I have a friend that is a real estate appraiser, in the prev 4 months his business was non existent, in the last 30 days its taken off again. Recently in my area, 30 yr home rates went down to 4.5% for a few hours, refi's went like crazy and then they went back up over 5%, loan officers in our area are telling us people are prequalifying in advance and letting theirs apps set until the rate falls to their liking and they all seem to think that sooner or later it will go lower, when, who knows......YMMV

FWIW, I am right behind you, I will be doing the same too....

 

Double post please delete

 

My mortgage lady at wells fargo told me that there will be about 2k in refi fees. Can i negotiate these?

 

Perhaps. Most mortgage brokers have room to negotiate. Not sure about working directly with Wells Fargo, though. My guess is they will be reluctant, and to get the interest rate they have quoted you, they will want their standard fees. Fear she will lose the loan may cause your rep to kick in a little of her commission, but alot of the fees are things the bank has to pay for out of pocket (appraisal, title insurance, etc...) so they will not always move on those.

Does not hurt to ask, though. If you are good customer and have the chance to refer future business to her, be sure to point that out.

Shoot, they might even be willing to charge you $0 fees. But then they would likely want you to pay a higher rate to cover their up front costs.

One other factor to consider is how long you will be keeping this house. The shorter the term, the more difficult it will be to recover your fees and up front costs.

For example, lets say you are raising your loan balance by $2,000 to cover fees, and your payment is reduced by $50/month. If you move in 2 years, you have paid $1,200 less on your monthly payments, but your loan payoff went up by about $2,000, so you were worse off by refinancing.

That's a simplified example, as other things come into play (like your mortgage interest deduction on your income taxes, etc...). Basically, before you sign the loan docs, try and figure out how many months you need to stay in the house to cover all the extra fees rolled into your loan balance.

You may have already gone through this exercise with your mortgage lady. Over the years, I've learned the good mortgage brokers will want to know how long you plan to keep the house. This is essential information to finding you the right loan. If they don't ask you that question, be suspicious that they only have limited loan terms available and may not have the best for you, or that they are trying to steer you to the loan that pays them the highest commission.

 

PMI is going to be based on how much equity you have in your home. If you have more the 20% you should be good. Credit score can play a role in what rate you are quoted from your broker. I try to always tell my clients that Cash is king. The more liquidity you have the better.

 

I think rate are going to stay right around 4.5 they may drop a little but I would not count on a huge drop from there.

 

Most of the time going directly to the lender will limit your room for negotiating the fees.

What state are you in? (if you don't mind me asking)

 

I read 2.99 w/up to 20k in tax rebates/credits for new home purchasing but 1.5? Wow, how low will it go I guess is the 64$ question. Yeah, I also read that next year's foreclosures will equal if not surpass all of the foreclosures that we have seen in 07/08. Many people that have been trying to hang on waiting for things to turn around aren't going to make it. Very unfortunate.

 

The Fed is considering all sorts of crap to stimulate the housing market. As things worsen they will up the ante or lower rates. They are now in the habit of throwing tax money around so anything is possible.

Looking back on the last year there were mumblings of what was coming but nobody knew the extent. Same and more will happen in 2009.
Prices will drop, rates will drop.
Feds will do anything to lessen the pain and quicken some sort of turnaround..
Stand by for high winds and heavy seas...

 

iowa

 

I talked to my mortgage holder just last week and she advised me to wait "a few weeks at least" and keep checking back at the rates - right now I'd drop 1 full % which, of course, makes sense to refi. Then again, it's that guessing game where you try to get an even lower %. I figured that if locally I see under 5% I'm going to - additionally, for whatever reason, I have extra $ in my escrow that will cover the refi charges. If I currently refi'd my loan officer calculated almost $100 savings PER MONTH... then again, we have been paying a little extra every month against our principle to get it lower.

So, all in all, I'm going to take her suggestion and keep calling every week or so to check the rates. Also, unless you are 100% satisfied with your current holder, def. look around and shop - that's the beautiful thing about housing loans

 

UPDATE on 30-yr fixed:

Rates have fluctuated here and there lately. Lowest was at 4.5% at least 2x for about a half hour each time. I ended up locking in at 5% (from 6.138 - I don't want to have to keep checking back here and there in the next month, although another half would be nice). In theory anywhere between 2-4 months out will be ideal, according to many lenders/brokers I've talked to both personally and professionally. Hope that helps anyone else