Holiday Gift for Homeowners

Amid the doom and gloom of the tanking economy, bleeding stock market, and declining home values is a bit of news that could be the best holiday present for homeowners (and mortgage pros, too!). Mortgage rates have fallen dramatically over the past month, now down to 5.00% for 30-year fixed loans.

In addition to making new homes even more affordable for home buyers, these incredibly low rates are a boon for homeowners who need or want to refinance their existing mortgage.

For example, on a $200,000 loan with a 30-year fixed rate, the monthly principal and interest payments at today’s rate of 5.00% is $1,073.64, whereas it was $1,206.83 one month ago when the rate was 6.06%.  That equates to a savings of $133.09 per month, or $1,598.28 per year.

Borrowers are taking advantage of these low rates.  Loan request activity on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is more than 70% higher so far this month versus last month.  And it seems that homeowners have decided that the rates are low enough to refinance their existing mortgages.  Refi loan requests on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace have shot through the roof!  They now account for 54% of all loan requests, whereas last month they only accounted for 33%.

 

If you are thinking about refinancing your mortgage, now may be a great time to take advantage of these historically low rates.  An easy and anonymous way to do this is to submit a loan request on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace.  Lenders provide custom quotes to you, and then you decide who you want to call—they don’t call you.

And then go out and buy yourself a holiday gift with the money you will save!

December 15, 2008