Mortgage rates fall to 37-year low http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/18/real_estate/Mortgage_rates/index.htm Just thought I'd throw that out there for those who haven't considered it. My brother-in-law is a mortgage broker with a big bank and he told me on a usual day they have to ignore about 3% of their incoming calls. Yesterday they had to ignore 60%. There are just so many calls right now from great credit, good positioned people looking to refinance. He said 4.75% on a 30-year is doable. I haven't started shopping yet.
Oddly enough at my credit union I had people on the fence about the 4.625 rate on the 30 that we were offering, they wanted to wait and see if it would drop any more. I took so many mortgage aps the last two days that I didn't even care. I did tell them that this is a record low and to not jump on it would be a mistake. They didn't and now the rate is up to 5.85 for us, and we are the lowest in the area. My advice is if your interest rate is near 6 percent or higher, and you have not recently refinanced, don't think get any rate you can thats below 5% just make sure you go over the good faith estimate to make sure they are not including points or jacking up your closing costs.
We've had 5.15% on a 15 for a few years now, but if we didn't have such a great deal, I'd be thinking about a refinance. In my opinion, however, it'll drop some more. The Fed essentially dropped it's rate to zero and I think sub-5% is a real possibility for those with great credit. Those people who turned their noses up at IVFL's 4.625% were nuts, as that is close to as low as I think it'll go (might go lower, but a bird in hand, man!), although at those rates, anyone who doesn't go with a 15 year note is also crazy.
How long do you have to wait before you can refinance? We bought our house in May with a 6.375% loan and I would love to knock that down a bit if possible...
Same here...we bought the house in July with that interest rate, i think but it's defintely 6. something...
In 2004, I refinanced to a 15 year loan at 4.5%. I doubt I can ever do better than that, but if by some miracle I found a place that would give me a 15 year loan at 3.5%, I would do it in a New York heartbeat.
I have the same rate when I bought a house last June. My mortgage broker has me on the rate watch list right now. He is expecting rates to fall below 5 then it might make sense to refinance.
As the housing deflationary spiral will continue, I will be renting for the next few years. I think housing is just overpriced still nationally ( though not as much in Houston) and I build a few townhomes and sold them back in 2005. I'll be renting for the next year at least until prices really fall as with deflation in the midst, interest rates esp for good credit borrowers will stay low for a while. My concern is the walk-away effect as even prime borrowers who put 20% down in many regions are 30-50% underwater. It could snowball.
Where are you guys finding sub 5%? I haven't gone in to get real numbers specific to me and my credit, but most of what I see is still just above 5? We talking buying points to get it lower or what? (Yes, I've been considering my second refi for a while now)
ah, maybe you're all talking 30 yr? I'm well into the last refi which went to 15 yr, and wouldn't do more than 10 if I did it again. They don't get too excited about those.
To refinance, do you have to do a full application just like the initial mortgage? We kind of took advantage of the shady practices that got the country in trouble in the first place by getting our mortgage based on a "declaration" of my income. Since I get a big part of my pay in cash, I didn't have solid proof of my income. Of course, unlike many people we can comfortably pay our mortgage, so I'm hoping that our payment history might help if we refinance.
I actually made a call to day and am hoping to lock in @ 4.75 by Monday. Keep your fingers crossed. Will save me $300/mo.
