Screaming Interest Rates Still Available
I'm pleased to welcome Scott Roseveare, one of the top mortgage brokers on the peninsula, as a contributor to the Burlingame Properties blog. Scott is a residential loans expert and will be writing bi-weekly updates on the world of financing tales from the trenches and of course his take on interest rates and the macro-economy. Welcome, Scott!
Some good news in the housing market - the Spring buying season has pushed up home prices for the third straight month in most of the major U.S. cities and analysts say that prices have stabilized in coastal cities over the past six months. So if you live in San Francisco or the peninsula, it appears that the worst may be behind us (which actually wasn’t that bad considering the steep housing collapse of most of the nation). As for interest rates, they continue to be as volatile as the stock market, but remain near 50-year lows.
But how low are they? Last week, a wonderful client of mine purchased an $850,000 home in Redwood City and we were able to secure a 5/1 ARM at 2.75% – which put his payment at UNDER $3,000 per month! These are unprecedented times in the housing market – with a rare mix of ‘finally’ affordable home prices coupled with historic interest rates. A lot of clients ask how long I think these rates will stay low and that is a great question.
The general consensus is that they should stay fairly low for another 6-12 months or so, but maybe not quite at these levels. Also, the government is weighing the possibility of implementing QE3, which basically means they may start pumping more money into the markets in an attempt to keep rates low…at the potential cost of higher inflation at some point in the future.
So the bottom line is that we seem to be at or near the bottom of the housing market, so if you are thinking of buying a home or refinancing this year, you may end up being one of the lucky ones who perfectly timed the market.
About the Author
Scott Roseveare (DRE #01395513, NMLS #50522) is a mortgage broker with UMAX Mortgage. Email Scott at sroseveare@umaxmortgage.com or call (650) 620-9504 for a free, 15-minute pre-qualification and rate quote.
