Does anyone recommend another Bank besides USAA for a mortgage? I was just told the rates are increasing!?

Washington Mutual has been good

Wells Fargo, but their rates are back on the rise as well. It's all in the timing. As soon as you see the bobber go under pull the fish in.
I monitored it everyday till it got under 5% fixed. Go 15 yrs if you can swing it, thats where you really save vs a 30 yr mortgage.

Good Luck!

Chapwood.......

Mine is a 15 year at 5.5% with Washington Mutual.

Wray...

HSBC,

They were amazing to work with!

Good Luck!

WaMu!

I looked at Wamu,and it scares me. The amt of closing costs that would be payed in order to just have a 6% int. rate!! Again,I only looked online, I will have to call them and get an ear full of info. They seem pretty expensive though.

I do all of my business w/ USAA except....mortgage. Bank of America has done very good to me. I currently have a 20-yr mortgage w/ them at 5.5% fixed that I made w/ them about 4 years ago while refinancing. The process was very painless and it was also expedited. I was mailed the paperwork FEDEX and all I had to do was sign and return on the self address FEDEX packages which was pre-paid.

If you have an account, Navy Federal Credit Union is great. I financed 100%, pay no PMI, and interest rates are competitive.

You might want to check with a mortgage broker.

I think the recent rise in rates will be short lived and will probably settle to somewhere between 5 and 5.5%.

When the FED meets again I'm certain they will drop another quarter point, and that will take time to get down into mortgage rates.

In the meantime I strongly suggest that you continue to monitor rates and refinance when the time is right. There has been an early flurry in refinancing activity that has increased demand, driving interest rates up.

Get in on the game as early as you can and don't let lenders talk you into not locking when rates come down. When the rate is right for you, get it locked and settle it early.

I'm thinking in a month from now we are going to see a real surge in refi activity.

That sounds about right, Dennis. Early Spring, March to April is the normal time that people start buying homes every year. Its after the snows have melted, people are fixing up to sell, and you feel more like getting out on Sundays to house shop with the realtors.

Hope the Fed does drop the prime...although I have a fixed, 30 yr, I think I'm ready to find a 15 yr refinance. If the interest is low, that is.

We are actually hunting for a NEW mortgage. We are moving,selling our house now,and hopefully going to purchase something in the next 6mth in FL. The rates are creeping a bit now, I just hope they aren't in the 7% range when we are ready to lock. We are looking for a 30yr fixed,and trying to keep our closing costs to a min.(don't want to pay points to have a lower int.rate) We are only staying in the house for 3 yrs min,so we might look into a 3y or 5y. I don't even know if there are programs like that available anymore. Our credit is excellent,and our debt to income is low now. So the ball is in our court. So who knows. Thanks for all the info, keep it coming,and I will let you all know what I found as well. Thanks!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Tonys_hag,

WAMU UNDER INVESTIGATION...

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/17/real_estate/wamu_lawsuit.moneymag/index.htm

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/23/bloomberg/bxwamu.php

http://www.hagens-berman.com/wm.htm;jsessionid=azBLw0k4uFGb

Tony (or hag),

The rates will come down again soon after the FED lowers rates. There is motivation for the FED to do so because of the large amount of ARM resets coming later in the year and other economic concerns that has created a liquidity problem for investors. A FED lowering means ARMS can reset to a lower amount and create less of a payment for strapped homeowners.

It's hard to say where interest rates will be in six months though. You're a little early in the game and should wait until around 120 days before your actual purchase date to shop for loans. I suggest you don't occasionally check with lenders who will pull your credit when you call them to get you qualified...your credit score will be affected. When you are within your window to purchase shop for lenders and allow them to pull your credit. You should do all of your loan shopping within a 3 to 4 week window, and do not apply for any additional credit lines (car loans, new credit cards or other loans) beginning now. As long as you shop for loans within the few week window your credit score will not be affected because Equifax, Experian and Transunion will see that you are shopping for a credit line in a like industry. They don't like haphazard inquiries from different types of credit lines.

You might have confused the term subprime with something else. Mortgages are generally divided into three credit classes: those with excellent credit, 660 and up, are prime borrowers; those with marginal credit, generally between 600 and 660 credit scores, are known at Alt-A borrowers. People with bad credit are sub-prime borrowers.

Down payments are now being required in some markets depending upon whether the market is considered to be in a "declining" status. If you have excellent credit 100% financing will still be available for you.

The conforming rate for loans, $417,000, will be raised in some markets. In my area it will be around $700K. This will help borrowers who currently need a jumbo loan to buy a house and pay a higher interest rate for that privelege, generally one percentage point higher than a conforming loan.

Sad to say, but I think in the future, especially after legislation is passed that moves up the conforming loan rate to higher amounts, that all of us will be required to pay one half to one point as a fee to offset the losses in the lending industry. A portion of that mandatory half or one point will go to a general government fund, and the other portion will go into lender's pockets to offset losses from previous loans. This is my opinion, and was validated in a meeting I had Tuesday with my broker. Nothing is written into law yet, but that seems to be the mindset of congress.

Even thouth it's possible that loans of the future will automatically have some kind of funding fee (point) associated with them, that doesn't mean you will have to pay it. When you find an agent to work with he or she most should try to have the seller pay all of your closing costs as I do. I haven't had a buyer client come to the settlement table with a check to close yet. They have received money back instead. I have a settlement today where the seller subsidy we negotiated not only paid all of my client's closing costs, but he is also getting six months of his condo fees prepaid, and he is also getting all of his earnest money deposit back!

I edited the "subprime", i meant adjustable.
Thanks for catching that. I am not a subprime barrower,more like a prime investor;0

Where in VA are you? I am from VA,the beach. The real estate there is totally different from where I currently reside,and say,where we are going. Here and VA you can ask for closing costs or buyer concessions,and it will be the norm. Down in FL,they are so close to foreclosure/short sale,and so behind paying their assessments(for city water/sewer),and taxes,it is hard to ask them for a penny. I am trying to work with a realtor that will hook us up at closing,instead of the seller. We are already looking at houses,that we are pretty much stealing at the price they are being sold at,why take more out of the seller's pocket? I might care so much b/c I am in the situation now,with selling,that if someone came in here and offered 30k less than my listing price,and 3% back at closing I would first laugh in their face,then I would counteroffer with something more reasonable. I feel like I am paying the world my equity,and not getting crap in return. We are the last ones that get the check at closing. I am rambling.
I hope you aren't right about having to pay a pt higher to level things out. I think that is nonsense that the govt or whoever is trying to save these people from their mistakes. I think it will just put things off for another 5yrs,and we will all be in the same situation. Hopefully i won't be selling in that time frame.
We had to get preapproved b/c in a months notice we could be out on our booties. We are preapproved,which is good for 3 mths,then our credit report is good for 6mth. I am comfortable with that. We needed to start earlier with this transfer b/c we have a house to sell,that we don't know the timeframe with. We have had a bunch of showings,everyone seems excited about the house,however some are holding out to see what the rates will do. That is fine, I have plenty of time. I know it will eventually sell, the last place we had in plymouth ma, sold the first day we had it on the market so I am getting a tad anxious. Homes sell,price right. The foreclosures here are getting sobbed up by investors,so that is great for us!! Pretty soon our house will be the only one on the market under 300k,that doesn't need anything done to it.
I will keep searching the rates online,call if need be.

Wells Fargo-4.875 fixed 15 year. Time to go home jump on the lazy boy recliner, kick back and watch some Gunsmoke, starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.

Ok, I'll stop.

chapwood.........

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chapwood,

As a former employee of WAMU, let me warn you it will look good for a couple of years but then somehow WAMU will screw up, and they will turn against you the borrower. During my time with them I personally witnessed customers loosing their homes because WAMU either sells your contract to another bank and eventually get around to informing you about it. They realy screwup when they take over a mortgage.Some of the customers (one was a lady of 80 yrs) I spoke to could not believe they were threatened with forclosure when they made their payments as instructed. Usually the instruction were to continue payments as you are until notified of new payment locations etc. Half the time the customer never received the new payment schedule so they contined as before, next thing you know they are getting forclosure notices for lack of payment.
I no longer work for them because I was let go along with other call center employees who dared to question the banks methods.
If you have been following the news lately you will know WAMU is one of the banks having difficulty and loosing value.

Tony,

The offers don't ask for three percent back from the seller or buyer at closing which will go in the buyer's pocket, they ask for closing cost assistance. That money is used to pay closing costs. What happens is that the buyer will get back what they put in, i.e. earnest money, depending upon the amount of seller subsidy you agree to.

Example...your house is offered at $100K. Someone makes you an offer for $95K and asks for a seller subsidy of $2850 for help with paying their closing costs. You accept the offer. The offer includes an earnest money deposit of $1000.

At settlement the seller gets the money they are entitled to and agreed to in the terms of their contract and not a penny less, the buyer has all closing costs paid, and the $1000 earnest money comes back to them. This takes nothing out of the seller's pocket.

That's the kind of deal you want your agent to get for you when you buy, and it's what you can expect to happen when you sell if the buyer's agent is a good one. You've secured a house at 5 percent under asking price and put your own money back into your pocket.

My client yesterday was VERY happy at settlement and the money he got back will help to buy the new heating system that he is installing this afternoon.

I'm in Annandale, VA near Washington, DC.

Tony,

I agree with what you are saying, but sellers in a buyer's market need to face reality. There are a lot of houses on the market right now where the seller owes more than the asking price and will have to bring cash to closing. That is very much reality these days, and I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. If you bought in late 2004 or later you will very likely be upside down on your mortgage depending upon your local area, especially if you didn't put any money down when you purchased.

You can get tighter on the seller subsidy if you like. When I face a seller who doesn't want to pay for my buyer's closing fees we move on to the next house because there are a lot of sellers out there that will gladly pay it. The market is brutal on sellers these days.

I'm just being honest with ya buddy. Sometimes all of the news isn't good...I have this conversation every day!

If you are listed with an agent you should have an "Sellers Estimated Settlement Costs" sheet somewhere in your documentation. If you don't have one, ask your agent WTF!

Well, look at it this way.. If you sold it for what you paid for it, the time you lived in it, you would have been for living in it for free

Now, I, like everyone else wants to make as much as possible when selling property. That is a given. Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen. In todays market.. it's tough. I know I have a townhouse I could or would sell if things were better.. but, they are not. So....... I have decided to rent it out to those that come to Daytona for the NASCAR races or Bike weeks.... I currently have it rented from Feb 27th thru Mar 10 for 2K... not bad...

I will be listing it on Craigs list for anyone that wants to rent it for a week or two through out the year. 4 or so rentals will pay the taxes and homeowners dues... Fortunately, there is no mortgage on it.. That gives me a place to garage my Corvette and Harley the rest of the year.

Gotta run, time to throw a steak on the grill....

sea ya...

Wray....
P.S. ----> For those of you up North.. it's 5:45 and 76 degrees here in FL..