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Old 06-11-2009, 09:30 AM
 
Location: Baltimore, MD
205 posts, read 823,179 times
Reputation: 170

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Quote:
Originally Posted by glenn_1000 View Post
I think the below 4% rate was a historic low and a anomaly that I'm sure a lot of people will have wish they jumped on. I think rates will remain in the mid 5% range for a while. A 5-7% rate is very good by historic measures. People waiting for it to go lower will be left behind just like people that did not get back into the stock market after March.
That is probably true, but a lot of buyers like myself are more fixated on the monthly costs rather than the rate. At the current offer price and current rate the monthly costs on what I have under contract are acceptable, but will soon become unacceptable if the rate keeps going up. The price of the property will have to come down to lower the monthly expense. The seller will likely be reluctant to go along with this and therefore the deal will collapse. I doubt I'm alone.
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Old 06-11-2009, 10:20 AM
 
Location: Philaburbia
41,885 posts, read 74,952,198 times
Reputation: 66814
Quote:
Originally Posted by glenn_1000 View Post
A 5-7% rate is very good by historic measures.
Heck, yeah. 6 percent sounds like chump change to me. Where were y'all in the early 80s when interest rates were 13 percent and higher?

And people still bought houses!
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Old 06-11-2009, 10:22 AM
 
Location: Summerville, SC
1,149 posts, read 4,200,014 times
Reputation: 1126
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81 View Post
Heck, yeah. 6 percent sounds like chump change to me. Where were y'all in the early 80s when interest rates were 13 percent and higher?

And people still bought houses!
And how much were houses compared to salaries back then?

There's a reason why my in-laws were able to afford a gorgeous house in an affluent NYC suburb on the salaries of a union telephone guy and a stay at home mom.
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Old 06-11-2009, 10:55 AM
 
Location: West, Southwest, East & Northeast
3,463 posts, read 7,294,244 times
Reputation: 871
Mortgage rates rise again - Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Mortgage-rates-rise-apf-15501354.html?sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode - broken link)=
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Old 06-11-2009, 11:38 AM
 
5,458 posts, read 6,703,426 times
Reputation: 1814
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81 View Post
Heck, yeah. 6 percent sounds like chump change to me. Where were y'all in the early 80s when interest rates were 13 percent and higher?

And people still bought houses!
Probably because wages were increasing with inflation then, as opposed to stagnating like they are now.
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Old 06-11-2009, 03:28 PM
 
220 posts, read 1,027,348 times
Reputation: 170
Quote:
And how much were houses compared to salaries back then?
Pretty close to where we are now.
Attached Thumbnails
30yr mortgage rates closing in on 6%-6a00d8341c630a53ef00e554decddb8833-800wi.png  
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Old 06-11-2009, 03:36 PM
 
28,455 posts, read 85,157,040 times
Reputation: 18726
Thanks glenn.
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Old 06-11-2009, 04:48 PM
 
2,542 posts, read 6,902,363 times
Reputation: 2635
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigDragon View Post
That is probably true, but a lot of buyers like myself are more fixated on the monthly costs rather than the rate. At the current offer price and current rate the monthly costs on what I have under contract are acceptable, but will soon become unacceptable if the rate keeps going up. The price of the property will have to come down to lower the monthly expense. The seller will likely be reluctant to go along with this and therefore the deal will collapse. I doubt I'm alone.
I feel your pain--we are in the same situation. I wouldn't mind buying a less expensive house (in fact, I would prefer it), even a little bit of a fixer-upper, but the only one cheaper is a doublewide and we have deep issues with how well it would age and it's resale value, especially since it's lot is not even close to being as nice as the other lots in the area.
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Old 06-11-2009, 05:32 PM
 
Location: Summerville, SC
1,149 posts, read 4,200,014 times
Reputation: 1126
Quote:
Originally Posted by glenn_1000 View Post
Pretty close to where we are now.

According to that (and ignoring the speculation of the coming months, since they did not happen yet), we are only at 2004 numbers, which were still ridiculous IMO. We still have quite a ways to go.
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Old 06-12-2009, 06:07 AM
 
Location: Maryland
1,534 posts, read 4,255,030 times
Reputation: 2326
Perspective: I purchased my home in Aug 1983 at a 13.5% interest rate (a good deal at the time for someone with excellent credit). It is long since paid off, after numerous refi's. Younger folks ought to understand that the current, incredibly low interest rates (whether 5/6/7%) are an anomaly and unlikely to continue. A 30 year fixed rate mortgage is a huge bargain at current levels. Don't be surprised if rates go up significantly in the not too distant future. I have always kept my housing costs at or below 20% of gross income, it makes life much easier to avoid financial stress and related problems.
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