Baltimore Refinance Guide
Baltimore Refinance Guide was put together to assist you whether you are considering buying a house, or if you’re already a home owner and are simply searching for help with your Baltimore refinance. We sincerely hope you’ll find the information here helpful in your endeavors.
Currently, mortgage interest rates are at their lowest in years. The question is, how can you get the best deal?
Everyone wants to know how to get these super low interest rates. The problem is, even when people call their current lender, many people are having trouble getting through to them on the phone. They’re pretty frustrated.
Believe it or not, it could take as long as 3 months for the mortgage market to be back to working normally, according to what one expert at Fannie Mae believes. His expectations are to see interest rates for home mortgages to stay in the neighborhood of 4.75% to 5.25% for the rest of the year.The main message here is to not panic. It will take some time to get a mortgage done, but that shouldn’t be a problem.
Some points not to forget
1. Recognize opportunity
Look - there is opportunity here. Thirty-year fixed mortgages are below 5%.The ‘normal’ rate, in historical terms, is in the neighborhood of 8%.. That is a significant difference!
Let us have a closer look at it. Let’s first consider a 4.6% rate on a 30 year fixed home mortgage. Let’s say you borrowed $170,300 for thrity years on a fixed rate mortgage (this is what the average home costs) if your interest rate was 5%, you would be paying roughly $915.With an 8% mortgage rate, your payment would be $1250. What’s the difference? Three hundred thirty five dollars per month; that’s about $4000 a year.
2. Be cautious
We’ve told you it might take longer to get a refinance now. And that’s something to be aware of. And another thing; according to bankrate.com, Freddie and Fannie have raised their fees.
You might find yourself paying additional 1-2% of the total loan amount, and sometimes even higher on top of all other closing costs.
3. Get the best rates
Today, one of the biggest issues for people is having enough equity in their home.Today you’ll need 20% or more in equity to qualify for the best rates.
Another thing you’ll want to do is make sure your credit score remains as high as possible. Take a look at your credit report first, to make sure there aren’t any errors. You can get a free copy at annualcreditreport.com.
Talk to several mortgage lending companies to be sure you feel comfortable with who you’ll be working with as well as getting the most competitive rate possible. Get all your paperwork together now. Here’s a list of what you’ll need to start collecting:
A complete application, tax returns for the past 2 years, pay stubs for the past month, bank/asset statements from the past 3 months (checking, savings, mutual funds), the most current mortgage statement you have and finally, a copy of your deed.
The good news is that despite the fact that a just a few months ago it looked as if mortgage rates were inevitably headed higher, (and they will get higher at some point…), they are continuing to remain in the historic low range that you’ve been hearing about for a long time. And at least for the time being, it looks as if the Fed is going to continue buying mortgage backed securities (they’re currently buying at a rate of about $3-4 Billion per day).
You still have an opportunity to take advantage of these historically radically low rates, but as was just mentioned above, they will be going up sometime, and more likely than not, they will be considerably higher by this time next year. Keep that in mind when making your decisions on when to refinance.