01.29.08

Low, Affordable Refinance Mortgage Loan Rates

Posted in Advice - Refinance at 11:40 pm by Ken S.

If you have a mortgage and good credit, research says now is a great time to refinance your loan.  Thanks to the lowest mortgage rates in nearly two years, it is a good time to refinance your home loan rate to lower your payment.  Adjustable and interest-only loan rates are resetting, and many applicants can take advantage of fixed rates in the 5.5 % to 6% range - often with no out-of-pocket closing costs.  Jay Brinkmann of the Mortgage Bankers Association says that “no-cost” refinancings (where the lender rolls your transaction costs into your interest rate) “are absolutely an option” for many people.

Anyone whose current mortgage loan rates are 6.25 % or more could benefit from such an affordable refinance arrangement.  Though specifics vary from lender to lender, many mortgage firms will offer affordable zero-out-of-pocket loan deals in exchange for an extra quarter-point on the interest rate.  In other words, a borrower who has a mortgage loan with a 6.5% fixed-rate loan would refinance into a new, lower, more affordable 6% interest rate loan without paying any fees at closing. The lender would  just include 0.25 percentage points onto the prevailing 5.75% rate.
 
Some lenders report that more than 60% of the home loan applications this month were refinance loan applications.  My advice?  Take advantage of the lower interest rates, get a low affordable payment, and save yourself some money.  I did.

- Ken S.

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