December 3, 2015
On Tuesday there was improvement in mortgage loan rates, with some lenders moving back into sub-four percent territory. That’s a welcome development for those who have been floating in hopes of some kind of improvement; Wednesday didn’t bring more of the same, but rates did hold steady or move only a bit higher in some cases.
This is a week for a great deal of potential volatility in rates for a variety of reasons connected to scheduled economic data releases, so locking and floating decisions are tricky–the closer we get to Friday, the greater the potential for higher rates.
Friday, the Employment Situation Report comes out and that is a very important event depending on both the contents of that report and investor reaction to it.
Some industry pros are saying “lock” if you are within 30 days of closing, while others feel that floating is still worth the risk–and floating is never risk-free. That divided set of opinions on the subject can make it difficult to choose–best advice is to ask your lender for some advice while keeping in mind the elevated risk as we head into Friday’s Employment report.
30-year fixed rate conventional mortgages are, at the time of this writing, between 3.875% and 4.0%, best execution. Some more competitive lenders are below the 4.0% line, and some others are not. Your experience may vary. FHA mortgage loan best execution rates are still at 3.75%. It can take more time for FHA rates to change than their conventional counterparts.
Remember that best execution rates are not available to all borrowers or from all lenders–your experience may vary depending on your FICO scores and other financial qualifications. Best execution rates assume ideal conditions such as outstanding FICO scores and loan repayment history.
Do you work in residential real estate? You should know about the free tool offered by FHA.com. It is designed especially for real estate websites; a widget that displays FHA loan limits for the counties serviced by those sites. It is simple to spend a few seconds customizing the state, counties, and widget size for the tool; you can copy the code and paste it into your website with ease. Get yours today:
http://www.fha.com/fha_loan_limits_widget
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
Browse by Date: