Toll Bros. Offers 3.99% Fixed Mortgage Deal

Luxury home builder Toll Brothers last week began offering a 3.99 percent fixed-rate mortgage for loans $417,000 or below for 30 years with no points.

The rate is well below the national average of slightly less than 5 percent and lower than most other builders are offering.

"We're curious to see how many [deals] it generates," says Don Salmon, president and chief executive of TBI Mortgage Co., Toll's mortgage subsidiary.

Other builders haven't immediately followed suit, but "it's definitely something that if they haven't considered it already, they will," said Brent Anderson, vice president of investor relations for Meritage Homes Corp., which doesn't have a mortgage subsidiary.

Centex Corp. and Lennar Corp. have bought down mortgages, offering buyers 3.5 percent for the first two years. The rate then locks in at 4.5 percent.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Dawn Wotapka (01/22/09)

**My stepson and his wife just purchased a home for 3.5% for first year and it locked in at 5.75% here in Owasso. Some great deals out there.