Mortgage rates (Fairfield: house, rent, work)

[iqsgirl]

Has anyone tried to get a new mortgage in the current market? If so, how difficult was it?

iqsgirl

[mels]

My coworker just did. He got a mortgage from Bank of America with excellent credit (over 800) with an 80-15-5 loan for 6% on the primary mortgage, 8% on the second mortgage, and all closing costs/lawyer fees paid for by BOA.

[roxxy38]

Originally Posted by mels

My coworker just did. He got a mortgage from Bank of America with excellent credit (over 800) with an 80-15-5 loan for 6% on the primary mortgage, 8% on the second mortgage, and all closing costs/lawyer fees paid for by BOA.

My husband and I are waiting for our home appraisal for our mortgage. It wasnt very difficult but you need a very good credit rating. We had to submit alot of paperwork. We lucked out with a 5.75% rate and are very happy. However we are paying all closing costs. How did your friend get bank of america to pay those costs? Most banks are worried about your ability to pay the mortgage. So just make sure that you are considering all thats involved besides the actual mortgage payment. If you are realistic you should have no trouble, and you also need to put 20% down. Good Luck.

[houstonsecurity]

I bought a house in naugatuck last year... my mortgage was at 6.15% with bank of america...

looking at some people's rates... i think i have a decent rate... but with economy being so bad, aren't the rates suppose to go down even more?

[mels]

It's the "No Fee Mortgage Plus" deal, you can find it on their website. The only catch was he had to open an account with BOA, so he just threw a little money into a savings account.

[toddb]

Originally Posted by iqsgirl

Has anyone tried to get a new mortgage in the current market? If so, how difficult was it?

iqsgirl

I'd keep a close eye on bankrate.com -- mortgage rates are down a good amount this past week. It also may help to use a mortgage broker as an alternate resource -- they usually have a good line into some of the special deals, especially at smaller local banks that don't advertise a lot, and the broker's fees are often paid for by the bank. Send me a private message if you want the name of a good broker in the Fairfield area. She was a huge help to me when we bought our 1st house last year.

I haven't touched our mortgage, but getting a home equity line for a renovation has been a real pain in the arse! Citibank is closing their entire home equity division. Countrwide has changed their LTV requirements -- they say that Fairfield is almost as bad as California, Florida and Arizona with dropping home values, so they are no longer allowing draws if you have higher than 75% LTV. HSBC has a pretty good rate right now (for a variable) -- prime - 2.51% for 6 months, then prime - .75% for the balance (normally prime - .52%, but you get the extra 1/4% if you open a free checking account and set up direct payment for 3 months). Some banks are advertising prime - 1%, but they have a long list of requirements and fine print.

[CoolStrom]

Try Soverign Bank to get the Line of Credit , i did it last year to buy the piece of land overseas. They will also allow up to 90 % LTV, although prices have been stable in my subdivision...but if i had to do it all over again, i wouldn't do line of credit anymore. the only drawback is that if your house looses values, you will end up owing more then what its worth...but again its how you take a look at..if your planning to stay put in the house for next 5-10 years and expecting some good increment in take home pay to reduce that line of credit or getting rid of it...that's good...the problem is when you have to sell it...it is considered as "secured" debt..and god forbid if something happens and you can't make payments for it..they can actually take your house...i am not talking about your individual case, but just trying to let you know the pros and cons of it. I have done it myself.

HTH,CoolStrom.