Economic Conversation

I think we all know of a friend or family member who has gotten a mortgage rate that is almost unthinkable.  Just the other day, a friend of mine mentioned that he got a 4.25% 15 year fixed rate mortgage.  I know mortgage rate trends have been going down, but this much?  I almost didn’t want to believe her, but she showed me the documentation and she really got a fixed mortgage rate that is almost unheard of.  She explained that she is going to save over $230 a month on a mortgage payment by refinancing at such a low rate.

With this in mind, I am sure many of you have saved a great deal of money by getting an extremely low mortgage rate.  It may have been a new home you were buying or refinancing your current home, but I would like to hear how difficult it was?  I have heard horror stories about the refinance appraisal step of the process as many homes are being appraised at much lower than expected.  With that being said, if you can save $230 a month on a mortgage payment, it may be worth it to go through all the trouble.  Have lower mortgage rates helped your financial life?

AUTHOR: Patty Cramer

Mortgage rate predictions were extremely easy to make from October of 2008 until just two weeks ago; in more words or less, mortgage rates were going down, down and down some more.  There were some weeks where rates saw a slight bounce of .05% or so but nothing compared to have happened last week.  Mortgage rates saw a jump of almost 50 basis points as rates went form 4.91% to 5.29%.  This is very bad news for current and future home owners.

Many would say that it will lower home prices because mortgage rates are going higher but aren’t home prices extremely low already?  Now that you know mortgage rates are going higher, possibly much higher, are you going to give up on refinancing?  If you were in the market to buy a new home, has this changed your mind?