Conforming mortgage rates may be posting all-time lows this week, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be eligible for them. You may have already called your loan officer and found this out the hard way. It’s because of a federally-mandated mortgage-pricing scheme known as “loan-level...

If your adjustable rate mortgage is due to adjust this year, don’t go rushing to replace it just yet. Your soon-to-adjust mortgage rate may actually go lower. It’s related to the math behind the ARM. Conventional, adjustable-rate mortgages share a common life cycle: There’s a “starter...

Mortgage markets improved again last week — if only barely — throughout a holiday-shortened week devoid of “major” data and market conviction. Up-and-down trading characterized the week which ended with Washington mortgage rates slightly lower versus the week prior. Mortgage...

Mortgage markets improved last week as economic data revealed a slowing U.S. economy. Major stock indices fell to 2010 lows in response to a weak jobs report among other data points, forcing worldwide investors into the relative safety of U.S. government-backed bonds.  This category includes mortgage-backed...

All day, every day, conforming and FHA mortgage rates in Washington are in flux.  Rates move in response to hundreds of factors which exact varying levels of influence. Among the biggest influences on mortgage rates is inflation.  When inflation is unexpectedly high, mortgage rates tend to...

Mortgage markets improved last week in response to mostly negative data about the U.S. economy, and the Federal Reserve’s acknowledgement that Eurozone financial ills could cross the Atlantic. Conforming and FHA mortgage rates fell last week, extending a rate rally that dates to early-April. ...

CNBC and Bankrate.com just reported that home loan rates are at their all time lows. Yes, all time lows! This is great news for anyone who has yet to refinance to take advantage of the lowest rates ever recorded, or to purchase that new home or investment property more affordable than ever before. Both...

Mortgage markets improved last week on weaker-than-expected jobless figures, ongoing troubles in Europe, and a tame reading on domestic inflation. As a result, conforming mortgage rates for Washington fell last week, drawing loads of new refinance applications. For a brief moment Thursday afternoon,...

Mortgage markets posted four good days last week and one awful one.  Unfortunately for rate shoppers in Washington , that one bad day outweighed the gains of the other four and mortgage rates worsened on the week overall. Despite re-touching all-time lows on Tuesday and Wednesday, Conforming and FHA...

Mortgage rates may be dropping, but mortgage costs are not. According to Freddie Mac, the average required discount points on a conforming mortgage rate are higher by 0.1 percent since early-May. A “discount point” is prepaid mortgage interest; an up-front fee paid by a borrower in exchange...