Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Thinking of a mortgage refi. Are rates bottomed out yet?

What do the people in the know on the Fire think? How close to the bottom are we as far as rates?

I am in the process. Refi my house at 3.5%. Pull 100k out, and buying another house with the 100k. Right move? I dunno but I got a steal of a deal on a house across from the ocean I can house charter fishing clients in after I remodel it.

If you have a mortgage, now is the time!

Just a WAG, but I don't think it will go lower than 3.5%.... Even at, say, 3.25%, payment on 100K is 351.15 - compared to 357.24 at 3.5% (100K @ 360 pymts..)

3% 30yr and 2.5% 15yr. I'll put it up there for posterity.

I've had my mortgage co. on the line on hold for 2hr 15 minutes and they just came on. I have an old 4.75% and since I owe very little I haven't pursued it. I don't think the 3.4% is that good. I should have said they had me on hold.

If I had a mortgage I'd refi to a 10 yr or 15 yr note I think.

Us too, but just going from 30 yr to 15 yr, 4.5% to 3.375. Might get a chance to lower it a little if fed cuts another .75 next week as I heard might happen. Bank lady said if rate goes to 3.0 on a 15 yr, within 2 weeks of closing, it could be doable.

These rates are crazy low, but they are killing me trying to buy low end houses and fixing them up. I'm going to have to buy some cows or something.

You have to see if the difference in you current rate and the new rate is large enough to make the expense of the re-fi worth it.

71maverick: Yes.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Just did a 2.5% refi on our home last week for 15 years. Going to do biweekly plus take all the savings from first mortgage to pay down principal. Should be paid off in about 10 years. Also refinanced our second home in Florida ( not primary home hence higher rate) from 4.75% down to 3.25% with limited closing cost with the same lender.

Well.....maybe for some but a lot of factors weigh in. We're doing it right now and I was a little surprised at the rates we were given. I was thinking 10 or 15 year like you mentioned. We don't owe much but our interest rate is fairly high compared to what we're going to end up with. It wasn't going to be worth it for us to do it on 10-15 with what we currently owe. They guy told me, you owe so little you'll get the lowest rate going 30 years and take out $50,000. He gave us all the options 15 vs 30, taking nothing out vs taking out 50,000 at both terms, and closing costs on each.

Taking 50 and 30 years gives us the best rate....the 50 can be put right back in towards principal and there's no prepayment penalty. The difference in closing cost was only a couple hundred between all the options.

It wasn't what I would have thought but it's the route we're taking to lower our interest rate by almost 3 points.

Yes, and don't listen to anyone's rule-of-thumb that it needs to be 2.0 % less, or even 1% less on the rate. depends a lot on years left to pay off, and amt. owed.

You know at 78 yrs old I probably won't be around when it is paid off. First thought was 15 years as we owe little, but 20 years and take a little extra money will still be a better deal maybe. The kids will still be getting a great deal when we go away.
With the Treasury at .5% I doubt rates will go lower. Remember the mortgage companies need their share. They ain't doing it for fun.

A few weeks ago I closed on 2.75% fixed, 30 year, VA IRRL through Loan Depot. Smooth as a hot knife through butter (and quick).

Exactly what we did when I retired. Fifteen at three percent.

Calvin,
Money is extremely cheap, if possible borrow for 30 years.
If we are not at the bottom, we are very close. For no good reason, reason is 80% of Sovereign debt in the Eurozone is at negative rates, their money is on top of ours here in USA Treasury market. It’s like your local auction house with 1000% more people than usual. Everyone’s real estate value just rose 30-40% they just don’t know it yet. These rates allow same person borrow that much more money. If you remember the S&L’s going bust, just watch next time rates rise in earnest, you’ll see a real mess in Banking sector.
Time to borrow money is now, only luck finds bottom in rates. Smile and apply for as long as you can get them to go.
Rates will stay low for several years, no reason to go up. Now if you see the Fed Reserve start selling new issue bonds in earnest, beware as they will be taking back control, why, because they haven’t very many bullets left as in being able to control inflation. Once you lose control you look like Japan, nothing but an exporter and a weak one at that.
Dividend Growth, it’s all about cash flow. Rents a pretty good substitute if you’re not NY or Cali, they make it very hard to raise rent on tenants.
Another reason to love the South!!
I sold somebody some Treasury’s today with a 2 year maturity at NEGATIVE yield, client is happy and some sucker is guaranteed to lose money. I never know who the buyer’s are.
Good luck.

I would not wait for it to bottom. If the current rates make sense relative to what you’ve got then do it ASAP and be happy to lock in money at these absurdly low rates

And I agree with the poster above about going 30 year.

We are locking 30 years in the very low 3's and even less. 15 year are mid 2's. That is about as low as they've ever been in by 30 years of financing houses. If you cash out you will pay a higher rate at Fannie; they have loan level price adjustments that hit hard on the deals.

KC