In what can only be described as a continuous decline, mortgage rates have reached the lowest point in 60 years, dropping to a record of 3.49% for a fixed rate product.
The real problem now, is not how small your monthly mortgage payment will be these days, but what it actually takes to qualify for one of these rates to begin with. Typically, lenders will require a truly blemish free credit history, FICO scores well over 700, significant cash reserves and a perfect appraisal on any property you are considering buying.
While some would laud the banks for tightening the very same mortgage guidelines that helped to cause the housing crisis in the first place, financial institutions also seem to be understandably concerned about the future profitability of themselves and whomever they are selling their mortgages to. Who wouldn’t want to limit the pool of borrowers by any means possible, to as few people as possible, when the prospect of loaning money out, over 15 – 30 years, becomes a losing proposition once bank savings rates go above 3.49%. Some of us are old enough to remember when a passbook savings rate was over 6%. Common sense would say that this will happen again, sometime in the next 15 – 30 years. What bank or investor wants to be stuck with a borrower paying only 3.49% then? Read more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/story/2012-07-26/home-sales-mortgages/56499092/1
Filed under: Real Estate | Tagged: FICO, Fixed rate mortgage, Freddie Mac, Loan, Mortgage loan, Scott Roasaco, Westchester Real Estate |
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