Mortgage Rates Hold Steady
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Mortgage interest rates were virtually unchanged this week. The 30 Year rate stayed even at 6.52. The 15 year rate moved up a little from 6.07 to 6.10 and the 5 year arm moved down from 6.07 to 6.05. The only rate that moved much was the one year are which fell from 5.27 to 5.22. The one year Arm had the biggest fall last week as well. So in total for the last two weeks the 1 year arm has fallen from 5.49 to 5.22 while the other 3 major mortgage products have not fallen more than .11. Why the one year ARM is looking so good is another question. A high percent of the foreclosures the country is currently dealing with are from ARM based mortgages. So it seems odd to encourage ARMs when they are partially responsible with the current mess we are in. Of course the people in charge of the various mortgage companies didn’t lose billions in shareholder wealth in just two years by making prudent decisions. So who knows what their current strategy is. Here are Mortgage interest rates for the production of the most important guidelines in recent weeks.
August 7,2008
30 6.52 15 6.10 5 years 6,05-ARM 1-Yr ARM 5.22
July 31,2008
30 6.52 15 6.07 5 years 6,07 ARM 1-Yr ARM 5.27
July 24,2008
30 6.63 15 6.18 5 years 6,16 ARM 1-Yr ARM 5.49
July 17,2008
30 years 6.26 15 years 5.78 5 years 5,80 ARM 1-Yr ARM 5.10
July 10,2008
30 6.37 15 5.91 5 years 5,82 ARM 1-Yr ARM 5.17
As always, that all theseCrazy numbers mean. To put these numbers in perspective allows us to see that these expenses are betting on the mortgage on the house for 200K.
August 7
30-Yr $ 1266,76
15-Yr $ 1698,53
5-year ARM $ 1205,53
1 year ARM $ 1100,69
July 31
30-Yr $ 1266,76
15-Yr $ 1695,28
5-year ARM $ 1208,11
1 year ARM $ 1106,88
July 24
30-Yr $ 1281,28
15-Yr $ 1707,22
5-year ARM $ 1219,75
1 year ARM $ 1134,32
On the one hand, is usually enough against the weapons. Butdifference of 166.07 a month is pretty hard to ignore. If you are thinking of getting a 1 Year ARM this my advice. 1) Make sure you have 12 months of mortgage payments in a liquid account. 2) Watch the rates over the next year and wait for rates to come down a bit. If they don’t come down and instead come up make sure you can afford to refinance at a higher rate. 3) this should be obvious from point one and two but if you are getting a 1 Year Arm don’t get anywhere near your maximum