Wow. I just went to refinance today at 4%. That's with 2 points but still a great rate.

[geckosfeet]

I have never seen mortgage interest rates so low.

But, I still think that the people who really need to refinance to take advantage of the low rates are locked out because their home values have declined dramatically and they are under water.

The feds should establish some kind of underwater home refinancing assistance. Low rates are good, but it doesn't address the core problem.

[Auggie]

1. Is that 30 year fixed?

[WorseBeforeBetter]

2. LOL (n/t)

[Deja Q]

3. I somehow doubt they neutered it. We, the debtor class, need a good raping every now and then.

:evilfrown:

[geckosfeet]

11. Sorry - 15 year fixed.

[mdavies013]

4. Housing is a symptom of the problem....not the cause.

It would be great if they offered to refinance all homeowners who are in trouble (especially with all of the predatory lending and steering minorities into subprime loans when they could qualify for conventional financing), but it takes the mark off the real reason the economy is a suck fest...

Bernie Madeoff is a small fish in a very big pond (AIG, Goldman Sachs, Bear Sterns, etc.). They are all ponzie scheming bastards.

[paulsby]

5. i closed today

locked in a few weeks ago, so "only" got a 4.62% rate lol.

pretty frigging sweet.

[geckosfeet]

12. Still pretty good - when I forst called it was 4.5% - dropped during the intervening time period!

[this_side_up]

6. We thought we were being

smart, getting ahead of the game, when we had an appraisal
done late January. As it turns out, there is a new playa in
town - something called an appraisal management company -
they decide who the reputable appraisers are and if not on
the list, forget it, gotta have another appraisal done.

Lucky for us, she is on the list & we saved $50 by going
direct rather than through the broker etc. I wonder how
they split the $50?

Last week we locked in at 4.625 and yesterday at 4.5.
No points. Frankly, I hope it drops to 3.8 before we close.

The broker told us that they are not financing anyone unless
the customer has a stellar credit report and high FICA
scores - minimum 740-750 and they prefer higher.
He said today they are not taking any more re-fis because
underwriting etc is swamped. That might change next
week but no way to tell.

I don't think we will have lower payments because we
changed from 30 to 15 yr and hope to be done with it
in 10. The only reason we did that is because they've
messed up everything and we want to be in the clear
ASAP.

[upi402]

7. That's a great rate!

I have a 780+ cr and over 50% equity and no other debt but I only get 4.84apr best quote from zillow mtg marketplace. QQ
Bankrate.com seems like a scam site when I try to use it. Any recommendations?
Word is that they are not competing due to high request for loan volume.

[this_side_up]

8. Opps...forgot something.

He called this "the par rate". Whatever that is.
Apparently not the same thing as regular interest rate.
You should ask for the par rate and see what they say.

Whatever. I'm tired & my broken bones are literally
a pain and I'm not making sense even to myself.

What state are you in? I'm in Oregon.

Go to your local newspaper website's business section
or real estate or mortgage/interest section
and see if there is a list of mortgage brokers. That is
where we found this guy. I didn't like the first company
I talked to and this ad was second and we had the
appraisal so decided to make appt to talk to him 1
days later.

Odd thing....we made the appt to go see the guy
and he called that morning 1 hour before the scheduled
appt to ask if we were still on. I guess lots of people
don't show up?

Anyway, we did and SO already had numbers in his
head...and we signed. With the appraisal done and
luckily they accepted it and here we are. It might
be out of underwriting and ready to go sign some time
next week. appraisals can take 2-4 weeks. So it is
working out very nicely.

gotta get to bed.

Wishing you luck!

[marketcrazy1]

10. the "par" rate is simply leneder speak

“par rate” is the interest rate a borrower
qualifies for with a given bank or lender assuming there are no add-ons or adjustments to fees. the "par" rate may vary depending on the credit risk of the borrower.
In other words, the borrower would receive the par interest rate if there was no yield spread premium charged by the broker or lender, and no adjustments to rate or fee.

Par rate, otherwise known as the base rate, is determined by the borrower’s particular loan scenario, which includes adjustments for things such as loan amount, credit score, property type, loan-to-value, and so on.

this COULD mean you got a "no points / no fees" deal. you should read your documents carefully or simply ask the lender since he brought it up, if the rate you got was "par" with no adjustments ( points,fees ) OR if there were adjustments, how did they effect your rate or the cost of the loan or both...

[this_side_up]

15. thanks for the explantion of par.

Frankly I find all this financial mumbo jumbo terms confusing
as in why not speak clear English.

We are paying the 1% loan originating fee. Last week
we could have bought down to the 4.2 rate but that would
have cost 2 points. Not worth it.

We will read everything carefully and see if they try
to sneak in any fees. Which reminds me...he still needs
to send us the good faith estimate. guess I will email him
when I finish this post.

[geckosfeet]

13. Smart. I am hoping to be out in 10 as well.

[this_side_up]

16. Good luck to both of us!!

I hope we can do this in 10.

Reality is things happen as in appliances die, cars die etc.

At least we have a goal.

[atomic-fly]

9. I applied for a refinance online...

unfortunately, i'm unemployed right now, so i doubt i'll get it.
My wife works and we have payed off half the value already.
I think with all the stimulus deals going to places like countrywide, that
i could get my rate adjusted to the lower rate.
I'm at 6.25 now, so 4.5 would help alot.

[geckosfeet]

14. Yeah - they wanted 2 year W2's and all kinds of 401k and payroll crap.

They are playing it safe.

[this_side_up]

18. Boy howdy, are they playing it safe!!!

Geez, we had to dig up 2 years of W2s and I think 2 months
of bank statements, 401K, current property tax bill and maybe
something else I cannot remember.

Since we were willing to walk away, we made 2 copies of everything
in case we had to start all over with another broker.

broker sent us our current credit report - looks great, very high
FICA etc.

Just an FYI....do check out http://www.missingmoney.com

Somehow it seems the health insurance company managed to not
get a 2005 refund check to us and the state is holding it. Have filed claim
for it (over $100). I regularly check Oregon's unclaimed property
but never thought about Wash state (insurance is headquartered
there). Odd thing is....they have sent numerous checks since and
during 2005 yet they blew this one off? They could have checked SS number and/or employer name...found it's the same person and mailed the check. Whatever. We were both stressed out in 05 and obviously
need to improve accounting system which would catch things like this.

[this_side_up]

17. It can't hurt to ask your current

lender. And inform them you are looking elsewhere too.
They might want to deal.

I made it clear to our broker that we'd be more than willing
to walk away and take our business elsewhere. He's not happy we
saved $50 on the appraisal.

I called our current lender (Wells Fargo) and left message as the real estate person was not available. She never called back.

Make the calls. Send emails. Can't hurt and might help.

[OllieLotte]

19. I think that is good.

4% money will allow people that have been prudent, with good credit and saved up a bit of money to afford a house. These are they type of people that we want to get into homes and out of renting. If housing prices had stayed high, they might never have been able to get in. This gives them a chance to own a house. This will also allow investors to pick up these houses as rentals with 20% down. This will stabilize the prices if these home get picked up. We need for these homes to be purchased by people that are responsible. The people that contributed to this disaster, along with the banks and the government should be moving into the rental properties that are being snapped up with the 4% money.