Home : Blogs : Bob Chapman : Bob Chapman - Washington Real Estate Page Blog

Home Mortgage Interest Rate Confusion

The FED continues to test the wind with low mortgage interest rate teasers. For a couple of weeks now we have been hearing rumors of a 4.5% rate. Today, a regulator with FNMA, stated that he thinks rates will eventually drop to as low as 3.5%, but he did not know how soon that would be. Buyer's were already sitting on the sidelines waiting for the mythical 4.5% rate. What will this do?

Bob Chapman - Associate Broker, Windermere Real Estate/Lake Stevens, Inc.,

E-Mail: bobchapman@windermere.com, Website: http://washingtonrealestatepage.com/home

Cell/Direct: (425) 268-2940, Off: (425) 335-4666 Ext. 236, Fax: (425) 335-1838

Address: 9327 4th St. NE, Ste. 3, Lake Stevens, WA 98258

Posted by Bob Chapman on 12/11/2008 04:09 PM

Comments (5)

Home Mortgage Interest Rates in the Mortgage / Finance Channel

interest rates, home mortgage

This post has been included in Washington Information

5 Comments on Home Mortgage Interest Rate Confusion

DEC

Bob, I'm not so sure many will qualify to get these rates. I spoke with lender today and the tougher lending regs are disqualifying many.

If rates ever get that low, grab your pen and paper because there will be a flurry of buyers like hasn't happened in 2 years. They'll all be trying to get in before the inevitable rise in rates!

Talk about historically low rates only hurts the housing market. If the government is really serious, they should keep quiet and make the announcement when they are ready to implement the new rates. Lots of folks have put their home buying on hold waiting to see what happens. Today's rates are great. It wasn't that long ago we felt good about 7%.

This week I heard from several agents and mortgage brokers in McKinney that clients had backed away from home searches in our area because of the rumors that the government is going to reduce mortgage rates to 4.5%. We have seen some purchases of foreclosure properties by clients with cash. For the first time in my memory, having cash for a purchase seems to be impacting seller attitudes. Even banks seem to be responding to cash offers. The folks who have stepped to the sidelines are forgetting that mortgage rates TODAY are at all time lows. They also neglect to calculate that the difference in monthly payment between a loan at 5.2% and one at 4.5% is minimal. It probably less than half of their monthly Starbuck's bill. If I needed a house I would be actively in the market today. It is not possible to time any market and the housing market is no exception. There are tremendous bargains out there. When I calculate replacement costs for some of the deals I see, I know that there will not be a better time to buy than now. Looking back on this buyers will be kicking themselves for not acting.

John Mulkey's comments were exactly my point for writing the origial post. Buyer's are now waiting for these new "magical" rates to materialize!

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?