Friday 3/6...End of Day

Finally locked today at 5% no points - coming down from well over 6%. I'm done with this madness. Thanks for all the helpsul insight -

What do you think about locking at 4.875, .75 pts. $520,000 loan in CA. LTV 69%. Credit Score 800. Can I do better? Thanks

BTW, above mentioned loan is 30 year fixed.

Chris, I think this rate is not bad. Who is the lender?

Chris, that is the same rate I was thinking about locking. I'm waiting to here back from the lender. The last time the rate said 4.875 on the lenders national website my local lend told me she could get it for 4.750. I think anything below 5% in this up and down market is a great deal.

I am amused by all the lenders I have talked with. They tell me MBS are far too complex for the consumer to understand, and I am just supposed to take their word when they talk about refinance interest rates. Lots of us are out of work. Lots of us don't qualify. Lots of banks with lots of money. Forget MBS. Who will be the banks customers, and how will the banks intice them?

KF, it's real simple. Housing is a basic necessity and regardless of the economy people still need a roof over their heads. Yes, unemployment is bad, but look how many people are still working, vs. those that aren't. Besides, I'm sure you would find that a larger percentage of the unemployed were probably not in the key home buyer demographic groups anyway. The real estate and mortgage industries still are operating. Obviously or websites like this would not be in existence. The question is a matter of scale. How will they entice them? The markets and the governement seems to be doing that for us. Low rates, low home prices and new tax incentives seem to be working just fine in my area. We're busier now than we have been in months. Banks are actually hiring people in their mortgage departments for a change, instead of laying off. In some ways understaffing is one reason that rates aren't lower right now. Banks are using rates to control the demand for refinance loans so that they aren't overwhelmed with applications. This happened a few months ago. Like any market, businesses use price to control demand. In our case, that demand is the number of loan applications.

Gary, I can simplify further. 5% refinance rates only amuse me.

Eric - lender is Wells Fargo