4% Mortgage rate??? !!! FOR REAL!

mikea

mikea

Touchdown! Greaser!
Gone West
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Feb 12, 2005
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Lake County, IL
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iWin
Seeing the hype I checked the mortgage rates at the Chicago Tribune crooks and villains chart. ~4.75% I figured it would save me like $60 a month pre tax. Not enough to mess for the moment with the closing costs.

Just got a call from the local bank President. He asked if I was interested in a refi. I said not with the closing costs, since I just did a refi last year.

He said he thought they were at 4%! :yikes:

I would be SO in at 4%!!! I'll sell Mom. :D
 
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Paul Allen said:
I refinanced four years ago for 5.125. I would like to see 4% or below.
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I'm trying to not pay attentiont o the occasional report of rates going to the 3% range. :redface:

What frosts me is how I paid 0.5% to lock in a lower rate because I wasn't going anywhere.. Owell. I could make that back in a short time, too.

"It's OK, Mike, you already made that back in the year of paying 1% less....."
 
30 fixed at 4.75. Bought it down from 5.25%.

I have another investment home at 5.125% and am waiting patiently for the market to come to me.......

-Skip
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Would one need to put a fresh 20% down, or would the equity already in the home (if sufficient) suffice?
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You don't need another 20% down if you have 20% equity. What you need is the closing costs - application fees, appraisal, title search (silly!), county/state taxes/fees if any, maybe pre-pay some property taxes which you get back from the previous bank's escrow. Some or all of that can be rolled into the principal.

The mortgage rep called. No surprise. The bank VP was wrong on the rate. Today it would be 4.85% for a 15 year fixed conforming.

You need 80% LTV and a 740 credit score.

The hassle is they wouldn't accept my 2008 appraisal as evidence. She already knew that it wasn't a good enough deal yet for me to try jumping through the hoops. I'm sitting tight.

There's whispering of rates going into the 3's before this is over...and with these lower rates home sales will be going up so sales will eb higher and values will bounce back. There's still an inverse relationship of interest rates to home prices, since everybody thinks in terms of monthly payments.

I'd still be ready to jump if we see 4.0%.

BTW, I'm curious: If you keep refi'ing getting a new 30,20, or 15 year fixed loan, don't you keep pushing off the mortgage burn date? I don't wanna do that. I ain't gonna live forever. Is it common to get a 28 year or 14 year fixed?
 
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mikea said:
BTW, I'm curious: If you keep refi'ing getting a new 30,20, or 15 year fixed loan, don't you keep pushing off the mortgage burn date? I don't wanna do that. I ain't gonna live forever. Is it common to get a 28 year or 14 year fixed?
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I don't know of anyone that writes custom term mortgages. That doesn't mean they're not out there, though.

But you need to do a full amortization on your current mortgage, and the one you're looking at. That way you can compare the total amount you're going to pay and the total interest from the same point (i.e., x months left on your current one, and y total months of the one you're looking at). If you've been in your current one long enough, a refi may not be the best deal, especially when you consider the closing costs of the refi.


Trapper John
 
mikea said:
BTW, I'm curious: If you keep refi'ing getting a new 30,20, or 15 year fixed loan, don't you keep pushing off the mortgage burn date? I don't wanna do that. I ain't gonna live forever. Is it common to get a 28 year or 14 year fixed?
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That's what keeps me from refi'ing again, too. I'm just over 8 years away from having it paid off (5.6% 15 year loan) and I don't want to re-set that clock. While a lower monthly payment would be nice over the next 8 years, a $0/mo payment shortly after I turn 65 is looking real nice.
 
I'm sitting in a similar position. 7 years to go in a 15 year, 5% fixed loan ... I LOVE seeing that principal coming down!
 
Ghery said:
That's what keeps me from refi'ing again, too. I'm just over 8 years away from having it paid off (5.6% 15 year loan) and I don't want to re-set that clock. While a lower monthly payment would be nice over the next 8 years, a $0/mo payment shortly after I turn 65 is looking real nice.
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Why not refi your existing balance, and keep making your current payment? You would be paid off in less than your current 8 years.

By my rough calculations if you have $100k left on your balance and could lower your interest rate 2% you'd save about $11k in interest in the 8 years.

Eggman
 
James_Dean said:
Why not refi your existing balance, and keep making your current payment? You would be paid off in less than your current 8 years.

By my rough calculations if you have $100k left on your balance and could lower your interest rate 2% you'd save about $11k in interest in the 8 years.

Eggman
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Good suggestion. If interest rates get down to the mid 3s I'll have to look at that.
 
Ghery said:
Good suggestion. If interest rates get down to the mid 3s I'll have to look at that.
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I was going to say what Dean said. Nothing stops you from paying more principal. The problem is, as Dave Ramsey says, we don't. That's why I agreed with him and went with a 15 year vs. my initial 30 year, which I thought I could and would pre-pay, but never did.

If interest rates come down to the mid 3s it will take until 2016 for the grin to come off of my face. :D
 
I am at 0% :) I was stuck at 13.5% back in September of 2008.. with over $150k in the bank could not get a refi from anyone not even the bank I had my money I So i paid it off!

Hell with the bankers! Let them give $500K loans to Illegal's and people making minimum wage!
 
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