Friday morning, at 8:30 AM ET, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its June Non-Farm Payrolls report. If you’re currently shopping for a mortgage, or floating a mortgage rate, be prepared. Mortgage rates can change following the monthly report’s release. Often, by a lot.

In this 5-minute piece from NBC’s The Today Show, you’ll learn a dozen complementary home-shopping techniques to help you review and evaluate a home for purchase. Each is focused on findings you won’t see listed on a website.

Mortgage markets worsened last week as Wall Street’s renewed optimism pushed equities to their best one-week gain in close to 12 months.

The interest rate differential between fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages continues to widen and has now reached historic levels. There’s never been a better time to lock an ARM.

According to data from the National Association of REALTORS, the Pending Home Sales Index smashed analyst expectations, jumping 8 percent on a monthly basis in May.

Maybe homes are holding value better than we thought.

Mortgage markets improved again last week on a revised economic outlook for the U.S. economy, and ongoing concerns about Greece and its sovereign debt.

Last month, the number of new homes sold on an annualized, seasonally-adjusted basis tallied 319,000. The May reading is the second-highest of the year, and 6 percent above the current 12-month average.

Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee voted to leave the Fed Funds Rate unchanged within its current target range of 0.000-0.250 percent. The vote was 10-0 — the fourth straight unanimous vote for the nation’s Central Bank.

Home resales slipped 4 percent in May, falling below the 5,000,000-unit mark on a seasonally-adjusted, annualized basis for the first time since February.