RATES LOWER: The tragedy in Japan has caused a drop in the stock market. This drop has caused investors to take money out of stocks and into safer treasury securities. When this happens, mortgage rates improve. Right now 30 year fixed rates are at 4.75% – you can typically get that rate for .5 to 0 points now depending on idividual situations. Pricing on rates on all other products have also improved – please look at the picture below for par rates on the product you are most interested in.
INTEREST ONLY LOANS ARE MAKING A COME BACK – Interest Only loans have been making a strong comeback. I have been doing a lot of these loans for customers who plan on eventually selling their home – but want to wait until the market improves. These are great loans for the customer that never plans on paying off their mortgage and wants to keep more money in their pocket now.
The most popular interest only products are the 30 year fixed / 10 year interest only loan. The rate is fixed for 30 years and an interest only payment is all that is needed for the first 10 years. These start at 5-5.125% right now. Also the 5/1 Interest Only ARM is very popular. Those start off at 3.25%.
ONLY 2 WEEKS UNTIL NEW LOAN OFFICER COMPENSATION REGULATION GOES INTO EFFECT: You never know, this may not go into effect. There are so many lawsuits against this new regulation and even Congress has opinioned that the law should not go into effect on Aprils 1st as there is still confusion on how to implement the new rules. If you are planning on doing a loan – I would get it started before April 1st – there will be confusion and less options for you as a consumer.
