About Government Refinance and Home Purchase Programs

There was some question leading into yesterday’s Federal Reserve announcement whether the Fed would raise its short-term interest rate or not. The answer came back as a “no” for now. The Fed cited mixed economic reports in recent months in their decision to hold off on a rate hike. The Fed is looking for more clear signs that the U.S. economy is healthy and growing before hiking rates again, and there is no sure way to know when that will happen. Most pundits are forecasting that it will likely be September at soonest before a rate hike might be on the table again.

All of this means we can expect nice low mortgage interest rates for another couple of months at least. That means now is a great time to look into a refinance or a home purchase. With home values continuing to increase across the country, cash out refinances are becoming popular again. Increasing home values are also making homes more attractive as investments. Contact us today to get more info on available refinance and home purchase programs.

The jobs report that came out about a week ago came in with a much lower number of new jobs created than analysts were expecting. While unemployment numbers are staying relatively low, the number of new jobs created in the economy was troubling to the financial community. The immediate result of the report was a pullback in the stock markets and a dip in the yields for government bonds. That dip in bond yields, as usual, correlated with a small dip in mortgage interest rates. So mortgage interest rates are looking good right now.

If you are considering a refinance or a home purchase, now is an excellent time to get the process started. Contact us in the sidebar for for refinance information, or on our home purchase page for info on home purchase mortgage programs.

Janet Yellen, the Chair of the Federal Reserve, gave a speech on Tuesday that sent stocks higher and the yield on bonds lower. The gist of Ms. Yellen’s speech was that the economy is showing signs of weakness and thus the Fed would not be raising its interest rates any time soon. As usual, mortgage interest rates dipped in concert with the dip in the yield on the 10 year T-Note. With signs of a possible new recession mounting, the Fed won’t want to do anything to make economic conditions worse in the short run. That is a good sign for folks looking to refinance or to purchase a home. Contact us today to get more information on available mortgage programs while rates are still near historical lows.

Mortgage interest rates began falling in January and hit a low point in mid February. The dip in mortgage interest rate coincides with the recent dip in stock prices. As investors have fled stocks to the relative safety of U.S. Treasury bonds, the yield on those bonds have dropped and as usual, mortgage interest rates have dropped as well. While there has been a small recovery in bond yields over the last few weeks, mortgage interest rates remain extraordinarily low. If you have been considering refinancing a mortgage or purchasing a home, now is an excellent time to start. Contact us today to be pointed in the right direction.

The stock market has taken a severe beating so far in 2016. The major stock indexes have been tanking for weeks now. While this is bad news for investors, it has become good news for folks looking to refinance a mortgage or buy a home. Mortgage interest rates have improved significantly in the last few weeks.

As usual, when stock market values drop quickly, investors race to safer investments like U.S. Treasury bonds. As more bonds got bought up the yield on those bonds drops. And as we’ve noted in the past, movement in mortgage interest rates tend to mirror the yield on the 10-year T-note.

There’s no telling how long this dip in rates will last, so contact us today in the sidebar to get an estimate on a refinance. Now is a great time to look into lowering interest rates, getting cash out, or shortening the term of a mortgage. Or contact us on our home purchase page to look into getting pre-qualified to purchase a home.

2015 has been a bumpy ride for mortgage interest rates. After dipping to two-year lows in February, rates rose sharply in March, dipped again in April, rose even more sharply in June, moved lower slowly through October, and spiked again in November. Staying with that roller coaster pattern, rates have been slowly moving lower again since a mild spike in early November. The spikes and dips in interest rates have largely been triggered by good news or bad news in the global economy. When positive reports have come out, the markets assume the Fed is ready to raise its baseline lending rates and mortgage interest rates jump up. As bad news arrives about the economy, doubts about the Fed making a move creep in and mortgage interest rates begin to dip.

While markets are unpredictable, one certain thing is that mortgage interest rates are currently still very low by historical measures. If you have been considering a refinance to improve your interest rate or to remove mortgage insurance or to get cash out, contact us in the sidebar while rates are still low. Likewise, if you are looking at purchasing a home, contact us on our home purchase page. While rates have bounced around this year, the overall range of interest rates is still surprisingly low.

With the global economy struggling the Fed decided to delay raising its baseline interest rates in September. As a result of that decision and the continuing gloomy news on the economy, mortgage interest rates have been slowly drifting lower again. The Fed seems anxious to raise rates again before the end of 2015 so there is a decent chance that mortgage interest rates will move higher in the next few months. If you have considered a refinance to a better rate, or a cash out refinance, or a refinance to remove or reduce PMI, contact us in the form in the sidebar. Mortgage interest rates are still near historical lows and odds are they won’t stay this low for long.

After hitting a trough in late January of 2015, mortgage interest rates have been slowly trending higher over the last 7 months. But recent economic troubles in Greece and China have begun spooking investors of the last few weeks. When investors get spooked they tend to look for safer investments, like U.S. treasury bonds. When more people buy U.S. bonds, the yields on this bonds decreases, and mortgage interest rates tend to follow suit. The net result has been a small improvement in mortgage interest rates over the last couple of weeks.

Rates remain very low by historical standards so this summer is still an excellent time to look into buying a home, refinancing to a lower rate, or looking in to a cash out refinance. Contact us in the sidebar for more information on refinances or contact us in the form on our home purchase page for info on getting qualified to buy a home.

Most people have heard of reverse mortgages. A reverse mortgage refinance is an FHA mortgage available to people who are at least 62 years old. The program allows folks with enough equity in their homes to stop making mortgage payments and remain in the home until they die. In many cases a reverse mortgage refinance can be an excellent option.

But did you know that there is such a thing as a reverse purchase mortgage? The same basic concept and rules apply. The borrower must be at least 62 year old and in the case of a reverse purchase, the borrower normally needs a down payment of at at least 40-50%. The appeal of a reverse purchase it allows borrowers to buy a home and then have no mortgage payment going forward for the rest of their lives.

If you are interested in learning more about reverse mortgages, contact us in the form in the sidebar for refinance information, or in the form on our home purchase page for info on reverse purchases.

According to recent reports, average home values across America rose 6% in March compared to March of 2014. This is in line with the general trends we have been seeing with home values steadily rising. Increasing home values is good news for most current homeowners for several reasons:

1. Homeowners with mortgage insurance (PMI) will have an easier time refinancing to remove that PMI
2. Homeowners will have an easier time getting cash out refinances
3. Homeowners looking to sell will benefit from higher sales prices

Rising home prices are not a bad thing for folks looking to buy homes either. While home prices might have risen in the last few years, the fact that homes are again slowly, steadily increasing in value means that homes that are purchased in 2015 would increase in value over time if the trend continues. A slow, steady increase in home values is good both for home sellers and for home buyers in the long run.

With mortgage interest rates still extremely low, now in an excellent time to look into refinancing a mortgage or buying a home. Contact us today to get more information on the available government-backed mortgage programs.

The combination of oil prices tanking and a less than stellar jobs reports this week has sent stock market investors rushing into safer investments like U.S. Treasuries. As we have discussed in the past, the more popular treasury bonds get, the lower they yields on those bonds drops. And mortgage interest rates tend to move in tandem with the yield on the 10 year treasury note. This week the yield on the 10 year T-Note has dipped pretty significantly as investors are fleeing stocks.

What does all of this mean to consumers like you? Mostly that interest rates are extraordinarily low again right now. If you are interested in refinancing to a lower interest rate with a government-backed refinance program, contact us in the form in the sidebar. If you are interested in getting qualified for a home purchase loan contact us on the home purchase page.

The Fed meetings in March were good for mortgage interest rates. The markets have been anticipating a Fed interest rate hike some time later this year but Fed chairman Janet Yellen indicated that the economy was still more sluggish than she would like, which led observers to believe that a Fed rate hike might be later than expected. The immediate market response to Yellen’s comments was a drop in bond yields, which led to a correlating drop in mortgage interest rates.

There is no telling how long these low interest rates will last so if you have considered looking into refinancing to a lower mortgage rate contact us in the form in the sidebar. If you are looking into purchasing a home, fill in the contact form here. There are several government mortgage programs that are worth investigating.