Photo from trip, "Lioness camouflaged sticking out her tongue" photo by Caroline Gerardo copyright all rights reserved
March 2013 came in like a lion and out like a lamb in mortgage rates. Month end interest rates in California were flat or bouncing on the bottom. Will April be as kind? Indications seem to push home loan rates just an eighth higher, but upward rates will slow our recovery. Bond traders taking some profits early today. Right now this hour indications might close the bond market to lower rates today and tomorrow by fractions. My crystal ball says until the end of April we will see upward by another sixteenth, unless more countries in the EU stir the brush and make that lioness mad.
In Orange County and specifically Newport Beach and Laguna Beach there remains a frenzy to purchase property and close before the next storm.
How do I know if it is worthwhile to refinance my
loan?
I owe $ 110000.00 On my first at 6.375% 30 year
(payment $ 686.24) and $55000 at 6.95% 15 year ( payment $ 492.81) on my
second. This is a second home worth about $550000. I want to get rid of the
second HELOC and get the payment down. My FICO score is around 760 the property is in Laguna Niguel, California
CAROLINE GERARDO
NMLS #324982 W J Bradley Mortgage Capital LLC.
20341 SW BIRCH STREET # 330 Newport Beach, California 92660
Mortgage amount: $ Mortgage
term: years
or months
Interest rate: %
per year Mortgage start date:
Monthly Payments: $
Verse
existing payments of $1179.73
Because you want to consolidate your second in to a lower first,
the refinance is considered cash out. While lenders have gotten more
conservative about cash-out refinances, owning your second home with low loan
to value at $550,000 -- especially with your credit score – a make sense
decision for our Underwriters.
The downside of a first mortgage refinance is the higher closing
costs associated with that mortgage. The national average for closing costs on
a $200,000 loan in 2012 was $2590.Besides lowering your payment, you should definitely look at a
shorter-term mortgage, like a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, so you don't end up
spending a ton of money on interest by extending out to 30 years. As I write
this, W J Bradley's national average for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is
2.875% percent or 2.911% APR
The interest rate differential between a new 15-year fixed-rate
mortgage and your existing 6.375 percent mortgage on your second home should
give you enough of a reduction in interest expense to justify the refinance on
its own.
Even if you decide to refinance thirty years, the payment is going
to reduce $ 391.99 per month. We can close a refinance in less than twenty nine days, let's save you some money.
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, and though it is foggy now at my house in Monarch Beach California, the sunset was beautiful. Here in paradise there were few open houses and only the grocery store was busy. The photograph above is one of a few I will share from a trip to Africa. I love the ten minutes as the sun goes down, when we all ought to say a prayer and be thankful. Happy Easter tomorrow or Passover, I'm busy cooking for my crew tomorrow.
Mortgage rates
push slightly higher today. The trading session for bond markets including
Mortgage backed securities, closed early on Thursday in honor of today’s
Good Friday holiday. Although I’m Catholic, I wonder how a religious
holiday stops business nationwide. Today fundings and wires are closed
early, despite the fact that it is end of the month which is typically the
busiest day for home loan closings. Assume all bond traders have left the
building and are relaxing in their second home in the Hamptons. I have
three loans to close this morning and hope their dreams of moving into
houses in Dana Point, Newport Coast and Newport Beach do happen over the
Easter weekend.
Though there is
political bad news in play, none of the worries about run on banks in
Cyprus bailout seem to shake and tremble the ten year bond traders.
Trading levels rocked back and forth all day yesterday. Best executions on
interest rates (with one point) for 30yr Fixed loans hover at 3.625% with
the minor weakness being seen in the form of moderately higher borrowing
costs. Normally before a three day weekend traders would raise rates,
increase margins and protect the igloo to be able to get out of town
safely for the holiday. Still there are worries about the economics in
Italy and the EU. A lion or a cheeta lurking on the savannah?
Mortgage
rates remain low. More money and lenders are jumping into Jumbo and Super
Jumbo ARMS with interest only payments and even qualify without taxes for
the self -employed (of course priced for that risk)
CONFORMING
LOAN RATES THIS MORNING:
Rates change
all the time, this is not an offer to lend you money
30YR FIXED
- 3.75% (APR 3.811), 3.625 % (APR 3.789) coming back into view
FHA/VA -
3.375 (APR 3.499)
15 YEAR
FIXED - 3.00% (APR 3.129) coming back into view.
5 YEAR
ARMS - 2.625 (APR 2.713)
Of course
there are pricing adds for: FICO, property type, time period for lock,
loan to value, use, dollar amount, and the proverbial kitchen sink.
Lock/Float Worries for April and May 2013
Rates are moderately
higher but consistently since hitting their all-time lows in September and
October 2012.
Other factors that prevent mortgage loans from sliding
back to lower numbers are worldwide concerns about the EU bailouts and still
high unemployment. We aren’t out of the woods with those ugly monkeys Toto, not
yet.
Though some would wish we were Japanese mortgage rates of
recent history (less than 2%) with that comes great sacrifice for the whole.
California appears to be miraculously recovering in coastal areas, with values
rising. Still there are homeless families on the corner near my house in
Monarch Beach with a cardboard sign about their financial troubles. We live in
such a beautiful community it is difficult to think about those who are facing
hardships this Easter.
I predict we will see another rate dip around Halloween
2013, perhaps triggered by some newly promoted news. It seems the story of the
day is interpreted into code that traders take or leave depending on who will
profit. I don’t mean to sound jaded.
What does that mean for the individual purchasing a home
in Orange County California? Rates are still great, you may not hit the perfect
day in the perfect moment but an eighth or a sixteenth isn’t going to break the
debt to income ratio and fail your plans. My advice, don’t pay a fortune for
your loan, just in case we see a dip again in October. Steady course, keep your credit on track and budget...
Keeping
you in my thoughts and prayers for a Happy Easter, a joyful Passover and
hopefully low tide will bring good fortune to you.
