, feel free to contact me or pass along my information. 480-287-5714 WilliamAcres.com

If you refer to scandals, there is not a direct correlation. The Federal Reserve has operated to hold down interest rates for last 12-18 months, but outside market forces, such as the worry over European countries' debt problems, have caused rates to start to increase.

Scandals, per se, will not directly affect mortgage rates. That being said, if the scandal were about "fixing books on unemployment" then they could affect the rates. Generally what will mostly affect the rates are how much production is being done, what the unemployment rate is, and how do the financial markets look overseas.