Tag

mortgage rate

"Hurry! These Rates Won’t Last!"

Lack of Buyer Urgency I was taking advantage of a welcome — and too brief — lull in my schedule the other day to cull the accumulated detritus on my desk (and on my office floor, and chairs, and . . .), and saw the following postcard: ‘Hurry! These Rates Won’t Last!” The date? October,...
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Flight to Safety = Rate Drop

Market Melt-Down Creates Refinancing Opportunity No, it’s not good when already volatile markets lurch downward like they’ve done the last couple days. However, astute financial observers know that such turbulence is also accompanied by a “flight to safety” — in this case, U.S. debt. Doesn’t the U.S. have a $13 trillion (and counting) deficit, and...
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What Are Mortgage Rates? Get Your Calculator

Blend of Two Variables Answering the question, “what are prevailing mortgage rates?” seems simple enough. After all, the answer should be “5%,” “5.25%,” or something similar, depending on one’s credit scores, and the mortgage product in question (fixed, 5 yr ARM, 10 yr. ARM, etc.). In practice, it’s a little more difficult, because rates are...
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Contrarian Real Estate Bet

Which Way Mortgage Rates? According to a certain (contrarian) school of thought, whatever everyone expects to happen . . . won’t. In the housing market, there seems to be almost universal agreement at the moment that mortgage rates are going to be higher — perhaps dramatically — in the second half of 2010 and beyond....
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Opting for Loans with No Closing Costs

“Discounted Present . . . . What??” I’m hearing from numerous lenders — and observing with my own Buyers — that more people are opting for loans with higher interest rates, in exchange for paying no closing costs. So, instead of, say, getting a 30-year mortgage at 5% for $200,000, and paying $6,000 in closing...
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