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Loan-level pricing adjustments are government-mandated closing costs. And they're rising April 1, 2011. See how LLPAs work and run your loan scenario against this online calculator. Maybe *your* loan will trigger new fees, too.
Over the last 60 days, bank checking accounts are paying 38% more interest, and interest rates are approaching a 2-year high. It's an insider's signal that a surge in jumbo mortgage rates is coming.
Leave your metaphors at home. Take a front-row seat on an actual 2010 Mortgage Rate Roller Coaster, mapped to scale 100%. Just be sure to strap yourself down.
Overwhelmingly, refinancing homeowners are choosing fixed rate mortgages over adjustable ones. But is it logical? Go deep on the numbers and see for yourself.
In 2011 -- for the 6th consecutive year -- the single-family conforming mortgage loan limit will be $417,000. The "high-cost" area program is extended, too.
As compared to the day *after* the expiration of the $8,000 home buyer tax credit, today's cost of carrying a 30-year fixed rate mortgage to term is lower by $51,000. Mortgage rates are on a 6-month rally.
5-year ARMs in the 3s? 30-year fixeds in the 4s? Today is not "the new normal", folks. Don't fool yourself into thinking it is. Someday, our children will study the Summer of 2010 in their finance books. Rates may fall this week, but that doesn't mean you should gamble on it.
Starting next week, Fannie Mae is putting major restrictions on the popular "interest only" loan product. This follows Freddie Mac's earlier announcement to discontinue interest only loans entirely.
When people visit national mortgage sites for "rates", what they're looking is for something akin to a MSRP for Mortgages; a way to keep their lender honest about rate quotes and such. Sadly, markets don't work that way. You can't visit a national website for a single mortgage rate any more than that you could watch a national forecast for a single weather report.
Mortgage rates are rising. 5 percent, 30-year fixeds will be here soon. It's apparent with just one look at a chart going back 16 months.
Home buyers would be silly to not at least consider the 5-year ARM right now. As compared to the 30-year fixed, the 5-year ARM is an absolute steal.
Mortgage rates tend to climb with the mercury. It's been the case in each of the last 3 years. As spring months turn into summer, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rises. This year should be no different.
According to Freddie Mac, Primary Mortgage Market Survey results are collected Monday through Wednesday, then published to the public Thursday. By design, therefore, the survey lumps mortgage market activity spread across 3 days into 1 single point of data. Survey results are skewed, therefore, based on the when survey responders get back to Freddie Mac. Last week, this point was painfully clear.
If history is an indicator, mortgage rates should ease a bit into 2010. Data from Freddie Mac since 2006 shows that 30-year fixed mortgage rates tend to rise during the summer months, and fall through the fall. So far, 2009 is staying true to form.
Thursday, Freddie Mac published its weekly mortgage market survey. The report showed mortgage rates sub-5 percent, trolling near all-time lows. Versus October 2008, 30-year fixed mortgages are down 1.07%. The press was eager to report this story -- mostly because anytime mortgage rates below 5.000 percent, it makes for good copy. But, for rate shoppers in Cincinnati and Chicago, by the time Friday's business section was delivered, the Freddie Mac survey was already out-of-date.
In yesterday's post, I described mortgage rates as being "range-bound", repeatedly returning to the same 5.250 percent, 0 points marker since last December. Rather than take my word for it, though, check out the chart. It plots the Freddie Mac, 30-year fixed mortgage rate from December 2008 to July 2009.
To a consumer, one of the most difficult facets of shopping for a mortgage is figuring out just what mortgage rates are doing at any given time. Despite countless websites and blogs devoted to the topic of mortgage, the most important part of a person's research -- the darn price -- can't be found hardly anywhere online. It's a horrifying revelation for people vis-à-vis the way we've all been trained to use the internet. We're taught to use the internet to eliminate information asymmetry; to know the price before we ever show up at the store. That way, we can negotiate the best possible deals for ourselves. Except it doesn't work like that for mortgages.
