Our credit union told us that even though the rates are low, very, very few people are qualifying anymore.
Holy cow! That's awesome.
I refinanced to a 15-year fixed at 5% a while back. It was the best thing I ever did. I ultimately paid off the mortgage in 10 years.
We're debt-free, maxed out on 401(k) contributions, and still socking away that monthly mortgage payment for a rainy day.
Unfortunately, it may all turn out to be counter-productive, when someone decides we have too many assets or too much retirement income, and don't "need" Social Security.
The banks are now doing risk assessments on the jobs that potential borrowers have, to see if in the current market, there is a high chance of layoff. If it goes over 20% in that field in that region, no loan regardless of credit worthiness.
I keep getting offers to refi at a lower rate...my fear is my house price has fallen enough that if I got a morgage just equal to what I own on it, the market value won’t be 20 per cent greater than the requested mortgage refi. Then I’ll be forced to try to pay 20 percent down on the refi or they’ll make me buy mortgage insurance there-by jacking up the monthly payment back to the same level I had been paying...without the means to deduct the pmi from my taxes. I’ve worked out its better to keep the higher rate I am paying now because the deduction I take on the current mortgage still makes up for a lower per cent mortgage interest deduction and a non deductable new mortgage insurance payment.