Fixed rates. Fixed rates are the old standby. They are what you’ll find when you’re investigating traditional mortgages. When your loan has a fixed rate, your interest doesn’t change throughout the entire life of your loan. Most fixed rate mortgages last for 10, 15, 20 or 30 years. This is a great option when interest rates are low. If you can lock in an interest rate of 4%-8% for the life of a 30 year loan, you’re doing pretty well. However if interest rates are high, you may want to look for the next type of interest rate option.

Adjustable Rate Mortgage. Otherwise known as an ARM, an adjustable rate mortgage is just that – adjustable. Usually, lenders guarantee a rate for a specific period of time, generally three, five, or seven years. However, once that time period has expired, the interest rate on the loan will change to the current going rate. Generally, there is a cap on how high the interest rate can go. This is called a ceiling, and your ceiling will be documented in your lending agreement.

For example, if the current fixed interest rate is 10% and you decide you’d rather go with an ARM, which is generally lower than the current fixed rate, then maybe you could get an ARM at 7% guaranteed for five years. Once your five years have expired, the current interest rate could be lower than your current interest rate or it could be higher. If it is up to 14% that’s a huge jump and your mortgage will go up quite a bit; however, if you have a 3 point ceiling agreement in your mortgage your interest rate will only go up to 10%. With an ARM, your interest rate is subject to change every year after the initial reduced rate period has expired.

Two Step mortgage. A two step mortgage works very similarly to an ARM. You will lock in an interest rate, usually a bit lower than the going interest rate, for a designated period of time. Once that time has expired, your second step is for your interest rate to jump to the going rate. It’s a bit of a gamble because you don’t know what the future holds. However, it does enable you to get into your home at a lower interest rate.

Balloon. With a balloon mortgage your interest rate and monthly payment remain the same for a certain number of years. At the end of that time period, your loan is due in full. If you choose this option you will have to refinance, pay off your home, or sell your home. Balloons generally run for five or seven years.

There you have it. Just about any mortgage you come across will fall into one of these discussed categories. Happy borrowing!

Eddie Lamb owns LiveMortgageFree.com a website devoted to helping homeowners, first time buyers or tenants. You’ll get your own exclusive access to the program and bonuses that will get you on the road to living Mortgage Free and will change the way you view money forever. For more information visit: LiveMortgageFree

New Bank Policies

Recently, the government announced that, to provide relief to homeowners, mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would offer qualifying homeowners the opportunity to change (that is, improve) the terms of their mortgages if they’re at least 90 days behind on their payments. This was welcome news for those homeowners facing possible foreclosure who had already seen their credit destroyed through late and missed mortgage payments.

But for those homeowners barely keeping their heads above water –that is, still paying their payments on time– this new policy didn’t offer any real assistance. Until recently. Now, banks like Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase are offering mortgage terms adjustments to homeowners even if they’ve missed no payments at all. Before you fall behind on your payments, you can contact your mortgage company to discuss the terms of your loans. This policy has been administered through many banks throughout the country, especially in the areas hit hardest by the housing crisis, Arizona, Florida, and California among them.

Qualifying for Assistance

Sound like a good option for those of you struggling to get your mortgage payments made on time? It is. But only if you qualify. Unfortunately, though the policy of offering assistance to struggling homeowners is spreading, there are many requirements to be met in order to qualify for assistance. The most important of these is that you be hugely strained by your mortgage financially.

The kinds of people who qualify for mortgage term adjustments are people who have seen or are about to see a change in interest rates that will make it impossible for a homeowner to keep their head above water. Or those who have recently lost an income or seen it drastically reduced. The bank will look at whether or not you are truly overburdened by your mortgage payments. And they’ll be strict about what they consider to be an overburden. In essence, if you’re not seeing 40% or more of your monthly income go to your mortgage payment, you won’t be approved for mortgage assistance. And even then, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get help.

How to Get Assistance

Many banks have established special phone lines to deal with clients looking to negotiate new terms for their mortgages. In order to get help with your mortgage, you’ll need to locate the correct department at your bank (if your bank offers this option at all– not all of them do). Ask for a loans modification specialist, or even better, take some time out from surfing internet dating sites and check out your bank’s website. Many banking websites contain information to help distressed homeowners.

When you finally reach the correct department within your bank to adjust the terms of your loan, the hard part will begin. Banks are struggling, too, and they do not want to adjust your loan any more than they have to– and if they don’t feel they have to, they won’t help you at all. So you need to provide a lot of evidence to show that you are in financial distress. In general, banks will request your recent pay stubs, tax returns, and even a letter detailing what has happened in your life or with your finances to necessitate a change in the terms of your mortgage. If they don’t feel you’re having a hard enough time with your mortgage payments, they’ll turn you down flat. So be ready.

Most people requesting help with the terms of their mortgage will be turned down. But those that do qualify for assistance will see a small monthly change in their mortgage payments that may make the difference between being able to make their payments and losing their home. While you shouldn’t expect banks to make any changes to the final principal owed on your home (they want their money, in the end), qualifying homeowners will see adjustments made to their interest rates or temporary adjustments to their principal. And for some homeowners, these small changes can make all the difference.

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1) June 2003 5.23
2) March 2004 5.45
3) May 2003 5.48
4) January 2008 5.48
5) December 2008 5.53

Although we looked over a period of 34 years it was interesting that three of the four months with the lowest mortgage rates were in 2003 and 2004. This was basically when Greenspan was cutting the fed rate to prevent the US from going into a recession. A lot of people now blame Greenspan for causing the housing bubble and our current problems. While he might be partially to blame personally I think the massive number of subprime loans (basically loans to people that have a poor credit history) and interest only loans contributed to the problem as well.

The main difference between today’s low rates and the rates we saw in 2003 and 2004 is that 5 years ago pretty much anyone with a pulse could get a loan. In the current market rates are low but banks are much more restrictive about giving out loans.

Below are rates for the last few weeks.

December 4, 2008
30-yr 5.53 15-yr 5.33 5-yr ARM 5.77 1-yr ARM 5.02

November 26, 2008
30-yr 5.97 15-yr 5.74 5-yr ARM 5.86 1-yr ARM 5.18

November 20, 2008
30-yr 6.04 15-yr 5.73 5-yr ARM 5.87 1-yr ARM 5.29

November 13, 2008
30-yr 6.14 15-yr 5.81 5-yr ARM 5.98 1-yr ARM 5.33

November 6, 2008
30-yr 6.20 15-yr 5.88 5-yr ARM 6.19 1-yr ARM 5.25

It interesting that 5 year rates are significantly higher than 30 year rates. This is the first time 30 year rates have been significantly lower than the 5 year ARM. It pretty much means 5 year rates are pointless at this point. There is no real reason to get a 5 Year ARM when you can get a better rate on a 30 year loan.

Looking at mortgage rates is one thing but let’s translate this into mortgage payments. Using our mortgage calculator we translated today’s mortgage rates into a mortgage payment on a 200k house. For good measure we did the same thing with last weeks rates and last months rates.

December 4th
30-yr $1139.34
15-yr $1616.18
5-yr ARM $1169.68
1-yr ARM $1076.08

November 26th
30-yr $1195.24
15-yr $1659.74
5-yr ARM $1181.15
1-yr ARM $1095.75

October 30th
30-yr $1258.87
15-yr $1708.31
5-yr ARM $1245.77
1-yr ARM $1120.56

Looking back to October 30th we can see that payments have come down $119.53 or about 10%. This is pretty substantial. In contrast payments on a 1 year arm have only fallen by $44.48 or about 4%.

So what is going to happen moving forward? I would expect continued wild fluctuations in the mortgage market. We have been seeing large one week changes for the last month and there is no reason that we will not see more wild swings moving forward. Therefore if you are considering a house I would lock in at current rates instead of waiting.

So what about the proposal being considered by Congress to push rates down to 4.5%? I can’t say for certain if this will happen or not. It looks on track to pass now but that could change. If it does pass I think it will spur allot of real estate activity. It’s not just that rates will be lower but getting rates below 5% is kind of a psychological barrier. I think just seeing rates that are 4.xx will grab people’s attention. But that said if there is an increase in activity I expect prices to move up. I highly doubt they will recover to what we saw a year or two ago but we will probably see higher prices than what we are seeing today at least temporarily. After the initial shock has worn off the economy will probably determine what happens with real estate prices.

Ki works as a realtor in Austin Texas. His site has a search of the Austin MLS. It also has a mortgage rates widget and a mortgage calculator widget.

The thought is lower interest rates will bring home buyers out from the bushes and the side lines. It will also help the many home owners who have home equity lines of credit on their homes. HELC interest rates usually move up or down with the prime interest rates.

This week housing permit data also came out, with good news and bad. The results state November as the lowest housing permit month in history since 1975.

The good news from this data is less homes being built mean some of the existing homes sitting vacant on the market will be purchased. The bad news is if home building permits are going down, it suggests local economies are struggling and decreasing as well.

It takes many trades and people to build homes. Plumbers, electricians, framers, engineers, designers, project managers, and the list goes on. With less homes being built these people have no where to work and that is not good or the economy.

So with all the bad news about the real estate market many questions come to mind. When will the real estate market find a bottom? When will we stop seeing more foreclosures across the nation? When will many of americans largest investments start seeing positive returns rather than declines in the double digits?

There is no one or two pieces of data that can lead you to the answer of when the real estate market is going to turn around. There are however a few economic factors that you can track locally to determine where your local market sits.

Here are a few economic factors I suggest you track on a monthly basis. Rate of new house building permits, rate of existing homes sales, rate of foreclosures, and interest rates.

If you track these items on a monthly basis you should have a pretty good idea of when the real estate market will hit bottom, or when it does. When building permits increase, and existing homes sales increase it is a sign that better times are ahead.

For now if you are in a home that seems impossible to sell I suggest contacting a local home buyer or we buy houses representative in your area. They exist in every major city in the nation.

They are not real estate agents but investors who are professional home buyers. You can talk with them at no cost and they can give you great advice about your best home selling options.

We Buy Houes fast from home owners?

October 30, 2008
30-yr 6.46 15-yr 6.19 5-yr ARM 6.36 1-yr ARM 5.38

October 23, 2008
30-yr 6.04 15-yr 5.72 5-yr ARM 6.06 1-yr ARM 5.23

October 16, 2008
30-yr 6.46 15-yr 6.14 5-yr ARM 6.14 1-yr ARM 5.16

October 9, 2008
30-yr 5.94 15-yr 5.63 5-yr ARM 5.90 1-yr ARM 5.15

October 2, 2008
30-yr 6.10 15-yr 5.78 5-yr ARM 6.00 1-yr ARM 5.12

30 Year rates have been a little more volatile than the 15 year fixed and 5 year arm products. The one mortgage product that stands out is the 1 Year ARM. It has for the most part been steadily rising over the last few weeks.

So what is going on with mortgage rates? Basically there are a number of strong forces pushing around mortgage rates like a wild hurricane. Over the last few weeks we have seen similar erratic swings with the stock market with both historic rises and drops happening several times in the last week.

Add to the uncertainty in the economy with massive government bailout programs (the Fannie Mae takeover and the 700 billion bailout) we can begin to see that the erratic movement in mortgage rates is simply a reflection of a highly erratic time period in the general economy.

Ok let’s look at what your payment would be on a 200k mortgage. Using our mortgage calculator we ran the numbers based on today’s mortgage rates. We also ran the numbers based on mortgage rates from last week.

October 30th
30-yr 1258.87
15-yr 1708.31
5-yr ARM 1245.77
1-yr ARM 1120.56

October 23rd
30-yr 1204.24
15-yr 1657.60
5-yr ARM 1206.82
1-yr ARM 1101.93

It’s hard to tell what rates are going to do moving forward. But it looks like rates will continue to remain volatile. What we are seeing is basically a tug of war between the government and the economy. The government is doing whatever it can to push down rates through takeovers, bailouts and lowering the fed rate.

Negative factors that come up in the economy tend to push rates up because it causes banks to not want to lend out money. I think we will continue to see this tug of war for the next few weeks. Add a presidential election throw in for good measure and I expect to see mortgage rate volatility to continue.

That said overall I expect mortgage rates to go down over the next month. The government shows no signs of letting up and I think they will win the tug of war in the long term.

What recommendations do I have for people looking for a loan? I hate recommending arms. If people are looking at the buying for a long term (single family home owners) I would advise to avoid arms.

If investors are planning on being in a property for a short period of time and have the cash reserves to deal with random changes in mortgage payments the 1 year is attractive because the difference between 30 year and 1 year arms is greater than what we typically see.

Ki lives in Austin are writes about trends with mortgage rates. His site provides a free mortgage calculator and a graph of historical mortgage interest rates.