If you've been itching to buy a home but have been waiting for mortgage rates to fall even more, I've got some bad news for you. The ship has sailed, the plane has departed, the train has left the station, and whatever old cliché you can think of has occurred.

Don't despair over the recent jump in rates, up a third of a percentage point in just the last week. S&P's David Wyss says it's just the sign of a recovering economy and a return to "normalcy" in the interest rate market. He says "where we are now yields look a lot more realistic" and may well have bottomed for the year. But he doesn't expect them to run-up much higher in the near term.

Manhattan Real Estate Broker Lisa Fitzig says she has seen signs of stabilization in the market in recent months. She has not yet seen an impact from the higher rates, but notes rates are still historically low. She says she is advising her clients to get out and start looking, because "it's hard to time the market" and "now may be the perfect time to buy."