CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Rates on fixed-rate mortgages hit another low this week, after recent reports showed drops in existing- and new-home sales, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey of conforming mortgage rates ...

... 08/10) - As mortgage applications rise and interest rates continue to hover at record lows, many current homeowners are faced with the question of whether or not to refinance , some for the second time in a year.

NEW YORK -- Mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in decades for the ninth time in 10 weeks, as concerns grow that the economy is weakening. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for ...

but more than 8 of every 10 loan requests was for a refinancing ... as historically low mortgage rates continue to draw borrowers into the market," he said in a statement. Fixed 30-year mortgage rates hovered just ...

... rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage increased to 4.50 percent from 4.43 percent the prior week ... Unemployment close to 10 percent and a lack of faster job creation are making Americans more guarded about large ...

10:59 a.m., Thursday, September 2 ... Average rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 3.54 percent from 3.56 percent the week before. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages fell to an ...

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury 10-year notes and 30-year ... convinced that the Fed would hold its target lending rate at zero to 0.25 percent through the first half of 2011. The 2-year note yield dropped 4 basis ...

... Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971. The average rate on 15-year fixed loan dropped to 3.86% from 3.90%. That's the lowest on records starting in 1991. Average rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages ...

They also raised their jobless rate forecast for ... Treasuries and $1.425 trillion in mortgage securities. The BofA Merrill analysts said these purchases, equivalent to $850 billion in 10-year Treasuries,

... 10-year note yield was headed for an August drop of 43 basis points, which would be the biggest monthly decrease since December 2008, when the yield fell 71 basis points after the Fed cut its target lending rate ...

Currently we have a 10 yr ARM with 3 years left on it. It's a jumbo loan of $469,000 with a monthly payment of $2500. When time is up we won't be able to afford to refi into a fixed rate mortgage. I feel that there are 2 choices: 1.) Refi into another affordable ARM, repeat as needed to stay in the home. 2.)Sell the house - Our home is in a nice area and is larger than most plus it has been completely remodeled so I estimate it would sell for $540,000 (before the bubble burst it was appraised at $700,00). We could move into my Dad's rental property which is in the same neighborhood. That would allow us to save a little money, the rent is a few hundred cheaper than our current mortgage and then not have to worry about mortgage issues. We have no debt, but we also have no savings. I really want to make the right decision this time! Thanks.

My math skills aren't amazing and I'm not sure how I would figure this out anyway, so maybe someone can help me. This is a real life question. We have about 60 or so thousand dollars in private student loans and then maybe 10 in federal loans. If you're not familiar with private student loans, skip to the bottom and I'll explain them. The rate for the student loans is currently about 9%. We are selling our house and if we sell the house for the amount that we paid (we'll probably get a little more), we will net about 35,000 after commissions. We're planning on buying a small fixer upper for 75-100,000 and getting a 10 year mortgage. Mortgage rates look like they're about 4 or so percent. I was planning on getting the 10 yr mortgage, paying it off in about 4 years and then taking out a home equity loan and paying them off. My dad said that I should either put down less and pay down the student loans even though it doesn't pay them off or take out equity as I go and pay them down. My hesitation to do this is that my payment on the student loans won't go down just because I owe less, but with a HEL, I will be paying more for the time being (mtg + HEL+ student loans at the same time). It's still doable, but I'd rather not be paying more than I have to. So my question is this: if I pay down as I go, will my student loans skip ahead so that I'm paying a higher percentage of my payment to the principle than interest? Or is the percentage of principle vs. interest determined by time rather than how much you owe? What do you think the best strategy for paying off these loans quickly and for the least amount of money? ************************************* Private student loans: they were offered for a short time while lenders were lending money like crazy and they're not federal loans, so they don't have the low interest rates. The interest rates on private student loans are variable, currently at about 9%, but it's been as high as 11.5%. No one is offering them anymore so you can't refinance them, lock in a rate, file for bankruptcy, or in any way alter the loan terms. No matter what, the loans will be at that rate and you can't get rid of them. If our credit scores go down or we don't pay on time or whatever, the rates can go up to whatever they want. So as you can imagine we are dying to pay these off and get them out of our lives.

Hi, I currently have a fixed rate 1st mortgage @ 4.875% for 30 years. I also have a 2nd mortgage, a HELOC, that is an adjustable rate. It currently is at 6% and has been at that rate for over a year. if not longer. I am concerned about both inflation & defaltion and would liek to refi the 2nd mortgage, to get it into a fixed rate. However, all folks I talk to want to refi the 1st and the 2nd, which I am against doing. The 1st is a low rate and due to mistakes/issues by the mortgage broker last June, we did not pay any thing besides the pre-pays to get the 1st refi'd. However, he could not refi the 2nd because of the CLTV due to the lower appraisal we received. Now, comps are back up, the appraisal wil be higher, and our CLTV is low enough to refi again. But, I want to do just the 2nd, not the 1st. Our credit union will do the 2nd only but they only offer adjustable rate 2nds. I have always heard bad things about ARMs but the credit union's response is their ARMs are safe because they are tied to very stable 10-yr Treasury notes. Anybody have any thoughts on their claim? And, if I refi the 1st with them I can get a higher CLTV to deal, and always the ability to have a higher CLTV is good to counteract a low appraisal that is unexpected. But, their 1st's are also only adjustable tied to the 10-yr Treasury notes. Any thoughts on how good an ARM is tied to 10 yr notes? The costs are very low: $1k plus pre-pays, per loan. I would go to a 4.875% (currently) 2nd, and the 1st is at 4.625%. I know in the 1970's folks with a fixed rate mortgage made out great in the inflationary late 70's and early 80's/ so I like my 4.87% fixed. I believe we are headed for an inflationary period, but I am also concerned about deflation.HI, I either asked the wrong question or the details clouded my question. I know about comparing loans, etc., etc. What I want to know is what makes an adjustable rate mortgage that is tied to 10 year treasury notes any better than a an ARM that is normally offered by a bank or broker. My credit union's claim is that their ARM is safe because it is tied to 10 yr Treasury notes, whereas other ARMS are not, so stay away from those other ARMs. However, I have read and heard nothing but bad things about ARMs. So, I am trying to find information that will substantiate my credit unions claims or discount them, meaning their ARM is just as bad as any other ARM. Thanks.

Hi, I really need to have some idea of what the fixed 5 yr. mortgage rates will be in 3 or 3.5 years. Right now they seem to be between 3.99% and 5.45%. In the future the rates will surely go up because Bank of Canada will have to slow monetary expansion and raise interest rates. So what do U think thefix. 5yr. rates will be in 3-3.5 years? 7-8%??? Or can it go up to all the way to 9-10% by 2013??

My wife and I are building a home and will soon have a 30 yr mortgage of $314,000 and we are assuming our interest rate will be around 5%. We have two student loans totaling $16,000 with interest rates around 4%. One of the loans would be paid off in 8 years, the other in 10 years. Should we pay off the college loans with our cash which would raise our mortgage to $330,000? Or should we continue to make monthly payments on both college loans and add money to the principal if we can?Forgot to mention that we will be putting 36% down which would get the mortgage to $314,000, so PMI would not be an issue.

a $419,900 home. 30 year, 10% down payment ((interest rate = $308,772.40)) 30 year, 20% dp ((ir = $227,794)) 15yr, 10% ((ir = $99,608.80)) 15 yr, 20% dp ((ir = $41,886.40))

OK heres the deal. I purchased my home when I was quite young [22] with a interest only 10/20 yr fixed mortgage back in 2005 at 6.75% [$154,410]. Its a small home and I want to keep it as an investment property [rent it out/sell it when i retire]. I want to refinance to a 15-yr note. I make much more money now and my credit score increased [760]. I went to lendingtree.com and I got the following. 4.375% [no pt] / 4.625% [1% point] [Home loan center] So that comes out to $1,147.79. The lenders fees are $3,200 [1,600 for pt and 1,600 for fees]. Not including $1,300 for third party fees [titeling, apraisle etc...]. So total to table is $4,500 to table. couple of questions. 1. Is this expensive [fees] or is this typical. I asked him what can he do about the $1,600 he said hes not budging on that. 2. Is points good? What am I actually doing when Im paying points. Is is that Im paying the total calculated interest early. Should I pay as much pts as possible? 3. My plan is when my wife starts working my income will exceed 6 figures. I want to purchase an additional house. Will this pre-existing house inhibit my ability to get financing for a more expensive home? 4. What questions do I need to ask these lenders. Should I simply ask for a good faith and compare them side by side. Will I waste time doing this. 5. The loan officers all try to push me and lock-in a rate because the market fluctuates. How true is this? Refinancing and need some assistance on knowing whats best?

we are in the 3 days "grace" to review everything from our closing....I am thinking about nixing it.....here goes: OHIO we owe 52000 on our 1st mortgage rate is 6.875..opened in 2002....2nd mortgage (debt consolidation and remodel home). opened aug 2008...owe 25,000..that is a 10 yr loan at 8.75....mortgage 1 payment w tax and ins is currently 588 a month...2nd is 326.00.....just closed w CHASE to do a total refinance 30 yr fixed....5.375 rate....we will be here prob another 5-7 yrs....new payment total is 669.00....only thing that scares me is the mortgage insurance premium of 1398.00....and closing fees....would it be best for us to rescind this...and instead perhaps refinance 1st and 2nd separately? to avoid PMI.s....any help and guidance would help me at all...thanks

I need help with the adjusted entries. Cottage: 120000 Debit Furniture: 16000 Debit Mortgage: 12000 Debit a)Annual depreciation rates for cottages is 4% and furniture 10%. Salvage value is 10% of the cost. (How do I figure out the rates?) b)mortgage rates are 8% per yr? (does this need an entry?) Thanks

We originally purchased our home in 2005 for $235,000-30 yr 5.75% and we put down $25,000 or 10% so we are paying PMI because of this now. Right now we owe $198,000. Now we could refinance at a lower rate for 15 or 20 yrs. If we go 15 yrs at 4.6% we would have to pay $400 more per month. 20 yrs would be $130 extra per month. Plus a $700 closing cost. My question is this. Should we wait until we are ready to get rid of PMI to refinance or refinance now and still pay PMI? The downside is won't we have to wait to refinance again when it comes to get rid of PMI?

We just bought our home in Nov 2008 we have a 30 yr fixed mortgage with a rate of 6.640%. is it worht refinancing after only 10 months? goal would be to possibly lower rate and payment and maybe take a little bit of cash out for some repairs. let me know some thoughts, thanks Joewe bought the home for 79,500. it was appraised at 88,000. we did not put 20% down. we owe 73k right now after only 10 months

Only people who work in lending please answer. My background: 200K/yr income. Employed for 9 years at the same very large company. I have 25 years experience in this same occupation. I own my home now for 10 years - have a 170K balance on an original $255K loan - I've been making extra $500/month principle payments religiously since I bought it, so I have something like 70% equity in my home even AFTER the recent drops in house value we've seen recently. My current mortgage payment is 1700/mo. My house has a value of $600K from 2009 recent comp sales. I have no cc debt, no car loan debt, no debt of any kind. I have no late payments on any bills ever. I pay for just about everything by credit card but I then pay the bill off every month ($4-5K mo usually). My credit rating is between 790 and 820 depending on the agency you use. I also have verifiable liquid cash and stock accounts in excess of $200K (this is not retirement money, this is after-tax hard cold cash)... so to me, Id say Im a good bet, no? I recently applied to open a HELOC for 200K and was turned down by Bank of America. They gave me this cryptic explanation "This is no reflection of your credit worthiness, you actually have excellent credit, but you don't have enough trades to meet our internal approval criteria"... I asked for that in english but they wouldn't elaborate or explain what a trade was or how many was enough..only that I didn't have enough. I haven't a clue what that means. Im shocked that Im not considered a good risk considering I actually don't need the money, so Im turning to this answer board for help... what's wrong with the picture?

I got pre-approved for a fixed rate 30 yr loan from coldwell banker mortgage services. They says that for a $550000 home with 10% down, I need to get an FHA loan, but with 15% down I do not need an FHA loan. The sellers however don't like buyers who are using FHA loans. My question is that is it possible to get a non-FHA loan with 10% down? I am fine with both fixed rate and adjustable rate mortgages. I have a 770+ FICO credit score. Thanks!

What do you think is going to happen with the interest rates? I'm in the process of buying my own place right now. The lowest it went down to was 4.25% I wish I had bought then. Now it is at about 5.25% = ( I know it is somewhat related to the 10 yr bond yield which was going down and then went up again. What do you think is going to happen with the interest rates? Do you think they will be going to go below 5% again?

So I was minding my own business when I got a call from my mortgage company today concerning the home I'm having built. It seems that mortgage rates ran violently upwards in just 48 hours from under an average 30 yr fixed of 5% to 5.45%. Of course, the mortgage company I'm using is already quoting above the average, so they're quoting me a current rate of 6.5 with something like 2 1/4 points to buy down the rate. Unreal. Just last week, it was 5.25% How did this happen? FED buying policies this week caused Treasury 10-yr rates to soar, which the mortgage rates are apparently tied to.. They've been doing this for months, keeping the rate artificially low, using stimulus money to buy funds on the market. But the marketplace competition has become more heated and this policy may not succeed much longer. Come to think of it, I remember my International Finance teacher from college saying this kind of practice was dubious and only delays the inevitable and makes the crash harder than it needs to be. I expected rates would go back over 6% by the time my house was done in November, but now, 7.5-8% by Christmas seems like a real probability. There's no way the FED's going to be able to buy down the price. So I guess they're going to have to have Treasury print some more money leading to higher inflation. And all this going on, while GM is about to restructure in Chapter 11, most certainly causing unemployment numbers for June to rise once a plan is in place. So higher inflation, higher unemployment, higher mortgage rates preventing new home buyers or people that wanted to refinance. I'd say the stimulus package is working just dandy. Seems like the only thing they haven't done yet is raise taxes.....no wait, that's coming too. Your thoughts?

A 10 year mortgage might be the right program for you. 10 Year fixed rate loans tend to be the lowest of all fixed rate products.

Fixed 10 year mortgages, with lower interest rates, result in lower overall loan prices. Compare monthly payments and rate of equity growth for 10 and 30 year loans

Ten year mortgage rates have a fixed interest rate slightly lower than 15-year or 30-year mortgages, which as of July 2010 are just below 4%. The 10-year mortgage gives great ...

Mortgage rates fell to a new record low, but borrowers may find costs are higher than ... 10 year fixed; 15 year fixed; 20 year fixed; 30 year fixed; 30 year FHA; 15 year fixed refi

Treasuries reliably predict the direction of mortgage rates, but not the size of the move.

A 10-year fixed mortgage is a mortgage loan that keeps the same rate of interest throughout the loan's 10-year life. In most cases, fixed-rate mortgages are fully amortizing, so ...

10 year fixed mortgage rate at Daylight Discount Mortgage. Your resource for 10 year refinance mortgage rate, 10 year fixed mortgage, 10 year mortgage rate, ten year mortgage ...

10 year adjustable rate mortgage info at www.ForTheBestRate.com. Research 10/1 arm, 10 year ARM rates, and ten year adjustable rate mortgage products

Information on 10 year fixed rate mortgages including mortgage companies and mortgages by state. Mortgage Info is your complete 10 year FRM guide.

Have you considered a 10 year mortgage? The benefits can be huge.

This is an old theme, but it bears repeating when new information is presented. The right keeps blaring that liberals caused the housing bubble by showering money upon poor people through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (And through other channels via CRA requirements, as commenters have noted.

Council members met with city staff in a special meeting Thursday in the David Gebhardt Public Meeting Room at the Public Works building.

A rebound in risk sentiment pushed the euro higher for the second day, with the exchange rate advancing to a high of 1.2745 during the overnight trade, but the lack of momentum to retrace the decline from the previous week is likely to keep the EUR/USD within a narrow range throughout the day as price action continues to hold below the 50-Day SMA at 1.2757.

Bloomberg's Laura Litvan reported on August 19: "The US Congressional Budget Office predicted the budget deficit for fiscal year 2011 will be $1.066 trillion, revised up from an estimate of $996 billion in March ...

Ten-year Treasury yields dropped another 14 basis points (bps) last week to 2.68%. Yields on benchmark Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities (MBS) sank 13 bps to a record low 3.43%. Tuesday's announcement from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) further emboldened a highly speculative fixed-income marketplace.

GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar dips after Fed; Asia stocks ease

The political message of the Coalition’s broadband policy is that they can deliver the same outcome as Labor sooner, for less cost and with less risk. But while both Labor and the Coalition promise the same speeds, they’re otherwise wildly different propositions.